RETIREMENT. For many, it’s the opportunity to slow down a bit, take it easy. Maybe buy a four-wheel drive and a two-storey caravan for a leisurely road trip, getting in the way of truckies on the way to somewhere like Birdsville or Broome.
Or, if you’re a car nut like Queenslander Russ Scougall, you could use your impending retirement as the motivation to build a twin-turbo Valiant Charger capable of chasing eights at Drag Challenge!
The appeal of Chrysler Australia’s coupe has been with Russ for a long time. “I was 10 years old when the Charger came out in 1971,” the plasterer explains. “My uncle was a flamboyant sort of fella; he was a cane farmer and he bought one new. My dad collected it for him, and for a month before my uncle got it, I was the coolest kid in town!”
Childhood influence lasts for life, eh? “It’s been a bit of an obsession,” Russ agrees. “I bought a Charger from a car yard in 1990. Unfortunately, I had to sell it, but later, when I turned 40, my wife surprised me with a Charger R/T – a genuine E38.” Happy birthday!
“It was a great car,” Russ recalls. “It had won a few trophies; it was a concours winner the first time it was shown. But after a few years, I began hankering for a bit more power and fun than the six-cylinder, so I sold it.”
The CL Charger you see here is its replacement, bought from an acquaintance as an unfinished project a few years after the birthday R/T was sold. “It was in boxes,” Russ says. “It was cheap. But we built it up and put it back on the road with a naturally aspirated motor.”
The result was trophy-worthy; the Charger scored a Top Aussie Coupe gong at a Mopar Sunday back in the day. Then the almost inevitable chase for power began.
Esta historia es de la edición July 2023 de Street Machine Australia.
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Esta historia es de la edición July 2023 de Street Machine Australia.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
ARBY’S EFFORTS TO IMPROVE HIS VG VALIANT’S 60-FOOT TIMES YIELD PROMISING RESULTS IN THE RUN-UP TO STREET MACHINE DRAG CHALLENGE
ANIKA HODGES
THE CAR DROVE INTO OUR SHED AS A CREAM 202CI VC AND DROVE OUT AS A SILVER CAR WITH A 355 V8
STAGE FRIGHT
IT TOOK OWEN SCOTT MORE THAN 20 YEARS TO BUILD A TROPHY-WINING, 600HP EH HOLDEN UTE THAT WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME
THE Ummmal SUSPECT
FORGET WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT MINI-TRUCKS. THIS SUMMERNATS TOP 60 HILUX IS A PROPER STREET MACHINE
FULLY UTILISED
HARDWOOD ROD & CUSTOM TURNS DARREN ISON'S HAND-ME-DOWN HT INTO A SMOOTH OPERATOR
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
ARBY’S EFFORTS TO IMPROVE HIS VG VALIANT’S 60-FOOT TIMES YIELD PROMISING RESULTS IN THE RUN-UP TO STREET MACHINE DRAG CHALLENGE
PEOPLE POWER
WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT 36 YEARS OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS - AND MOST DEMOCRATICALLY AWARDED - HONOUR IN OUR SPORT: STREET MACHINE OF THE YEAR
OUT-AND-OUT MAYHEM
STREET MACHINE DRAG CHALLENGE IS ALREADY A ROLLICKING GOOD TIME, BUT WHAT CAR EVENT CAN'T BE MADE EVEN BETTER BY ADDING A BURNOUT COMP? INTRODUCING OUR INAUGURAL RODS OUT!
BAD TO THE BONE
THANKS TO HIS SON, ANDY, THE LATE MARIO COLALILLO’S 39 PLYMOUTH COUPE IS BACK ON THE ROAD AND STILL ONE OF THE BADDEST HOT RODS IN THE COUNTRY
THE CHALLENGE IS REAL
FROM TRACK DRAMAS TO SOARING TEMPERATURES, DRAG CHALLENGE 2024 THREW US SOME OF ITS TOUGHEST TESTS YET, BUT IT ALSO BROUGHT SOME OF THE QUICKEST TIMES THE EVENT HAS EVER SEEN
