ANGER MANAGEMENT

THIS STUNNING HZ PREM TOOK A TOP 60 SPOT AT SUMMERNATS 33, BUT THAT DIDN’T STOP OWNER DAVE CUELL PULLING IT APART AGAIN

- DAMION SMY

SOME cars take years to build, but the sinister black HZ sedan you see here took decades to make it to the Summernats Top 60 – and even then, it wasn’t finished.

Twenty years earlier, the 1978 Holden was a clean, neat streeter running a mild 308 before owner Dave Cuell added a bit more punch beneath the bonnet with a 355 stroker. It then happily rolled on in that guise until Dave started toying with the idea of some fresh paint and improvements – but he wasn’t in a rush.

“To force myself to commit, we pulled the engine out and put it in my mate’s HK wagon, which made the Summernats Top 60,” Dave says.

With the 355 stroker gone and the HZ in pieces, bodywork could be attended to while the hunt for another donk went on.

That process concluded with a supercharged 383 Chev getting bolted between the strut towers. The bodywork and engine bay prep saw some clever detailing by Dave’s mate Adam Pollard, with the heater removed, the chassis rails smoothed over and the inner guards dropped lower to sit closer and cleaner to the control arms.

At this stage, the HZ’s cabin was swathed in various shades of black. “I thought I’d be different and change it up, so I went with gloss-black inner door jambs, bumpers and trims – anything that was chrome, really,” Dave says. The panelwork? Satin black.

“Who doesn’t want a blown, streetregistered car?” says Dave of the resulting black beauty. “I did a few burnout comps and street duties in that look until I was offered some money to sell the engine and trans combo, so I did.”