Innholdsfortegnelse for #279 19-09 i Just Cars

After almost 30 years away from Australian touring car racing, a Mustang will be officially back on the grid in 2019, starting with the season-opening round of this year’s Supercars Championship in Adelaide. While the Supercars-spec Mustang has copped plenty of flack for its appearance, that’s likely to be forgotten if it starts winning races, and based on the results of its first full track session at the Phillip Island test in February, race wins are looking highly likely. MONSTER MONSTERS THE FIELD At the end of the official Supercars test at Phillip Island on 14 February, Mustangs accounted for the top three fastest laps, with Cameron Waters topping the timesheets with a best lap of 1m30.7265s. The Monster Energy Team driver led home Fabian Coulthard of Shell V-Power Racing,…

In their major competition this year, Shannons are offering a trip for two to the 2020 Monaco Historics race meeting in Monte Carlo as part of a tour of northern Italy and the south of France. Held on the famous Monte Carlo F1 street circuit, the Monaco Historics Race is a biennial extravaganza of classic motorsport, featuring race cars from the pre-War era up to the 1980s and attracting drivers and enthusiasts from around the world. The competition winner and their partner will take in the Historics from two different VIP vantage points: the Fairmont Hairpin; and the Midi Terrace. Winners also receive entry to the ‘Monaco Top Cars’ classic car collection that includes the Bugatti Type 35 that won the very first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929. The 16-day…

Teenagers with petrol in their veins can’t wait to drop their first clutch in competition. For Andy White, the choice was karting or rallying. The former had “too many rules,” so the young mechanical engineering student bought a Mazda R100 and charged full pelt into dirt rallying with the Monash Car Club. Every available rally was entered, honing a set of loose-surface skills that brought him great results in the days when amateurs still had a chance. It’s a mark of Andy’s prowess that, after selling his car to fund marriage/house/kids, other drives came his way, mostly in Datsun 1600s and culminating in a Nissan Skyline campaigned in the first Wynns Safari in 1985. Third outright in the Safari’s forest stages behind Andrew Cowan and Patrick Zaniroli in the “Plastic…

Hosted by the Victorian Hot Rod Association (VHRA), the annual Victorian Hot Rod & Cool Rides Show has become something of an institution for hot rod owners and aficionados alike. Held over the Australia Day long weekend, the show has been running for more than 50 years and its testimony to the work of the VHRA that they manage to pack the floor of the historic Royal Exhibition Building with an amazing array of traditional rods, custom cars, street machines and other special vehicles year after year after year. ADDING THE ‘COOL’ While hot rods remain at the core of the event, the inclusion of ‘Cool Rides’ in 2017 has seen the display vehicle offerings expand to include cars that don’t fit the hot rod mould but are nonetheless interesting…

When you understand this EH panel van was built by professional motor trimmer Adrian Morgan of Kool Trim, it explains why the interior was so stunning. A custom-trimmed pattern for the bench front seat was repeated on a second bench that had been added to the van, making it a kind-of two-door station wagon. The perfectly trimmed and fitted carpets were matched by the impressive full-length headliner, side panels and load floor trim. Supplementary gauges had been added to the dash, along with a custom centre console, but Adrian’s work didn’t end with the interior… Major work under the bonnet included a 202 red motor bored out to 208 cubic inches and fitted with triple 45mm Webers and extensive manifold porting as part of a long list of engine modifications.…

If attending the NSRA Street Rod Nats, Bonneville Speedweek, Hot August Nights and other bucket list car events in the US sounds cool to you, how about the idea of attending these events while driving your own hot rod? This August, Dean Vannutini and the Rogue Rod Shop will be doing exactly that, with Dean leading the way in his award-winning ’34 Ford “Foosed” Coupe (pictured). Following past trips to the US, experiencing these major events, attending cruise nights and visiting some of America’s best hot rod and custom car builders, Dean’s enjoyed the experience, but always felt there was something missing. ‘Wouldn’t it be better,’ he thought ‘for me and other Aussies to attend these events in our own cars – and show the Yanks what we’ve got!’ That…

With sports like AFL increasing their female appeal by being more inclusive and supportive of women, a new business is aiming to the same for Formula 1. ‘Madam Wheels’ is an Australian-based resource that allows women to explore, understand and experience prestige, high-performance and luxury cars as part of a customised, female-friendly service. Founded by respected motoring enthusiast and commentator, Jacquie Hayes, the Madam Wheels website – www.madamwheels.com – not only features news, reviews and interviews with a uniquely female perspective, but also provides women with tips and tricks on buying, as well as the resources to help female buyers identify which prestige vehicles best suit their lifestyle. Supplementing the website are a number of interactive events where women can get hands-on experience with some of the sexiest and most…

To mark 50 years since the foundation of Honda Australia, the local arm of the global Honda empire has created a series of Golden Anniversary products representing Honda’s diverse range. Honda Australia was formally established on February 4, 1969, following years of local distribution by a number of private companies. Hidehiko Shiomi was the first local Managing Director, charged with setting up a single national representation for Honda in Australia. Fifty years later, a unified Honda Australia – covering the brand’s automotive, motorcycle and power equipment divisions - has created a one-off collection of its current performance products, all finished in gold bodywork. The Honda Australia ‘golden era of performance’ lineup features seven of Honda’s latest and greatest products: • NSX hybrid supercar • Civic Type R high-performance hot hatch…

