Here’s part two of our coverage of a bumper Meguiar’s Great Uncover at Street Machine Summernats 38, where over 20 car where seen in public for the very first time!

You can read through part one of our coverage here, and below is a jam-packed part two!

MELISSA GOW – 1969 DATSUN 1600

Melissa Gow’s lovely little Datto 1600 follows from her husbands LSA-powered Datsun 1200 ute, also in a similar yellow and built to take on the Meguiar’s Top 60.

The car has a unique story with the family, Melissa’s husband Clayton having a minor bingle in it several years ago. The Datsun with then sold and is now back with the family, fully rebuilt with a billet 13B G35 turbo that will be 600hp capable.

Inside, they’ve gone crazy with billet touches throughout, Brent Parker Motor Trimming executing his finest work. SDR Motorsport went to town on the engine bay, whilst the outside the couple have elected for a bright lick of yellow to mirror Clayton’s 1200 ute.

ANGUS PIROTTA – 1971 HG MONARO

The HK/T/G era Monaro continues to be one of Summernats favourite shapes, with the hall gleaming with countless swept rooflines of the late-60s/early-70s muscle cars. 

Despite the bright Sunset Pearl paint, Angus Pirotta’s HG Monaro exercised outstanding restraint. It runs a blacked out ProFlo-built 8/71 charged 406 cube small block governed by a Fueltech that has spun all the way to 900hp on the engine dyno.

The blacked out engine is matched with a black interior that Angus insists is inline with the car’s future as a regularly driven street car. “We’re going to drive this car so everything has to be practical.”

CHRISTOPHER CAMPBELL – 1931 FORD MODEL A DELUXE

Canberra local Chris Campbell rebuilt his Aussie-assembled Ford ‘31 Roadster with his own two mits, right down to the paintwork! “I wanted to build a very much period hot rod, so there’s nothing made past 1948 on this car,” he says. 

Chris bought the car with his old man eight years ago, and has been working on it on and off since. Five months ago he was invited to unveil the car, and some late nights in the lead up the SN38 got it across the line. 

Being a period hot rod, the powerplant is a 1939/1940-spec Ford flathead V8, with Edelbrock heads, EM7 high rise manifold and a baby camshaft. It’s backed by a traditional three-speed cog swapper, and originality goes down as far as the original NOS hub caps and Firestone tyres!

PETER XIBERRAS – 1982 HOLDEN VH COMMODORE

Peter Xiberras’ VH Commodore isn’t a Brocky tribute, it’s a faithful and thorough restoration of the very first vehicle to ever claim multiple Bathurst victories. This very vehicle is the car that battled The Mountain and carried Peter Brock and Larry Perkins to Panorama stardom, cementing both men as legends of the sport and making this vehicle a piece of Australian motorsport history.

“When you’re doing a resto you can hide all the damage but that’s the DNA of a racecar like this. We haven’t filled every hole and erased the car’s history – for example this car was before airjacks were common, so if you look under the sills you can still see the marks from jacking the car up!”

“This car is truly 1 of 1. There’s no other car in the world that can claim what this car has done. I just love the history. What this car achieved made so many of the later HDTs, like the Blue Meanies for example, popular. The wreath on the rear quarter of a VK Group A celebrates two of this car’s victories!”

MICK SAMMUT – 1939 CHEVROLET SEDAN

Not content with the 680hp HQ Monaro that also fills his shed, Mick Sammut enlisted ProFlo Performance to piece together one of Summernats 38’s most unique vehicles. A 1939 Chev isn’t the vehicle most Street Machiners reach for when they think of building a tough cruiser, but for Mick, the styling was impossible to go past.

“I love the high roof, bubbly style of the Bomber era cars. There’s a big scene for them in America, but I wasn’t going to simply leave it ‘low and slow’!” he insists.

Styling wise, the car is intentionally traditional with period-correct pastel green paint that rests low over whitewall tyres thanks to the airbag suspension. Inside the car, Mick was careful to respect the car’s heritage, but it’s a neat and practical interior that’s comfortable enough for family cruising on the weekend.

A stroked LSA bottom end is mated to a naturally aspirated top end, and breathing through a carby, the Chev’ makes a healthy 630hp.

