What's the hot rod world in Australia like?

I lived in Kalgoorlie in the very early 80's man and that combination is a very good indication of the time!
Melbourne would be my pic but all the cities are great.

 

Holden V8 based on a buick? it's news to me, any liturature to support your claim there Doc. The holden V6 is based on a buick/ is a buick, and the Rover/Leyland p76 V8 is based on the buick, but to my knowlege not the253/308 and the later 304.

 

Hey Mc Fly! Whats wrong with a early monaro? I smell a B&S toser in the camp!

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rj_qeiX_-2o

 

ha ha thats funny

 

I'll have to do some digging to find where i read that. I know the 6 was but I also read the 253/308 was Buick based.
Doc.

 

I just did a google search Doc, it was the only Australian designed V8.
Check out this link http://holdenpaedia.oldholden.com/index.php/The_Holden_V8
Also a good link to anyone who is interested in checking out some holdens. Here isa link to pre V8 holdens, just scroll to the bottom of the page and select desired model.( they are in order,FX being the earliest, in 1948.http://holdenpaedia.oldholden.com/Main_Page

 

You'll find that the holden v8 was based on the oldsmobile small block......

 

check this guys page out lots of stuff to see. Valla and Wintersun are good week long shows to check out. I reckon its the best place in the world to live
cheers

http://www.pepsgarage.com/index.htm

 

I lived there in '79-'80, but I was only 12 years old. It actually had a pretty cool scene with heaps of cars cruising up and down Hannan Street. I still vividly remember a few of the nicer cars.

 

I knew it was a copy of someones motor, yeah........ Like Holden could be original

 

Sorry to hijack the thread, but i have been looking at holden V8 history trying to find some proof of the holden V8 being based on the olds / buick or whatever, I am happy to be wrong, but has anyone got any evidence to support this? thanks Moondog

 

I have heard it said that Texans are about the closest thing to Australians. I have Australian hot rodder friends living in Texas and they are of mixed minds whether to stay or return------gain some----loose some! You would not find it too hard to adapt and you would be welcomed.
Try a holiday first.

 

I like Texas. Would live in Austin in a heartbeat if the opportunity came up.

 

do you guys have the Toyota Hilux with the 3.0L turbo-diesel...we have the Tacoma, which is not as good looking and doesn't come with the fuel sipping powerhouse diesel.

what about the rest of the small cars and utes...are there many turbodiesels or not?

 

As far as the hilux goes i believe that we do get that engine.
In regard to turbo diesel utes and small cars there are plenty of japanese turbo diesel utes, and more and more small turbo diesel cars are becoming available.

 

My dad wrote the history of holden since 1917 and is currently written the monaro story i'm pretty shore his his proof and that holden engineers sort of tricked holden / GM into building they own V8.

 

26trackt here are some links to both the Australian ford and chrysler offerings over the years from 1960 onwards. ford http://members.iinet.net.au/~tmedcalf/Falcon/falcon.html
chrysler http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/car_info_chrysler_valiant.htm
hope you find this info helpful

 

Time to start building a check list that will make the best of the trip. Rough plan.... Ship over something interesting to cruise in (a beater), hit a rod run or two along with some tourist stuff, pass my beater off, & come home.

You guys seem to be fairly hungry for good US material...I should be able to take advantage of that. I'll need to get it sold before I return...someone should be able to take advantage of that. Could be a win/win deal.

1. We need passports
2. Air fair will be roughly $4k
3. Lay out a map & rod run schedule.
4. I'll need an Aussie driver's license
5. I'll need to round up a slick beater. two door hardtop early to mid '60s sound good?
6. What will it cost to ship a car & what is involved?
7. I wonder if I can drive a car in Australia (or NZ) with current Texas plates & sticker. It's cool in Mexico (& Canada) & vice versa.
8. Where are we going to hit the ground over there? I think Carla would prefer NZ. Melbourn seems logical. If I drive 100mph...Brisbane is 10 hours away & Adelaide is only 5. We could drop everything in Tasmania & make hot laps until we run out of gas.
9. Who's going to show us around?
10. I'm pretty sure I have three days vacation comming up.

How many millions of other things do i need to find out & get done for this visit?

 

Don't worry about a license. Get an International License, or if your current DL is photo ID, then you should be OK. Pretty slim chance of getting pulled over, they just take photos and send you the fine in the mail these days...

 

ha ha drive 100 mph thats funny.
we have very angry and stupid people called policemen here, and they love nothing better than booking speeding drivers. (limit is 100 ks.)
Bringing a car over is a good idea though, def. a coupe or two door sedan. you wont be able to drive it on US plates as far as i know.
three days? yeh that'll work...

try at least three weeks.

 

100mph ... 100ks ... What's the differance?

