Golden Palomino

NEARLY 40 YEARS AFTER IT FEATURED IN STREET MACHINE, JANET HOUGH AND VICTOR REILLY'S 1966 MUSTANG IS STILL ON THE ROAD AND STILL TURNING HEADS

- CRAIG PARKER

JANET Hough and Victor Reilly own and run Bucket Panels in Moorabbin, and have been together for over 43 years. Throughout their journey, Janet and Victor have remained diehard hot-car fans. They also had a lot of fun racing Honda Odysseys for many years, plus a bit of touring on their Harley-Davidson. And while a number of cars have come and gone, the one street machine that has steadfastly remained is Janet’s beloved 1966 Mustang. Having first featured the bright yellow fastback in our June 1986 issue, Street Machine couldn’t resist catching up with Janet and Victor to see what the three of them have been up to over the ensuing 37 years.

You’ve owned the Mustang for a very long time!

JH: Our daughter Raewyn is about to turn 40, and I’ve had the car since before she was born. I never thought I’d be able to afford a Mustang; however, a mother had gone guarantor on a car loan for her son, who’d stopped making payments. She just wanted out of it, so I was able to pick it up in ’83 for just $3500. VR: We did the original build at Bucket Panels. Jan initially wanted it to be black, but we convinced her to paint it yellow, and it’s stayed that way ever since.

It certainly did very well at its first outing. 

JH: Yes, Top Coupe and Top Ford at the ’86 Nationals. We nearly didn’t make it. Towing it up to Canberra, the trailer got the sways and nearly jack-knifed. We went across the road and off through some trees before coming to a stop. Luckily, we managed to get it back on the road. VR: This wasn’t the first time the car was nearly destroyed. It was almost finished for the ’84 Nationals when it suffered an engine bay fire, which almost burnt it to the ground. 

What about after the Nationals?