When Mark Tunzelmann needed to shift his dirt bike around, he bought a ute. He just never intended it to cover the quarter in 10-seconds.

The ute started out just as a way of carting my dirt bike around,” claims Mark Tunzelmann. I’m pretty sure he’s having a laugh. Turns out he’s not.

“It stayed pretty standard for the first couple of years of ownership,” he says, almost apologetically.

Figures. There’s no way someone could use a boost-snorting, 10-second-capable 2004 Holden Commodore VZ ute as just a bike carrier.

Small steps

It’s a cliché, but modifying a car generally leads to a lack of coin and an end result you never thought you’d own the key to.

Mark also started with modest intentions. The original changes were low-key by modifying standards, comprising just an air intake, exhaust and a tune. While the gains weren’t ground-breaking, they were enough to have the LS1 mule delivering an easy 266kW at the wheels. (more…)

People build and own V8s for various reasons. Some like the challenge of an intense, full-time build. Some like to tinker away in the garage on a 10-year-long project in an effort to hide from the missus. Others, like Southlander John Abbott, don’t mind skipping that part out altogether. As the owner of Charlton Auto Imports, John has been importing cars and car parts from the States for quite a while now. His main trade involves on-selling those goods to waiting New Zealanders, but occasionally he stumbles across something special, something that tickles his fancy just enough that he has to keep it for himself. This 1957 Chevrolet 150 coupe, in brilliant yellow, is one of those. Classic, American Graffiti rod looks, a five-speed manual and a whole lot of supercharged small block Chevy power at a fair price — that was just too good to pass up.

Running a 427 cubic-inch Chev Motown block sitting inside a smoothed and de-loomed engine bay, the big Chevy coupe snarls up an angry 650hp at the crank, which is more than enough to get the old girl moving. Internally, the motor runs a Scatt crank, pumping tough H-beam rods and forged pistons. Up above, Edelbrock has supplied a pair of high-flowing Victor JNR heads and thirsty twin carbs, which have a healthy dose of air sucked through them thanks to a whining 6/71 supercharger. A big Holley pump matches the large amounts of force-fed air with the right amount of fuel before an MSD 6 ignition system ignites the mix. Finally, a set of free-flowing Doug headers feed waste gases out into a simple exhaust system travelling out to the rear of the car. (more…)

When a normal Cobra just doesn’t do it for you any more, what do you do? Build yourself a Daytona with a twist of boost, of course.

Im the ultimate Cobra fan,” says Keith Lane, the creator of this beautiful supercharged Daytona. He’s not kidding ”  the swoopy hard top coupe is his third Cobra.

“Number one is still in the shed but soon to be sold to pay for the Daytona, number two was a race car that met its demise at Pukekohe Park Raceway and this is number three,” he reveals.

So what drives a guy like Keith to the cars? “I used to have British sports cars ” Triumph TRs, Austin Healys and the like, but the Cobras are just something different.” If a common-or-garden variety Cobra is different, then Daytonas are really something else.

The story of how this car came to be is a lot longer than it should have been. In theory it would have been on the road about six years ago, all going to plan. But when the body first arrived from America in 2002, Keith was bitterly disappointed. “The doors and bonnet didn’t fit and the rear wheel arches were a different shape to each other,” he says. And that was merely the tip of the iceberg. The fact the car wasn’t a kit as such, in which all parts were provided, also adds a great deal of complexity.

(more…)

After searching for the original Chevrolet Corvette station wagon show car for four decades, American John Bolsted decided to build his own ” but better.

Fifty years, or half a century if you want to make it sound even longer, is a hell of a decent stretch of time to hold on to an obsession. Most people simply don’t have the staying power to stick with a dream for that long, but then California-based retired fireman John Bolsted is not most people.

It was 1954, and John was a young freshman at high school. “I was flicking through a Life magazine, and came across an advertisement for AC Spark Plugs,” he recalls. “The ad featured an image of a car like nothing I’d ever seen ” the Chevrolet Corvette Nomad. I wanted that car so badly, and spent the next 40 years looking for it.”

It seems at first as though John must have been looking in all the wrong places, considering his four decade-long unsuccessful hunt. But the truth is, despite the various rumours and hoaxes that pop up every now and again, that particular concept car ” and the four other examples made ” were most likely destroyed by Chev before the 1950s were even over.

(more…)

These are the first official pictures from FPV showing the Super Pursuit, GT, GT-P and GT E.

Power comes from the 5.4L Boss 315 V8 which generates 315kW/422hp (hence the Boss 315 name) and 550Nm/406 lb-ft of torque. A Tremec TR6060 6-speed gearbox is available across the full range.

