Taking an iconic Aussie classic car and enhancing it while simultaneously retaining the essence of its style is a Herculean task. It requires a balanced eye, plenty of grey matter, huge amounts of talent and drive, and a big pair of stones.
Melbourne’s Dean Rickard knew this when he started the genre-shifting build of his HT Monaro back in 2016. It’s a car so finely detailed and thoroughly re-engineered that it threatens to redefine what we consider a street car. The beautiful finish means it can slay at shows, but it is built to be driven long distances like a pro tourer, and yet it looks like a mildly modified classic.
“I had an HT Premier that I had done up, but it wasn’t quite as good as what I wanted,” Dean says. “I started looking through Street Machine for who was building the best cars and saw Down Town Kustoms’ FC ute and figured that was along the lines of what I wanted, which was to have an HT Monaro but to update it. I wanted to take the original style but modernise it.”
After deciding the cherry six-banger, three-on-the-tree HT Monaro was too clean to cut up, Dean found a tatty 307ci GTS in Albury that would make a perfect base for the build, and dragged it up to Taree for DTK to take a look at.
“The focus of the build was to make it 100 per cent HT Monaro but modernised and updated, without losing the flavour and style the HT Monaro has,” says Down Town boss Graeme Brewer. “Every single piece, no matter where or what it was, was removed and studied so we could modernise it, and that led to a huge amount of work.
この記事は Street Machine Magazine の January 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は Street Machine Magazine の January 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
ROYAL CARRIAGE
BENNY ROYAL TOOK A FAMILY HEIRLOOM TOYOTA CORONA, SHOVED A 1JZ IN IT AND HEADED OFF FOR FIVE DAYS OF DRAG-AND-DRIVE
DEBUT TOUR
WITH A SCREAMING HOLDEN SIX, DEAN TROUNSON'S HOME-COOKED HR STEERS WITH THE BEST OF 'EM
FULLY FRANKED
A SNEAKY 670 HORSES OF FRANK MARCHESE POWER MAKES ROB GORGIEVSKI'S CONCOURS XW A PROPER TREAT
NOMADIC LIFESTYLE
DON'T BE FOOLED BY ITS DEMURE APPEARANCE THIS '57 CHEVY NOMAD IS A RAUNCHY RESTOMOD PACKING MODERN MUMBO
PERFECT 10 '!!!!
THE SYDNEY HOT ROD & CUSTOM AUTO EXPO TURNS 10
VAN WILDER
PETER MARRIOTT BUILT THIS TOUGH, 350 CHEV-POWERED HK PANEL VAN IN TRIBUTE TO THE LONG-LOST HT VAN OF HIS YOUTH
EXPRESS DELIVERY
IF YOU'VE ever been to the Bright Rod Run (and you damn well should've), odds are you've seen Joel Beatson lapping in an early Falcon.
RED HOT & BLUE
A REBORN PROGM8 SHOOTS FOR THE TITLE OF AUSTRALIA'S BEST SHOW-AND-GO COMMODORE
PEOPLE LIKE US
WHEN Michael Gonzalez isn't busy making eight-second passes in CHOCTOP, his street-driven, LSA-fed VC Commodore, or cruising one of the many other cars in his collection, he can be found managing Springmount Raceway, home to Far North Queensland's biggest horsepower hoedown, Northern Nats (see p. 48 for full feature).
DRIVING INNOVATION
EVER WISH YOU COULD HAVE A BRAND-NEW VERSION OF AN ICONIC 1970s AUSSIE MUSCLE CAR, FULL OF THE LATEST TECH? DRIVE SOUTH IS WORKING TO MAKE THAT A REALITY