Street Machine Australia — June 2017

SNAP SHOTS

STORY SIMON MAJOR

A

S HEAD honcho of the Brisbane-

based Asphalt Demons car club, it’s

a given that Bill Taylor should have a

history (and a shed) filled with tough

cars. After many years spent tinkering away

on all manner of cool rides with his late father

Dennis, Bill continues the tradition, building

and maintaining the family fleet with son

Ashley. Whether it be Ford, Mopar, Chev or

even Morris, Bill sets his sights on respecting

a particular era and building cars to suit.

01: AT 17, Bill’s first daily driver was an HQ

sedan with a hot red motor. “I lost my licence,

so I figured I’d spend that time dropping in a

worked 307 Chev; you know, the old: ‘I can’t

drive for a year because of speeding so let’s

make it quicker’ thought process,” Bill laughs.

“Years later I went to a car show in Nambour

and saw a chopped Chev and thought it

would make a cool daily, but early-50s Chevs

and Fords were too dear. Instead I found

this ’54 DeSoto for two grand and drove it

home. Over the years I lowered it, frenched

the headlights, gave it a two-door conversion

and a cranky 383 big-block, fitted new tail-

lights and chopped it six inches in the front

and nine at the rear. Dad and I sat a Mercury

Hot Wheels car on a ladder in our line of sight

and used that to get the proportions right! I

eventually fitted a stock 318 and airbagged

the rear, and that’s when the car was at its

best; it was easy to drive and so much fun. In

2015, after 17 years of ownership, I sold it to

a guy in Victoria.”

02: IN 2009, Bill’s dad – “my best mate,”

he says – passed away. “For a while after I

needed to steer clear of an empty passenger

seat, so I bought this ’68 Harley Sportster

running an ironhead donk and a rigid rear end

conversion. I changed the colour from British

Racing Green to metallic blue, swapped

out the rear fender and seat for something

cooler and fitted an old drive-in speaker for

an air cleaner. It was a ball to ride; loud and

obnoxious and manoeuvrable like a bicycle. I

swapped it for a 1960 Chev Apache pick-up,

which I later sold to fund my ’36 coupe.”

03: IN 2011, Bill was strolling through eBay

looking for a Valiant panel van project for his

son, when he stumbled across this 1968

Plymouth Barracuda notchback. “I fell in

love with it straight away,” he says. “It looked

tough with the Center Lines and jacked-up

rake, so I rang the owner and did the deal.

It was a bracket racer in the States with an

angry 340, 727 trans and 8¾-inch diff, and

had been gutted and covered in stickers. I

completely rewired and tidied it up for street

use, adding a black velour interior with mesh-

headrest Recaros to lock down an 80s-style

muscle car look. It’s currently being resprayed

in gloss black and will return with a Hemi

bonnet scoop.”

BILL TAYLOR

REDCLIFFE, QLD

STORYSIMON MAJOR

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