RETURN OF THE HULK

AN 80s ORIGINAL IS BACK PROWLING THE STREETS OF SYDNEY

- CRAIG PARKER

CRACK open the Aug-Sep '85 issue of Street Machine and you'll be hit by a wave of Gen-X nostalgia so strong, you'll swear you can smell the Impulse body spray. On the cover is Geoff Paton's King Rat LX hatch - our first nine-second feature car. Inside is the enginebuild story for our HQFORU giveaway car, a Plankkman comic strip, and even a couple of scantily clad models.

Included in that mix is Darryl Smith's HG Kingswood, which he called DS-497, a Malachite Green stunner that boasted 80s street machine cred up the wazoo. We're talking wide 12-slot rims and fat BF Goodrich rubber tucked behind pumped guards, just for starters. There was a shaker scoop through the bonnet, a Premier front end and leather trim for a touch of a class. She was tough too, powered by a grumpy, high-comp smallblock, backed by a Muncie four-speed. Tough enough for 9.50s over the old Oran Park short track, in fact.

Dubbed the Green Hulk, the HG scored plenty of trophies during its show career and a heap of ink, too. Besides the SM yarn, it also got a spread in Street Heat, more than a few newspaper articles and was the main feature of an exposé on the street machine scene in the April 1987 issue of Penthouse.

Darryl was the president of the HK-HT-HG Street & Custom Car Club, and a highly active one at that, staging a series of successful Holden vs Ford-themed shows in Sydney's west.

While the HG has been in hibernation for almost 20 years, it's once again prowling the streets of Sydney. We caught up with Darryl's son Trent to find out more.

Your dad has passed, Trent?