The MotorEx show descended on Olympic Park again this year with more high quality builds being debuted, returning cars, bigger Real Street display, trade stands, Shannon’s auctions and one of the biggest international guests yet. The show is now run over three days, with Friday the House of Kolour cars, ten other cars and two bikes unveiled.
This year’s guest was none other than legendary car designer Chip Foose of Foose Design. He has won America’s Most Beautiful Roadster 7 times, Goodguys Street Car of The Year 8 times and the Riddler Award 3 times. Has his own TV show called Overhaulin’, used to work for Boyd Coddington and has worked on movies. Throughout the three days he was doing numerous meet and greets, drawing demos, autograph signing and generally getting swamped by people.
Nathan Borg debuted his Datsun called HRDWRK that was built over eight and half years. Running a custom built turbo 13B good for 700hp, tubbed rear, 20″ wheels at the front and 22s at the back, airbag suspension and custom interior.
The ALL IN 1968 Camaro was immaculate. Used the colours of orange and white throughout the car perfectly. Engine is another twin turbo creation: 510 cube Dart block with twin 72mm Borg Warner turbos.
Interior colour is called Jaffa Orange.
Seems twin turbo engines were the big thing this year. MPW performance had their VK running a twin Turbonetics setup on an LS3 Engine.
The ATTACK 1956 Chevrolet monster had a 632ci big block and two 90mm turbos mounted on it. Power output is around the 1500hp mark!
Other owners like Mark Arblaster went down the big block route with a 500ci Chrysler big block good for 1758hp @ 7500RPM, and 1260ft/lb of torque at 19 psi.
One car that has not been seen in a number of years is the OVAKILL magna. Used to be a big car on the Autosalon show series a few years ago, with a custom chassis, airbag suspension, 390hp COME engine, custom interior and many more custom mods.
Another totally original custom car is this 1954 Divco milk truck. Looks nothing like a milk delivery truck anymore. Had a 40cm roof chop, right hand drive conversion (used to be stand up and on the left), 700hp 8/71 blower small block (used to have 54hp), airbag suspension, Italian leather re-trim and 20×22 wheels.
Keeping with the original car theme, here we have a 14/16 concept car by Woods & Woods in Woy Woy. A hand made aluminium four seat coupe body, 14 litre V16 1-piece aluminum engine block and custom 24×10 wheels.
1BADFJ was back this year looking as good as ever. It’s a 1955 FJ coupe that has been roof chopped, body dropped, on airbag suspension, with an LS1 motor and wrapped in House of Kolor tangelo.
A big thing with the Elite cars is the theme of the car. This XY Falcon Tourer called 427 RR had its theme executed perfectly. The use of black & white, silver & chrome was easy to see. Engine bay, wiring, brakes, suspension were all sprayed or chromed to match. It featured a stroked 427ci motor, Alcon front and rear brakes, custom made exhaust system, 20×8 front and 20×12 rear wheels and many more custom touches.
A modified 1978 Ford Escort panel van is not something you see modified to this level. Highlights included a smoothed engine bay & undercarriage, 1-piece tail gate, Dakota digital dash and honeycomb leather.
Peter Fitzpatrick had his Trilogy 1959 Holden FC on show again. This car is six-times Summernats Grand Champion, 2011 Street Machine of the Year, Meguiars Superstars Champion of the Decade and House of Kolour award for prestigious painter. The list of modifications to this car is far too extensive to write down, so lets just say that not much of the original FC remains.
Peter also brought along his 1934 3 Window Coupe built as a “daily driver”. Hah!
Adam LeBrese had his 1978 XC GS Hardtop on show again. Hand made tube chassis, F1-inspired aero tube suspension, airbags in front, air can in rear, 393ci stroked Cleveland engine, quad Webbers and a whole bunch of custom body, interior and engine modifications.
The PSYCHO 1986 XF 2-door Falcon from Tasmania was back again for 2013. Street Machine cover plus a number of other awards have been bequeathed on this car. Has a roof chop, two door conversion, handmade front & rear bumper, one piece tail light assembly, hand made seats, and a touchscreen PC in the custom built dash. That is just the start with this car.. It also has a remote controlled bonnet & boot, suicide doors and undercarriage detailing.
Mick Fabar brought out two of his award-winning cars this year. Here we have RAWR, a 1933 Ford coupe. The concept behind this car is to blend V8 Supercar, Shelby Mustang and an F-111 fighter into a hot rod. The car sported a fabricated ignition system, 557ci engine good for 736hp, hand fabricated trumpets, suicide doors and a lot more.
The car Mick debuted last year was the 1967 XR Falcon called ZEROD, the 600hp eco-friendly muscle car. The engine is a recycled 7.3-litre Ford Powerstroke turbocharged V8 diesel truck engine that runs on biodiesel and has been put together using waste materials and recycled components in an attempt to achieve a carbon footprint of zero. Every external body panel on ZEROD is second-hand, as are the nuts and bolts, and its hand-stitched black leather interior trim is made entirely from hide off-cuts and seconds that are normally thrown out.
Another debut car for 2013 is this 1968 Dodge Charger built by Custom Bodyworks, Knights Panelwork, GD Racecars and Protrans Performance Automatics. The inspiration behind this car was to bring a hot wheels car to life from a toy.
Put on a rotisserie and sandblasted, all of the car’s body gaps were re-shaped to fit perfectly and sprayed in custom HOK candy burgundy and burple paint. All the running gear, suspension and undercarriage was painted in HOK galaxy grey with a saturn clear. Engine is a 426ci Hemi capable of 1000hp using 8/71 blower on top, mini tub, tunnel, floor pans and firewall fabricated from sheet metal.
More to come in the next installment!