TRENDS in modified-car culture ebb and flow, but something that has never waned in popularity is a finely detailed street car packing later-model engineering.
Steve and Kathleen Alldrick's Deluxe Rod Shop is renowned for building such exquisitely finished, re-engineered masterpieces. Their track record of unveiling cars at events like Street Machine Summernats, Motor Ex and the Victorian Hot Rod Show speaks volumes for the quality of their work, but even Steve was taken aback by how their latest build was received when it broke cover at Summernats 34.
"I really thought people would think it was just a nice old Holden," he laughs. "We were unloading it in the Elite Hall on the Wednesday and had all these people like Mick Fabar and Peter Fitzpatrick coming up telling us they thought it was the best car we'd ever built."
The car in question is Kevin Baird's FX Holden, which appears at first glance like a stocker riding on plus-sized wheels. However, there is a mind-boggling amount of engineering hidden under the handmade panel skins.
"Kevin waited a year to get his car into the shop, and when I went to look at it I ended up poking holes all through it, and he was like, 'Oh'," Steve laughs. "He'd got it from country SA and paid okay money, but it was just rooted. Kevin is a farmer, and the FX was so bad he was selling cows to pay for all the metal we had to put into it!"
Once the humpy was parked in Deluxe's Yea, Victoria headquarters, the team wasted no time in gutting it and setting out a plan to get rid of the rot and work on some mechanical upgrades. "The goal was to have it identifiable as a humpy Holden, so it started off that Kevin wanted the rust fixed, a 202 chucked in and a Rod-Tech front end fitted," Steve explains. "That became a 308, and then a small-block Chev. I told him how much we'd have to cut to fit the SBC and that an LS is 40mm shorter."
Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Street Machine Australia.
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Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Street Machine Australia.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
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