The V8 range consists of:

• FPV Pursuit – V8 ute
• FPV Super Pursuit – V8 ute with more stuff
• FPV GT – V8 sedan
• FPV GT-P – Premium version of the GT
• FPV GT-E – the equivalent of the Force 8 (more subtle styling – a sleeper)

Click any of the images below to view them larger.

Information and photos of the F6 range of turbocharged inline-6 models is available here.

This ultimate mustang creation started off with an all original $20,000 1967 Mustang Fastback from Arizona. The car was torn completely apart and sent out for media blasting. Upon its return, the car was mini tubed and then an amazing amount of body modifications were designed and constructed.

Here is this amazing list:

The lower side scoops were reshaped and depth was added with meshing behind. All new steel ground effects added more contour and a more aggressive appearance to the stance. The concave taillight panel was removed for a more aggressive flat panel then overlaid with carbon fibre.

A new center body peak was created that runs from the front leading edge of the hood to the back of the trunk lid. The drip rails were completely removed and replaced with a knife like leading edge. A new exhaust opening was cut in the rear lower part of the quarter panel.

The entire engine bay was smoothed and then reshaped using steel and aluminum. A new custom radiator and core support was built with a much different duel fan system. The new Wilwood triple master cylinder was mounted in a custom 3-inch recess in the firewall.

The stock bumpers were trimmed in width and height to pull them closer into the body and better match the profile for the new designed front and rear. All aluminum side/rear belly pans were designed and created.

Now for the complicated modifications: The entire lower front valance was designed, carved in foam for fitting and then sent out to Gemini Technology Systems for a mold to be made. The hood and truck lid were first made in steel and then sent to Gemini as well to have molds made. Once the molds were completed, Gemini then hand laid a carbon fiber composite material to make the final finished pieces. More than 400 hours went into both the hood and the truck lid finished metal pieces prior to molding. Upon final finish all parts of the car were covered in a brilliant Glasurit Copper Burnt Orange metallic paint.

Now that the body was basically completed, the next big parts of the appearance package were the one-off billet machined pieces.

Those include:

* custom hood hinges
* quarter pillar vent inserts
* new taillights
* front lower valance brake ducts
* side grille air intakes
* custom gas filler cap
* hood vents with custom perforated billet inserts
* cowl vents with custom perforated billet inserts
* teardrop hood pins and bezels
* export under hood brace with custom shock tower mounts
* custom radiator fan covers
* custom air cleaners
* billet washers and fasteners for under the hood.

For the interior, custom billet shifter surround, radio bezel, individual gauge pods, shifter knob and switch panel were also made for this car.

The stock suspension was thrown away for Chris Alston’s total control front suspension with high tech rear mounted steering, plus Chris’ subframe connector system to eliminate flex under hard driving conditions. This system links the front and rear subframe connectors (weld-in) with a bolt in center crossbar.

The front suspension was then fitted with AirRide Shockwaves for the proper stance. The rear suspension is a custom Currie 9-inch (fitted with 3.55:1 posi gears) mounted to a triangulated 4 bar also fitted with AirRide Shockwaves.

The brakes are massive Baer two piece 15 inch front and 14 inch rear rotors mounted to Baer 6S forged 6-piston MonoBlock calipers fitted with Sport Touring ceramic brake pads.

The rims are IForged racing 3 piece wheels with black powder coated centers mounted with Goodyear Run Flats.

The motor and transmission for this amazing creation were from Roush. The motor is a 427 cubic inch small block named the 427IR. It starts off with a Dart Iron Eagle block stuffed with high-end components and Roush aluminum heads fitted to a Roush custom 8-stack fuel injection and ECM. This package produces about 560 hp and 540 ft. lbs. of torque.

The transmission is a beefed up Tremec 5 speed with a Mcleod duel-disc clutch. Exhaust is a custom ceramic coated 3-inch wrapped with heat shield and connected to Spintech mufflers.

The interior in Copperback was also rework considerably. An entire new dash fitted with a hydro formed carbon fiber process and leather eyebrow were created to house the Ford GT switches and Honda push button start button, billet gauges pods mounted with one-off Classic Instrument gauges and Eclipse head unit with billet surround.

The custom center console was fitted with the one-off billet shifter surround (carbon fiber insert) that houses the AirRide controller and the power window switches. The console also houses the e-brake handle. The seats are Recaro with Schroth racing belts mounted to the same processed carbon fibre roll bars. The rear seat was deleted to allow for mounting of the custom made roll bars. The carpet is English wool while the headliner is all suede. The rest of the interior is black leather. This is the ultimate Mustang and if you want to make it yours, it’s on sale for US$219,000 at MW Classic Inc – see www.mwclassicinc.com.