 

Brisbane is more than 10 hours from Melbourne, Sydney is about 10 hours. Adelaide is about 8 Hours I think. If your planning on going allot faster than the speed limit, you will need to sit behind someone thats doing the same and use them as an indicator of when to back off. Or the fuzz could come up behind you in an unmarked...............
You cant drive your car here on US Rego/tags.
Its not as easy as dropping in with your car and off you go. You need to get a raodworthy cert, then make a booking to get your car looked at at the Vic roads, and 'IF' all that goes smooth, you will need to pay about $600 in Rego and on top of that transfer fee's and the like. All that after you pay about 3K to get it shipped here........PLUS TAX
Depending on the car, you may be able to off load it pretty easy, if its a good price, and if its not too odd ball, people here tend to stick to fairly common makes, nothiing out of the norm. I am trying to sell a 55 Lincoln Coupe for a cheap price in the coupe range, and no bites.

As for time line, I would get here between late October till late Feb, thats all the large shows and swaps, in Melbourne anyway.

And get a drop bear hat!

 

I don't know what a drop bear is but my Mexican Sombrero beats the sun off pretty good. It also goes good with Mexican blanket seat covers. Tacky yet unrefined.

As for the Cops. I'll just flasm my pearl handle grips to impress them. It'd best to present them handle first. Helps keep the Shiner in the belly.

 

They are like a Koala, but very aggressive, they drop from the tree's on you, they will tear you apart. You only need to worry about them in the summer.

Ahhhhhhh, people have been shot walking towards cops with a shovel on there own land and have been shot, if the cops get flustered, they will shoot. Best leave the shooting irons at home. You need a lic for an air rifle, or even one of those pistols that fire plastic pellets, not hard to get, just allot of paper work.

 

I'm thinking something along the lines of a '65 Impala. You guys should be fairly familure with something like that. Maybe a little bigger than you are used to. It's a good size for a family. 2door hardtops are sporty. Small block V8 should be normal enough with power to spare. Different enough for you guys to turn heads. Normal enough not to be a hassle. They are popular enough here to find maintained drivers.

My Pops has an extra '57 Buick Special two door hardtop. He has everything to put together a solid driver but it's in a million pieces at the moment.

 

The pistoleros are just for stereo typical humor. They can generate holes in the funniest places when you are dealing with humorless folks.

 

I know this two years out, be in was my ride every day for three years

 

If you dig rivers/ water + hot rods give Gold Coast/ Brisbane a go.. Adelaide is nice but dry ( & getting drier ) Great salt lake there ( Lake Gairdner )- google D.L.R.A. Isolated but Better altitude/ salt than Bonneville. East coast - yep, plenty of spots with good rod scene. Sydney stresses me out- Too many, too much. Lots dig it.
Perth has some innovative people- used to have toughest rego- Small but cool scene.
Darwin - like Croc Dundee just hotter & wetter ( so they say ).
Victoria- always been a cool scene- and dig Tassie. Un- Texan weather there though. What Kind of a crust is radiation protection ? We have lots of U.V. radiation down here.
100 km/ h = 61 mph. Cops here have fast Holdens ( G8's ). Our roads are crap. Cheers.

 

Don't count on being able to see much of Australia in three days! I've lived here 60 years and haven't seen anything like as much as i'd like to see!

OK, speed limit is 100-110K (60-70mph) on most major highways. Australian major highways are often only two lanes wide, (one each way) so if you get stuck behind a semi or an old fart towing a caravan behind an SUV you can be driving 40mph for ages. You'll really need to factor in a few weeks to get even a reasonable glimpse of the place.

Bringing an old car with you could be more trouble than its worth. Yes, a 65 Impala hardtop with SBC would be a desirable car over here, but you may get nabbed by the tax man if you try to sell it when you leave. They may well make you pay a security deposit on it when you bring it in, just to stop you doing that. There's also the issue of registering it here. Our safety regulations are pretty tough, and it'll need to be in 'as new' condition mechanically at least before you can drive it. Over 25 years old is OK for LHD, but how will you cope with the double whammy of driving an LHD car in RHD traffic? You might be better off either hiring or buying a beater when you get here. A nice clean, air conditioned 6 cylinder wagon will set you back a couple of grand, and you'll recoup all or most of that if you sell it when you leave. It will certainly be cheaper to buy an old bomb here and sell it for scrap than it would be to import a car from the US just to drive around for a few weeks.

Cheers, Glen.

 

Sor

The Holden V8 is uniquely Holden no other GM than Holden motor source. The motor was designed around the six cylinder and that why a 253 has same size pistons rocker gear etc. (on Buick parts or Olds). Holden engineers wanted to build they home grown motor said they told GM it was cheap to build has they where using parts they already had, They also told GM that the 253 was lighter that the chev, but they didn't tell GM that the 253 had alum. water pump and intake. But that was all history has the 308 as is own parts. Dads got the paper work to prove it. Ed Silins was the chief designer, and of course GM design direction can be seen. Dad is going to use some of this in his monaro book
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