When it comes to building a modern hot rod, you can go down a number of different paths. There’s the path of the big-dollar, high-impact show car that rarely turns a wheel under its own power. There’s also the mammoth power path delivered by a big V8 augmented by a supercharger or turbos. Then there’s the street-spec route, with a comfortable interior and bulletproof drivetrain that’s made for cruising. This ’32 Tudor is unusual in that it’s been down all these paths in its short history. DAVID LIKES DIFFERENT This car came to our attention through owner and seller (see breakout) David Montebello, who bought it just over a year ago. What appealed to David at the time was its proven running gear of a 350 Small Block Chev, TH350…

You’ll have seen people wearing t-shirts promoting their favourite TV show or movie. And there are those who have movie posters on their walls at home. Some collect figurines. And so on, and so on. Well, now you can have the ultimate movie-inspired limited-edition Ford Mustang…this is fan gear for movie and car fans alike. Yep, the Ford Mustang Bullitt on the surface might seem like a silly homage and it would have been if it was a mere cosmetic job. Thankfully Ford went a little deeper. For those who don’t get the meaning of ‘Bullitt’ allow me to enlighten you. It’s named after a Steve McQueen character in a movie of the same name. From about 50 years ago. That movie spawned one of cinemas greatest car chases, if…

In terms of custom jobs, ‘Speed Box’ was as about as big as they come. The handiwork of Johnny Z’s, this van started as a 1938 Fordson E83W: a humble delivery van known as the Ford Ten-Ten here in Australia. From the factory, these vans were powered by a 1.2-litre four-cylinder engine driving the rear wheels through a 3-speed manual gearbox. In its place, Johnny Z’s fitted a supercharged 383-cube Chev V8, hooked up to a Turbo 400 auto and driving the rears – much larger than the original factory wheels! - through a full-floater 9-inch diff. Changes to the running gear and rolling stock tell only part of the story, though, as the bodywork has been comprehensively modified, with a hugely-reworked front end, suicide doors, massive rear wheel tubs…

Yeah, yeah, we know this isn’t a hot rod, but is certainly ticks the ‘cool rides’ box! While it looks like a modern conversion, this panel van version of a classic VW Beetle is actually more than 60 years old. If you wanted a load-hauling VW in the 1950s, you had the Type 2 - aka Transporter, aka Kombi - to choose from. Nevertheless, enough people wanted their load-lugger to be based on a Beetle that a small number of European coachbuilders produced them. These panel vans were built in very small numbers to suit an equally small niche market. The body is all metal and is not a cut-and-shut of a Kombi back end. In fact, the only Kombi parts on this creation are the tail lights. The owner…

With 2019 marking the 110th Anniversary of the Morgan Motor Company, the carmaker has released a series of ‘110 Year Anniversary’ models with special finishes and badging. The new year also sees new technical regulations coming into force in Europe, which has led local importers Morgan Cars Australia (MCA) to clarify the range available for local delivery. Morgan 4/4: The 1.6 litre 4-cylinder Morgan 4/4 has been discontinued in Europe, but MCA are holding options on the last few production slots for cars with ADR compliant engines. There will be no more 4/4 models offered in its current, naturally aspirated form after these slots have been filled and there is no confirmation on whether a replacement is coming. Current local RRP for the 4/4, excluding options and ORCs, is $94,000.…

The first was a gap car, the kind that fills the void between your first shit box and your next good thing, you know? I’d just got back from a year in America and it was practically free. Character in every panel, a solid 186 and beautiful cherry red Prem interior. The rear main seal could have leaked for Australia. Insert a sensible Subaru wagon, and there was a yearning to get back to something cool. Oh, yeah. HR number 2, epic in every way. Fats and mags and a bullet proof motor you could run dry without worrying if she’d come back to life after a quick guzzle of preferred oil. And then this one. The best one. Special. Purchased on ebay from the Sutherland Shire from a bloke…

Michael Morris has owned this ’32 roadster for 15 years, but its history goes back much further – to the earliest days of hot rodding in Australia. Morris traced the car to Gary Wright, a Queenslander who bought it in 1962 and turned what was a Hi Boy into a deeply-channelled (9 ½ inches) roadster, adding a Ford Y-block V8 with triple 97 Strombergs, a ’39 Ford gearbox and diff, reversed Mercury wheels, 3-inch Moredrop axle and mixture of Ford and Holden mechanical and trim parts. Painted in Gulfstream Blue and trimmed in black vinyl, Wright won a bunch of trophies with his low-slung roadster before selling it to another rodder, who changed the engine, paint, wheels and trim. Subsequent owners added their own flavour, too - keeping some parts…

The tri-tone paint scheme on this ’68 Chevy C10 pickup is new, but it’s not custom. It’s actually an option Chevy offered in 1968 to celebrate 50 years of truck manufacturing. The gold is more of a yellow metallic on this example, but the white-gold-white combo was standard on the 50th Anniversary option package. What is custom on this slick pickup is just about everything else, starting with the 20-inch Rally alloys, which are connected to a drop spindle front end and airbag rear end. Most of these 50th Anniversary option packages were powered by a 327 V8 (although they could be had with any Chevy truck engine offered in ’68), but on this example, a 350 Chev V8 is under the bonnet, matched to a Turbo 400 trans and…