Street Machine Australia — January 2018

a Mecum auction. It’s the only automatic car;

it’s my wife Annette’s. She didn’t want to drive

a manual left-hand-drive car.

There’s also some later-model stuff here?

We bought the VX GTS new and the Monaro

was a repairable write-off that we fixed up. The

car next to it in the showroom had been set on

fire, so it only had a little bit of fire damage and

only cost us $2500 to fix. It’s got pretty low

kays; only 22-23,000km on it.

The only non-GM car is the Charger. I hear

it’s your favourite.

It’s not necessarily my favourite, but it’s

probably the last one I’d sell off because it was

the first car I was trying to buy – but I couldn’t

find one at the time. I’d seen other Chargers but

I only wanted that colour [Vitamin C]. I’m big on

colour – it’s gotta be right or I won’t buy the car.

It’s a J82 [E38 racing homologation] Bathurst

car with a couple of odd things on it, like no

quarter-windows and flip-out back windows.

There’s still a little bit left to finish it off?

Not too much, just the interior, fuel tank,

handbrake and steering column. Everything is

restored, it’s just got to be put in, but it’s got to

be put in right with the correct screws and shit

like that. If it was a Torana I could do it because

I know where everything goes, but I’m getting

someone else to do it.

Is your wife supportive of your hobby?

Yeah, she’s got a few cars herself. The VL

Group A is hers, the Chevelle is hers and

she’s got a black AMG Mercedes SL65 that

makes 620hp.

You’ve also got the Castrol FMX A9X that

Street Machine gave away in 1987. Have

you put many miles on it?

It had 13.7km on it when SM gave it away

and it’s got 14.4 on it now. I think the previous

owner drove up the end of his street and back

and that was it. The brakes are locked up on it

now and the motor is going to have to come

out because all the coolant has dried up and

crystallised. I’ll get onto it after the Charger

comes back. s

THE CASTROL FMX A9X HAD 13.7KM ON IT WHEN STREET

MACHINEMACHINE GAVE IT AWAY AND IT’S GOT 14.4 ON IT NOW GAVE IT AWAY AND IT’S GOT 14.4 ON IT NOW

Andrew is the proud owner of the
Castrol FMX A9X we gave away
some 30 years ago. Yep, just 14.4km
on the clock! While that’s pretty
amazing, the lack of action has done
the driveline no favours and Andrew
has a bit of work to do on the car