Wayne Ruckley's was the Middle Eliminator Australian champion in 1969. He was the first in an un-blown gas dragster to break into the 9 second zone with a 9,66 pass at Castelreigh drag strip in NSW. This model depicts the car as shown in this popular CIG welder advertisement commonly seen in Australian Hot Rod Magazine in the early seventies. Power came from a Chevy 327 with a Bruce Phillips injection system.
All the fuel injection was scratch built , the headers were hand from copper and brass, all steering and suspension arms are made from hand polished piano wire. The rear wheels have real aluminium outer rims and the inner wheel was scratch built from 17 individual parts. Seatbelts, buckles and steering wheel were all scratch built. Decals were made on the computer and all the body graphics airbrushed with hand cut chrome trim. This model is in 1/16th scale.
Graham Withers was an avid drag racer in the sixties and early seventies best known for his hard charging Top Fuel Front engine dragsters which he seemed to crash on a regular basis. Graham ran a successful speed shop in Melbourne’s East which catered for the serious petrol-heads. On November 18, 1967 Graham recorded the first 7 second pass in Australia with a 7.87 pass at 186 mph, at Surfers Paradise International Raceway in Queensland.
Runs a Chrysler Firepower 392 Hemi with GMC 6/71 blower and Scott injection system. In 1/16 scale this model represents how the car looked on the front cover of The Australian Hot Rodding Review in December 1969. Valve covers and fuel injection are aftermarket resin, all steering and suspension arms are made from hand polished piano wire. The rear wheels have real aluminium outer rims. Seatbelts, buckles and steering wheel were all scratch built. Decals were made on the computer and all the body graphics are hand cut sign writers vinyl. Many other hand made parts went onto this model as well.
On December 30th, 2000 Jim Read broke the elusive and magic 300mph (483 km/h) mark on Australian soil with a speed of 301.40mph. Since 1970 Read's career has been one of constant achievement including 16 times Australian National Champion, 11 times Australian titles (The Nationals) and 9 Winternationals. He has held every Australian Top Fuel record at least once in his career.
This model is in 1/25scale and represents how the dragster looked at the record breaking Willowbank meeting. This model is fully wired and plumbed with many scratch built parts and computer made graphics and decals.
After the 1970 collapse of the centre span of the Westgate bridge in Melbourne the wide freeway leading to the bridge was left sitting unused for several years, and Graham Withers thought it would be a perfect place to stage a Top Fuel exhibition. In 1974 Graham sponsored an American Top Fuel driver over to Australia with the intention of putting on a demonstration on an unfinished section of the freeway. While waiting for government red tape to be cleared, he put the car on display in front of his speed shop.
The exhibition never eventuated and after a period of time the car’s owner, the infamous Don Garlits sold the car to Graham. I used to frequent Graham’s shop in the late seventies and met Graham on several occasions whilst passing my hard earned dollars over his counter. Graham gladly invited me to sit in the famous Don Garlits Swamp Rat rear engined dragster, an experience that still lives with me today.
Model is in 1/16th scale with lots of scratch built parts and decals. Wire wheels on this model are hand made with each spoke individually fitted.
The Shaker Monaro is widely recognised as Australia's first true Funny Car. Originally the chassis and Chevy 327 powered drive train sat under an FX Holden but the motor was upgraded to a Chevy 396 and dressed in a gorgeous HK Monaro shell. The Shaker was frequently seen at prestigious Hot Rod shows as well as being a regular competitor on the drag strip. The real car has recently been fully restored to pristine condition by Garry Martin the son of one of the original trio of owners.
This 1/25th scale model has a fully handmade brass chassis, real alloy front wheels, resin Monaro body shell with a scale 2" roof rake. All the fuel injection was scratch built , the headers were hand from copper and brass, all steering and suspension arms are made from hand polished piano wire and there is a multitude of scratch built parts. All the body graphics and decals were made on a computer and hand cut prior to laying on the green metallic body.
Door Slammers. Successive ET and speed records place Australian Door Slammers the best of class worldwide. Based on a production body with a purpose designed race chassis and 511 cubic inch supercharged, alcohol injected Hemi engine. This 1/25scale model is representative of a HT Monaro based Door Slammer with various parts from five other model kits used to complete the build. Fully wired and plumbed including the air shifter system for the Lenco three speed transmission, again the headers were hand from copper and brass.
Graeme Cowin has been a household name in Aussie drag racing circles since the early 70's and he has campaigned some of the most beautiful and top performing Fuel Altered, Funny Cars and Dragsters. This model is 1/25 scale version of his Fuel Altered "Psycho 3 ". starting out with a MPC Wild Wilie Borsch kit the bucket body was modified to match the Cowin style of wheel arch openings. The chassis was stripped of the moulded in side panels and a new scratch built front suspension assembly was made including coild over shocks with real springs. 392 heads from the "Miss Deal" Studebaker were added to aftermarket valve covers. All plumbing and wiring was added with heaps of scratch built parts including real aluminium engine pulleys and a scratchbuilt fuel tank. Wheels and tyres came from the Polar Lights "Hawaiian" kit. Aftermarket side canards were added along with a heavily modified kit top wing. All decals were made on Powerpoint and printed onto Testors decal sheet using a HP 5550 Deskjet printer.
