THE FLYING BRICK

THIS WEAPONS-GRADE VOLVO IS A FAR CRY FROM YOUR GEOGRAPHY TEACHER'S BEIGE WAGON

- TAS MCMILLAN

NO, YOUR eyes aren't deceiving you and you haven't been drinking degreaser (we hope). You're looking at a Volvo in the pages of Street Machine! Fret not, Sash Avramoski's 242 GT is no trainspotter's resto with matching-numbers sparkplugs and factory diff oil; the street-and-strip wheel-and-tyre package hints at what's really going on here.

Sash's list of previous cars is as long as your arm, with highlights including the XY GS that was his first car, a low-10-second manual VL Turbo, an animalistic F6, a van with a 151dB competition sound system, and a handful of Skyline GT-Rs. In between the home-grown and JDM cars, however, is a fascination with Volvos that stems from a couple that Sash's parents owned. "I've had a 760 and a 740 turbo, but I've always wanted a 242 GT," he says. "Someone had this one for sale in Wollongong - I think I paid $1200 for it and it was a running and driving car. It even had roof racks with a big toolbox on top."

The entertainment provided by the 2.3-litre four-pot and manual trans didn't last very long, and the Volvo soon found itself in the hands of Dex of Probuildfab for a thorough overhaul. "Dex was awesome; he pretty much built the whole car," Sash says.

The Avramoski clan don't seem to own a single car that isn't boosted, so the Volvo's fate was sealed. "It was always going to get an RB30, a 2JZ or an LS," Sash says. "I bought the LS2, as it was supposed to be done up, but when we took the rocker covers off we found ARP studs at the ends of the heads and standard bolts in the middle!"