Silver Bullet
Street Machine Magazine|May 2017

Packing 574Hp, This Glistening, Heavily Modified Two-Door Fj Is The Jewel In Pro Customs’ Crown.

Carly Dale
Silver Bullet

MAN, this FJ is the bomb!” I accidentally say out loud, to no one in particular. I’m out scoping cars for both business and pleasure at the Adelaide Auto Expo, and I’ve just spotted a heavily customised humpy glistening under lights. This silver FJ is a fusion of new and old, with all the classic custom FX-FJ tricks – chop top, flip bonnet, rollpans, recessed number plates, two-door conversion – but in a classy, modern-style build.

I feverishly hunt around but can’t locate the owner. Thankfully, there are prominent Pro Customs flags right beside the beast, so I’m soon in convo with Anthony Lanzotti and his talented Pro Customs team, the builders of this amazing ride.

With a build of this calibre, there’s only one place to start, and that’s with a bare body. Anthony says they had the added fun of starting with a tinworm-infected example that had also received its fair share of knocks over the past 60-odd years. Thankfully they planned on binning a heap of it anyway, then modifying the rest.

Very little of this humpy remains untouched. The roof’s been chopped two inches, for that on-point, custom FJ look. Working lower, the Pro Customs crew have welded the back doors shut, then extended the fronts by 150mm using infill panels.

The forward-tilting bonnet kit is an AutoLoc product, but it required some serious tweaks to work with the FJ’s curvaceous hood. “The kit was designed to work with a flat bonnet, so it took a lot of mucking around to get it to work properly on the FJ,” Anthony says. “There are guides and rollers at the front and there was a lot of trial-and-error involved, but the owner really wanted it, so we went through the process. It probably took around 100 hours all up.”

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM STREET MACHINE MAGAZINEView all
ROYAL CARRIAGE
Street Machine Australia

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

time-read
2 mins  |
July 2024
DEBUT TOUR
Street Machine Australia

DEBUT TOUR

WITH A SCREAMING HOLDEN SIX, DEAN TROUNSON'S HOME-COOKED HR STEERS WITH THE BEST OF 'EM

time-read
3 mins  |
July 2024
FULLY FRANKED
Street Machine Australia

FULLY FRANKED

A SNEAKY 670 HORSES OF FRANK MARCHESE POWER MAKES ROB GORGIEVSKI'S CONCOURS XW A PROPER TREAT

time-read
4 mins  |
July 2024
NOMADIC LIFESTYLE
Street Machine Australia

NOMADIC LIFESTYLE

DON'T BE FOOLED BY ITS DEMURE APPEARANCE THIS '57 CHEVY NOMAD IS A RAUNCHY RESTOMOD PACKING MODERN MUMBO

time-read
4 mins  |
July 2024
PERFECT 10 '!!!!
Street Machine Australia

PERFECT 10 '!!!!

THE SYDNEY HOT ROD & CUSTOM AUTO EXPO TURNS 10

time-read
3 mins  |
July 2024
VAN WILDER
Street Machine Australia

VAN WILDER

PETER MARRIOTT BUILT THIS TOUGH, 350 CHEV-POWERED HK PANEL VAN IN TRIBUTE TO THE LONG-LOST HT VAN OF HIS YOUTH

time-read
4 mins  |
July 2024
EXPRESS DELIVERY
Street Machine Australia

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.

time-read
4 mins  |
July 2024
RED HOT & BLUE
Street Machine Australia

RED HOT & BLUE

A REBORN PROGM8 SHOOTS FOR THE TITLE OF AUSTRALIA'S BEST SHOW-AND-GO COMMODORE

time-read
4 mins  |
July 2024
PEOPLE LIKE US
Street Machine Australia

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).

time-read
2 mins  |
July 2024
DRIVING INNOVATION
Street Machine Australia

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

time-read
2 mins  |
July 2024