LEE & ANNA POVEY – 1987 HOLDEN VL COMMODORE WAGON

Lee and Anna Povey has unleashed a new era of Povey-inspired VL violence on the radial world, ripping the covers off Anna’s Duramax-powered VL wagon.

And while a VL wagon might not instantly inspire fear in the hearts of your enemies, underneath the skin is a tried and tested recipe for drag and drive savagery.

The 6.6L Duramax has been stroked out with a billet crank, rods, worked heads and a beefy camshaft. The Duramax now weighs in at just over 7L and is controlled by a MoTeC engine management system, tuned by one of the great diesel drag gurus in America. 

Behind the coal-roller is an M&M lock-up ProMod Turbo 400 and a 40-spline full sheet metal diff with a 9.5in centre and a carbon fibre tailshaft, all designed to fight the grunt of the torquey Duramax.

“Our plan is RockyNats, MotorEx, Red Centre Nats, Jamboree and try to do all the shows with it while it’s pretty, and start racing it in 2027. I’ve crewed for Lee for years, now it’s his turn!” exclaims Anna.

MATTHEW ELLARD – 1974 TOYOTA CELICA 

Summernats 38 wasn’t wildly different for Matthew Ellard of Image Vehicle Manufacturing. He spent days detailing and setting up customers’ cars as per usual, however this year in his spare time he also set up his own 1974 Toyota Celica for debut.

Matt has owned the car for quite some time, and in recent years has turned his attention to finishing off a long-term rebuild which sees the car running a 3T-GTE Toyota four-cylinder engine, the impeccably tasteful integration of a Tesla Model S interior and – as you’d expect from the Image crew – outstanding custom metal work and luscious paint and panel.

The cherry on top is the ride height, with the car slung low over staggered billet wheels.

JOE KURTOVIC – 1933 FORD COUPE

Joe Kurtovic’s 1933 Ford Coupe was one of a handful of 30s era unveils at Summernats 38, and like its peers, was a delicate balance of period correct styling with modern power and performance.

“We’ve owned the car for 25 years and in that time it’s been a street car, a drag car, a short-lived burnout car and now this final version as a 1970’s style Fuel Altered,” explains Joe.

The engine is an exotic nitro-sniffing 392 cube Hemi plucked from a racing boat, converted back to suit the rod with some changes to the cam’ and compression ratio. A Reid case Powerglide fronts a trick Winters quick change rear end that’s been converted to full-floating 40-spline axles.

The team were down to the wire, suffering a small mechanical failure 14 weeks out from the event and only finished piecing the car together in the Hall on Wednesday afternoon, 24 hours before the covers came off on Thursday!

CLINT STEVENS – VS COMMODORE UTE

Clint Stevens has owned this VS Commodore ute for nearly two decades, and ever since the day he got it he envisaged ripping the covers off it at Summernats!

After going through a few Holden V8 iterations the car broke cover at Summernats 38 with a 350 cube Chev nestled between the towers, with a 6/71 blower and injection hat towering over the small block.

The car spent a few months in Victoria with Showtime Customs and Fabrications who fitted one of their narrowed coilover front ends and a fabricated 9 inch rear end to the ute, allowing Clint to run the 22 inch Simmons measuring 7 inches on the nose and 12 inches on the rear. 

“It can be challenging to do something different with a modified Commodore so we just constantly tested ourselves to push the boundaries,” he adds

MATT MIZZI – 1948 CHEV PICK UP

Matt Mizzi’s Chev Pick Up proves that nothing exceeds like excess. Everything about it is supersized, and he’s the first to admit that’s the car he always wanted to build.

“The car was always destined to look like this, just not as shiny! It was never supposed to go this far but after we settled on the wheels, stance and the engine, it kept evolving.”

The 14/71 supercharged big block Chev’ has had the ProFlo magic wand waved over it, and spits out a brutal 1750hp at the crank on 30psi chugging methanol.

The glorious paintwork was one of the final pieces to the puzzle, with the burgundy panels glowing under the Elite Hall lights.

