HISTORYLESSON

TONY reckons he’s been playing with cars for a good 60 years now. “I put a set of rings in my first car; I suppose I would have been 17 or 18 at the time,” he says.

“My first modified car was an FJ ute that ended up with an X2 carby set-up on it, then an S-series Valiant that had a hot slant in it with triples at first, then a 327ci small-block Chev from Bill Warner in the mid-60s. I’d always wanted a V8 and there were hardly any around, other than sidevalve Fords. It was a fairly new car at the time, and eventually I put a tunnel-rammed big-block Mopar in it in the early 70s when the GT Falcons were the thing to beat. It went 12.7s at Castlereagh with the standard mechanical fuel pump; it used to run out of fuel in the deep end. It was my road car; I used to drive it everywhere. That combo then went into a

T-bucket-based dragster, but I sold it before ever I got it to the track.

“I had a VL Turbo and a VN V8 in the 80s, and built a 13B RX-7 that was a quick little street car in the 90s, but then I had a break from cars for a while.

“I got interested again when LS engines came out and I was impressed with how responsive to modifications they were. I bought a VU SS ute and put a Harrop blower on it, and eventually upgraded to a VZ, which I put a 440ci turbo LSX in. It was a manual, made over 800rwhp and ran 10s at Heathcote. That engine went into a VY One Tonner burnout car – but with nitrous instead of a turbo – and the turbo set-up went onto the CV8.

“I guess you could say cars have kept me out of strife in my retirement!”