LETTER OF THE MONTH
HOLDEN ONTO THE MEMORIES
JUST wanted to say thank you to Street Machine and
Glenn Torrens for interviewing me for the Monday
Mourning sidebar in your Holden production line yarn
(SM, Dec ’17). It was a privilege to be able to tell my
working life story from among the thousands that
have worked for Holden.
Building cool cars like the Monaro, GTO, SS, HSV
- and the not-so-cool, like Toyota Lexcen – is only
part of the story. It’s the people I worked with over
the years that made Holden the best place to work,
and turned a ‘I’m just staying a year or two to make
some money and I’m going’ gig into what I thought of
as a job for life. From the management down to the
casuals, I’ve worked with some top people. I can’t
name everyone but I’ll never forget my first team from
the 1995 Final Assembly Group 517 arvo shift – ‘The
Wog’, Greg, Attilio, Tony, Daniel, Andrew and Kevin - who taught me so much about cars and life.
Here are some pictures of my car, which was built
in September. I just wanted to say thanks boys for the
memories: Hamish, Dusty, Azza, Bubba, Jorge, Adsy,
Steedsy, Dave and Gaz.
Thanks for the great mag that I’ve been enjoying
for 29 years now.
Andrew ‘Gumpy’ Willoughby, email
WHAT A BEAUTY EH?
ABSOLUTELY devastated reading about
the closure of Holden (Blowin’ Gaskets, SM,
Dec ’17) but gee whiz, how good is the EH
Holden on the cover? There’s people that
change things to be different and then there’s
people like Ben Judd who only change things
to make it better. In an age where show cars
have blacked-out chrome, matte-finish paint
and airbag suspension, it’s so refreshing to
see an EH with a hot six with Webers, bench
seats and leaf springs that’s just put together
perfectly! The interior is so well designed (the
floating bench seats are amazing) the colour is
fantastic, and the wheels finish it off perfectly.
It’s the best wagon I’ve ever seen and probably
the best EH I’ve ever seen. I honestly can’t stop
lookin’ at it. There’s life in Holdens yet.
Daniel Peachey, email
RE: BRANDING
SAME old story from a different reader. How
about changing the name of this magazine to
something more general? A big percentage
of cars featured are not street machines –
top machines, yes, but not street machines,
and never will be! This year’s SMOTY winner,
Gary Myers’s AGROXA, is a fantastic car,
and he is well deserving of recognition for his
creation and workmanship. But it is not a street
machine. His win has stopped some genuine,
registered, real street machines from vying for
this prestigious award. Maybe split the award
into sections if you must; include drag cars,
burnout cars, etc.
This is not only my opinion; I am sure
thousands of your readers would agree.
Gripes aside, it’s still a great (the best) Aussie
car magazine.
Terry Boyle, email
BOSS ADVICE
REALLY enjoying the Street Machine and
LSX Tuner mags this year, great work. Could
you put me in contact with Chris Bitmead
with the 1976 Falcon? I’m looking for some
tips on how they modified their seats with
built-in seatbelts.
Tully Davies, email
THE seats in XBOSS were sourced from a
CL500 Mercedes (same as SL500), which are
engineered with the seatbelts built in. We ended
up using the frame and seatbelts only as we
wanted to re-shape and re-trim the seats. To
accommodate the seats we had to strengthen
the floor of the car where the seats bolted down,
and the engineer I used provided advice on what
was required for the strengthening.
I understand that some older Range Rovers
and Saab vehicles also have seats with the
built-in belts. Hope this helps! – Chris Bitmead
YOUR STUFF
Write to: Your Stuff, Street Machine, Locked Bag 12, Oakleigh, Vic 3166 or email [email protected].
Make sure you include your address (not necessarily for publication). Keep it short and sweet!
DECEMBER 2017streetmachine.com.austreetmachine.thinecom.aufacebook.com/streetmachinemagazinefacebo
$10.95NZ $11.95 incl GST incl GST
TO THE
OLD HOLDENS
NEVER DIE!^
RAZOR-SHARP EH
PUSHES THE ENVELOPE
FUTURE
TOTOTOTT
BACK
DECEMBER
2017
WILD EH WAGON
2000HP TWIN-TURBO BBF
FAREWELL HOLDEN
(^) CRAZY KIWI LX HATCH
DRAG WEEK
(^) HUMBLE HQ MONARO
GARY MYE R S S M OTY HAT-TR I C K
TWIN-TURBO LX HATCH: STREET-LEGAL IN NZ!
,!3BD0A6-aaibej!:L;
M
TWTW
600 CUBIC INCHES OF
TWINVALVOLINE STREET MACHINE OF THE YEAR -TURBO FORD POWER
AUSSIES AT DRAG WEEK KING OF THE STREET
FAREWELL HOLDEN
2000HP
!
I t l R S a s o t a G a
ook.com/sook.com/sm/streetmachinettreetmachinemtreettmachinemamachinemamagazingazingazinezinene
TTTT
RBO LRBO LXHATCX HATCH: SH: SSS
(^00) N^0 - -TUTUTTUURBOURURBBO EA
LINE STREETAUSSIES MACHINEAT DRAG DRAG OF THE AG WWEEK WEEKYEA````KINNG OF 200 NZ $11.95 incl GSTDECEMBER 2017$10.95 incl GST streetmachine.com.austreetmachinereetma hicom.aucfacebook.com/streetmachinemagazinefacebook.com/s/treetmachintmachinemamagazigazine TO THE OLD HOLDENS NEVER DIE! RAZOR-SHARP EH PUSHES THE ENVELOPEPUSHES THE TOTOTOTTTHEHHHEFUTURE BACK DECEMBER 2017 WILD EH WAGON 2000HP TWIN-TURBO BBF FAREWELL HOLDEN CRAZY KIWI LX HATCH^ DRAG WEEK (^) HUMBLE HQ MONARO GARY MYE R S S M OTY HAT-T RICK TWIN-TURBO LX HATCH: STREET-LEGAL IN NZ! ,!3BD0A6-aaibej!:L; M TWTW TWIN600 CUBIC INCHES OF -TURBO FORD POWER
VALVOLINE STREET MACHINE OF THE YEAR AUSSIES AT DRAG WEEK
FAREWELL HOLDEN
`KING OF THE STREET
2000HP!