Street Machine Australia — January 2018

SNAP SHOTS

STORY SIMON MAJOR

L

AST issue we were treated to the early

vanning memories of Nick Cockinos and

his mates in Renegade Vanners. This

month we meet some of the vans and

characters that shaped their journey through

the panel van heyday. Nick’s collection of

photos from old-school vanning shows are a

goldmine, so let’s tuck in and take a look. “They

were great times,” he says, “and I’d like give a

special thanks to the Renegade crew: Scott

Wilson (RIP), Peter Mordue, Dave Peterson,

Stuart Flood and John Strachan for their

support and inspiration.”

01: INNERVISIONS is one of Nick’s all-time

favourite vans, with its unmistakeable custom

nosecone and a heap of other cool body mods.

“I really liked the vents grafted into each front

guard, and the blown small-block Chev and

undercarriage were detailed to perfection,”

Nick says. “The owner and builder, Craig

Godbee, found his calling creating interiors

and went on to establish Newcastle Custom

Trim.” Newcastle was a hub for groundbreaking

vans like Innervisions, along with the likes of

Checkmate, Buccaneer, Innocents and Street

Legal.

02: These photos of Dave Marsh’s Street Legal

are pretty special, as they show the van with

plain black paintwork prior to the gold fogging

being applied, and before it was rebuilt with

blue detailing and a blown 308. “Vans like

Street Legal featured true custom bodywork,

not just bolt-on stuff,” Nick says. “Normally at

van shows we’d all walk around and admire

the exteriors but not pay too much attention to

the undercarriages. When vans of this calibre

came along the whole scene shifted and the

underbody detailing left us gobsmacked.”

03: Greg Mercer’s Invader 2001 was the

peak of custom vanning in Australia and

featured gullwing doors, a split-level wagon

roof conversion, custom front end and a cut-

down Porsche whale-tail for a roof spoiler.

The interior was bursting with the latest in

electronic gadgetry, moon-like burnished metal

panelling, and 3000 LEDs. “Invader started

life as an HZ Sandman and ran a Weber-fed

308. It blew us all away when it hit the show
     scene, and the Frank Lee murals were pretty
     risqué for the time – as was most of Frank’s
     work,” Nick laughs. “Mods like the frenched
     aerials and shaved door handles were straight
     from the early hot rod and custom scene, and
     it’s interesting to see how certain styling cues
     morphed from one car scene to the next.”

04: NICK once met vanning legend Fuzz

Heinrich at John Strachan’s business, The

Chrome Exchange. “You wouldn’t meet a nicer

bloke,” he says. “His HZ Sandman, The Wizard,

initially ran a 308, but then returned after a

rebuild in the 80s with tunnel-rammed 429

big-block Ford power. It was a groundbreaking

van that mixed and matched hot rod styling

with vanning, but made it work. The Wizard

epitomises the ‘dare to be different’ approach

that was prevalent in the panel van and early

street machine scene; people came up with a

theme and stuck with it.” Imagine the whinging

purists nowadays if you did that engine

conversion – you’d melt the internet!

05: MANY will recognise this heavily chopped

NICK COCKINOS

PERTH, WA

1

3

1

2