The Wheels Thread, are you into cars and bikes?

  • Never had one mind you...my cars and trucks have always been on the modest side...but for what I always considered US Muscle cars, the 1972 Chevy Nova SS always did it for me! Followed closely buy the 1971 Chevy Chevelle.

    "‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’”

  • 1970's muscle cars rule!

    I used to own a HT Holden Monaro V8 and a 327 V8 Chevy Impala. Ahh that V8 rumble. Music to your ears.

    Sorry guys, no pics.

    A once favourite past time was to follow motor car racing when they used to race cars that had some resemblance to what you could buy in the showroom.

    Go Brockie! King of the Mountain

    Edited once, last by 12x7 (October 24, 2015 at 9:26 AM).

  • Seeing as I helped inspire Wayne to start this thread, I figure I'd better post.....

    No pics at present, as I'm at work, but I have 2 very different areas of interest: Vintage Chevs, and "plastic muscle" - 80's Brock Commodores.

    But in reality anything with 4 wheels is good. Seeing the clubman cars brought back memories of helping a (late) mate build a Caterham7 replica in the early 90s - started with a Toyota 4AGE 1600cc motor, and eventually went to a Leyland 4.4L alloy V8. I got a Delco ECU and VN commodore injection working on that for him.
    He also dabbled in trikes powered by 90s Subaru Liberty 2.0L turbo engines - the whole front cradle holding the engine & box made it an easier conversion (just had to lock up the steering). Another project we did was an EFI 5L Holden V8 into an LT2000 Celica. Stock on the outside, but upset everyone at the lights....and there was the rusty 180B we dropped an FJ20 2.0L turbo into, with a crude early aftermarket management system that you adjusted with screwdrivers in the trimpots...


    I've always been into Commodores - the early ones, mainly because of Brocky's success at Bathurst in the early 80s, and the legendary road cars that spawned from it. I have owned numerous VB-VL Commodores over the last 25 years - mostly SLE & Calais variants, with the shadowtone VH being my favourite.

    In the garage I have a couple of VL Brocks - a Group A (for my wife) and a 5.6L Calais Sport. One has a polarizer, the other doesn't :P
    I also have an ex-Commodore Cup VH race car (253/4 speed) that hasn't been to the track in some 4 years, but will go back..... There's a couple of '28 Chev coupes we imported from California we're hoping to one day make one good restored one from, but in the meantime I make do with driving the in-law's Chevs.

    It's been in my wife's blood for years too - when I met her she was driving a nice VH Commodore, and she's stuck with them - her current daily is a 6.0L Calais-V.
    Her father had a string of 50s thru 70s Holdens, and to this day still buys Statesman & Caprice V8s (they tow the car trailer well). He got into Chevs as a teenager, and never looked back - owning about a dozen running cars, and several dozen barn finds he bought & sold over the years. He's now got 2 vintage chevs & 1 veteran.

    My wife's first car ride (home from hospital after being born) was in the back of the '34 Chev (in the late 70s), and he brother repeated this a few years later. Because she grew up with them, she's never really been keen on owning her own Chev. Her brother however, has always liked the early 0s Chevs, and would love a 409 bubble coupe.... closest he got was when he had a nice 50th anniversary '62 Belair sport coupe - 327/powerglide/factory air - it came from the same museum that the 1915 Chev was in (noted in another post), and was originally sold by Bale Chevy in Little Rock AK. It was so original that the paper label for the aircon instructions was still stuck on the centre glovebox lid! He sold that a few years after he got married - but he kept his other '62, and Aussie-assembled sedan - originally a 283 but now sporting a hi-po 400ci SBC, turbo 400, and about 6 diffs in less than 3 years....


    And my daily - it's a Ford. So no, I'm not one-eyed, but you should have picked that from earlier on in this post.
    It's of the first liquid-injected LPG FG Falcons (LPi) that Ford released in mid-2011 - a brilliant system that was locally developed.
    I had the inside news on it due to my company's involvement with Ford at an R&D level back then, and held out for it. I was so impressed over the 3 years I ran it as a company car that I bought it off lease last year. Best tow car I've owned - tows 2.1T (trailer & car) and gets 20-22L/100km. Cheaper than a diesel 4WD, and far more comfortable.

    We're losing a lot of talent with the local car industry closing it's doors over the next 2 years.

    Weber Kettle Fanatic....
    Main go-to: Blue 57cm OTG
    Fire restriction option: Black 57cm M/T butchered with a Weber gas conversion.
    GMG DC for the lazy smoky cooks.
    Weeknight special: Q200
    Problem? What problem? :P

  • Oh boy, that Plymouth looks just like my 54 Chev. I'll have to dig out some old pics.

    Big Green Egg - Asmoke Pellet Grill - Weber Kettle - Maximus Pizza Oven - Dragon Hibachi - Ziggy Portable - baby kamado - Grillz 2 burner - Cobb BBQ - Converted Gas Bottle Spit - Charbroil Grill2go - Anova sous vide - Digi Q controller - plus Tip Top Temp - Smokeware cap - Grill Grates

  • Competed in the first 24 Hours of LeMons event in Australia over the last few days.
    The event is for cars worth less than $1000. I competed in a Hyundai Excel & the littler car that thought it could carried the team to a creditable 3rd place.
    Made some new friends, had a blast on the track and have a new found love of a little Excel

  • cool Steve, that must have been a blast! There used to be a bike race event called Bucket Racing. The bikes were limited to a low dollar amount and basically buckets of ****

    We tried to get a 4wd version going amongst the club's around Perth but it never got off the ground. Just thinking about it still have the MK patrol on 35s laying up the back of the block.

    Cheers, Wayne

  • Competed in the first 24 Hours of LeMons event in Australia over the last few days.
    The event is for cars worth less than $1000. I competed in a Hyundai Excel & the littler car that thought it could carried the team to a creditable 3rd place.
    Made some new friends, had a blast on the track and have a new found love of a little Excel

    Nice, those Excels were under rated cars. My wife (she was my GF at the time), got her first Teaching job in Karratha, and bought her first car, a Hyundai Excel. That thing did a few trips between Perth and Karratha, some of them at low level flying speeds. But the big moment for me was fishing the back of Karratha station and not realising the in coming tide looped behind me and I had to rock hop out. It did it with no damage. Had 260k on the clock when sold out of the family and apart from servicing, never had a cent spent on it.

    Great car.



    Traeger - Weber Family Q - Ziggy Twin Burner - Charcoal Grill - Akorn Kamado - Hark Tri Fire - Jumbuck Pizza Oven - Go Anywhere - Asmoke Pellet Grill - Hibachi Grill - Anova Sous Vide x 2

  • That's right - they are quite a reliable, and economical set of wheels. Very much under-rated.
    I really believe that model is what got Hyundai a secure foothold in Australia, which led to greater things.

    I owned one of them once, and several friends had them over the years. Across about a 7 year period every time a friend or work colleague asked what car to buy their son/daughter as a small first car for a limited budget, the 3rd generation Excel was often the choice - as reliable as a Corolla, at half the price for the same condition & year model. Most went on to step up to a Corolla or Mazda3, and have fond memories of their Excels. None of them ever had any major issues beyond regular servicing and the odd wear & tear item.

    Weber Kettle Fanatic....
    Main go-to: Blue 57cm OTG
    Fire restriction option: Black 57cm M/T butchered with a Weber gas conversion.
    GMG DC for the lazy smoky cooks.
    Weeknight special: Q200
    Problem? What problem? :P

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