JASON HOLT – HOLDEN COMMODORE VH SL/E

Seeing the covers come off his VH SL/E Commodore wasn’t just the culmination of years of hard work, it was the final chapter of a story that began in the early 2000s before Jason’s brother – the car’s original owner – tragically passed.

“He and I used to speak about his plans for the car, and when he passed it became mine. We did a few little projects to get it to a state where we could use it for my wedding,” adds Jason who is a lifelong Summernats fan, and after years of attending he decided a fitting tribute to his brother would be seeing the VH SL/E sitting alongside some of the nation’s finest builds.

The subtlety of this build is the real winner – mods so tiny and expertly executed that only the best trained eye could pick them up, like the deletion of the rubber weather strips around the chrome SL/E bars.

Under the bonnet, a Hi Torque-built LS is topped by a whopping 3100 Harrop huffer, and makes a healthy 1000hp at the hubs.

DEJAN STOJANOVIC – HOLDEN HK MONARO

“I’ve wanted to build a car to unveil at Summernats my whole life!” begins Dejan Stojanovic as we press for more information on his HK Monaro, and exactly what kind of insane attention to detail it takes to get a car like this, without an insanely detailed undercarriage, rubbing shoulders with the scene’s best.

“The goal was always clear – to shave the engine bay, tidy up the paint and panel and pay a lot of attention to the engine. I always wanted it to be custom,” adds Dejan.

The Monaro looks absolutely sublime finished in a bright silver paint that fits like hand-to-glove with the red trim. An EFI 406 cube small block fronts and Turbo 400 and 9 inch, but it’s the suspension choices that tip the hat to the family’s intention to street cruise this stunning piece of Aussie muscle.

“It’s got a 4-link in the back and a Rod-Tech front end with coil overs all round and a remote mounted Astra electric power steering pump,” adds Dejan.

COLIN LEE – 1936 FORD 5-WINDOW COUPE

Colin Lee’s 5-window Coupe is the result of thirty years of Colin’s passion for hot-rodding, and his time spent crewing for the Gatt family and their race cars,

“The engine combo’ is very similar to what we ran in the Gatt’s XA,” says Colin of the 8/71-blown Clevo stuffed in to the front of the Coupe. “The Turbo 400 gearbox came out of Ben’s Capri, but we’ve obviously freshed it up,” he continues of the Ford’s spicy driveline, which finishes with a fabricated 9 inch between the rear wheels.

The race car theme extends in to the extensively caged interior, broken up by mirror polished sheet metal for a shine that rivals the sizzling orange paintwork.

“I like the Pro Street cars from the 80s like Owen Webb’s XY so the styling is part gasser, part Pro Street,” adds Colin.

PETER LIVERSEDGE – HOLDEN HG WAGON

The advent of diesel-powered street machines may very well be here, as parked alongside the Povey’s ballistic Duramax-powered VL drag and drive car was Peter Liversedge’s HG wagon, also bursting at the seams with Duramax fury.

“My first car was a HT Premier wagon and I’ve got a lot of good memories with them, so four years ago we picked up this HG,” explains Peter of the fascination with the longroof.

Pieced together with his good mate Brian, he admits the pair had their doubts about whether the giant sooty donk would ever see the inside of the HG’s engine bay, but with nothing to lose and plenty of grinding discs the duo mated the HG with its new coal-fired heart and accompanying Allison transmission. 

Detail abounds in the rest of the build, and the styling is a vibrant and tasteful explosion of browns, beiges and bronzes – precisely as modern as a car of this era deserves to be.

LUKE SWIFT – 1971 HOLDEN LC TORANA 

Luke Swift’s story is one that echoes throughout the Elite Hall, and indeed all of the wider Street Machine scene. “I thought I’d bought a neat base for a project but as I started pulling it apart, it revealed its secrets!”

Luke enlisted the help of his detail-oriented Dad and his engine builder brother, who between the two of them did a fantastic job of disregarding Luke’s original plans for the car to be a ‘neat street car’!

The car dazzled in the hall as a blown 404 cube LS-powered, Pro Street-inspired street car with detail abounding, but Luke was adamant that the minute the tyres touch terra firma again, they’re getting turned in anger!