Category: Feature Cars

Feature Car: Darryl Penton's Toyota Hilux

Slammed and Blown Toyota-V8 Stunner

I got the chance to photograph Darryl Penton’s blown V8-powered Toyota Hilux minitruck for the 2024 Street Machine Yearbook. This truck has been an ongoing labour of love for Darryl for some time and it is riddled with detail.

From the snake-belly stance provided by the airbags and big billet wheels filling the massaged guards, to the smooth bodywork and swapped front end, the truck looks the business. Check out the smoothed tray area, too.

But step inside the you’ll see a Summernats-ready show interior that’s matched by a smooth and stout blown Toyota V8, proving this machine isn’t just for looks.

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Feature Car: Peter Bonassi's Holden Commodore

Blown and Injected 420ci SBC

What has 980hp, 22x13in rears and a ton of attitude? Peter Bonassi’s Holden Commodore, that’s what.

This VK was Peter’s dream car from his mid-teens, bit it took almost a decade to make his dream a reality. It’s not every day you find a small-block making this kind of horsepower, either.

My photo shoot was featured in the 2024 Street Machine Yearbook. Enjoy a few photos of the car here.

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Feature Car: Chris Schembri's HT Monaro

Blown Dart Iron-Block 408ci LS

It was great to see my photo shoot on Chris Schembri’s HT Monaro finally make it into the December 2024 issue of Street Machine. I’d shot it several months prior in a newly finished shed that belonged to a friend of his – both the car and the shed looking a million bucks apiece.

Powered by a supercharged iron-block 408ci Dart LS, this classic Aussie coupe is absolutely no slouch and Chris isn’t afraid to bury the boot in it.I don’t think you can ever get sick of HK/HG/HT Monaros, can you?!

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Feature Car: Mark Caruana's HK Holden

Flawless 700hp N/A Beauty

Mark Caruana found a unicorn when he stumbled across this genuine 11,000-mile survivor that had already been through one ground-up resto. A truly ‘only driven on Sundays’ situation, much of this car’s interior is actually original!

It was a quick build, with the final rush from painted shell to Summernats taking just three short months. Find a copy of the November 2024 issue of Street Machine to read all about it.

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Feature Car: Al Vella's Ford Capri

1000hp 468ci N/A Carbon-Bodied Racer

Al Vella is no stranger to drag racing or to Street Machine’s Drag Challenge. But his latest Capri build will decimate everything he’s achieved before, thanks to its monster 468ci naturally-apirated small-block build and light weight carbon panels.

Making a stout 1000hp, this little British coupe runs on 15x14in rear wheels and 315 radials. Despite all the horsepower and racing influence, the car has been beautifully finished, with the panel work handled by the talented crew at Image Vehicle Manufacturing.

My shoot was featured in the November 2024 issue of Street Machine.

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Cover Car: Simon Kryger's WB Holden

632ci Big-Block Patina Sleeper

Simon Kryger’s WB Tonner was a first for Street Machine. The magazine has never run a car quite like it on the front cover before and may never do so again.

Powered by a nitrous-sniffing 632ci big-block and underpinned by a number of drag-oriented chassis and suspension upgrades, this machine looks like it just got done with 40 years of tradie work… and in many ways it has.

Get up close and you’ll see most of the patina on this thing is legit. Original paint, original steel tray. Look closer though and you see the tray floor is now a digital print of a photo of the original tray. The brown vinyl trim actually hides a pair of Kirkey race seats and matching brown painted roll cage. The reverse-cowl scoop is covered in a beautifully executed vinyl wrap featuring matching rust spots and well-matched pale yellow.

The shoot was featured on the cover of the October 2024 issue of Street Machine.

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Feature Car: Simon Fawcett's 1946 Chev'

Aussie-Built '46 Chevrolet Truck

Simon Fawcett and Karen Savage’s 1946 Chevrolet truck is a rare machine – an Australian-built ute that boasts numerous stylistic points unique to the model.

Built by the teams at Image Vehicle Manufacturing and Woods & Woods, the car has been some 12 years in the making and the results are incredible.

It’s also about the fifth or sixth car I’ve photographed from the IVM stable. The photo shoot was featured in the October 2024 issue of Street Machine.

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Feature Car: Chris Palazzo's Mopar Pair

Killer Barracuda and Charger Combo

Sorry folks, I’ve been a bit slack with updating the blog lately. Let’s get things re-started with some style here: Chris Palazzo’s killer pair of Mopars as featured in the October 2024 issue of Street Machine!

What is there to say about these two, except that both crawled happily enough through afternoon traffic to our shoot location and backagain without drama 🙂

Looking sleek and menacing all at once in their straight black paint, both machines grabbed bulk attention on Sydney roads.

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Feature Car: Garry Rosser's Holden Tonner

6/71-Blown 383ci Holden V8

In a world where most classic Holdens seemd to be powered by the now ubiquitous LSx family of alloy V8s, Garry Rosser’s delectable WB-fronted Holden tonner runs a beuatifully-detailed and supercharged 383ci Holden. 

I travelled out to the Central West of NSW for a couple of days to photograph a few cars for Street Machine magazine and captured Garry’s newly-finished tonner at the same time. We scored some lovely weather and the warm afternoon light brought out the best in the candy red metallic paint.

The shoot appeared in the June 2024 issue of Street Machine. 

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Feature Car: Anthony Saf's VK Commodore

Blown LS-Powered and Blingin'

I last ran into Anthony Saf some eight years ago when I photographed one of his earlier builds (also a VK) for the front cover of Street Commodores magazine. Both cars have distinct personalities, however both are powered by supercharged LSx-variants.

Whereas the last car was a comparatively subdued-looking gunmetal HDT-clad beast with an LSA-style forced induction setup, this latest build takes a custom Brock path – although it’s well-enough removed from being a Blue Meanie clone to keep things interesting.

perhaps the biggest element with this car is the use of gold plating and lowrider-style engraving, as you can see in the photos.

My shoot appeared in the May issue of Street Machine.

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