Classic cars Melbourne: HJ Holden ute, Morris Minor owners share passions
From a kebab shop owner’s $140,000 Mercedes to a restored 1965 Plymouth Barracuda, these are the hotted-up and classic cars turning heads on our roads.
Leader
Don't miss out on the headlines from Leader . Followed categories will be added to My News.
Blood, sweat, tears and a whole lot of cash can go into restoring a classic car.
But for rev heads, the final result makes it all worth it.
Melbourne is home to several popular car clubs, with meets and cruises popular across the suburbs.
Glenny Kebabs hosts a regular Wednesday Night Chills car meet at its Forest Hill store, inviting car lovers to bring along their pride and joy.
The Piston Steel Shakedown car group also holds regular car meets, raising money for charity in Melbourne’s outer east.
Meet some of Melbourne’s most passionate classic car owners and find out what makes their ride so special.
BRUCE FRAZER
It may not be a muscle car, but Bruce Frazer’s distinctive 1957 Morris Minor 1000 is still a real head-turner.
The Bayswater man’s distinctive awoonga green coloured car even has a matching trailer.
Mr Frazer, who is part of The Piston Steel Shakedown car group, said the Morris Minor got a great reaction when he took it for a spin, and people loved the colour.
“It’s a fairly unique car; to my knowledge it’s the only trailer of its kind in Australia,” he said.
“It’s a very popular car; mainly because of the colour.
“It’s a bit of head-turner.”
Mr Frazer bought the car from Colac a couple of years ago.
The trailer was built about 35 years ago, and his friend did it up to match the car.
Mr Frazer said the Morris Minor had an interesting history.
“It’s an English car but they were very popular (in Australia),” he said.
“If you look at any photos from the 50s it used to be the ladies’ car, the family car, mum used to always have the Morris Minor, and the dads would have a Holden.”
Mr Frazer said although it wasn’t a muscle car he loved driving it.
“I have a joke with my mates; a lot of them have got muscle cars and hot rods and that sort of thing; but it’s a great little car to drive.”
The Piston Steel Shakedown has supported many charities through its car shows, including Coldstream’s Animal Aid.
Details: facebook.com/PistonSteelShakedown
-Kimberley Seedy
ASAD SYED
He runs one of Melbourne’s popular kebab stores, and Asad Syed has the hot car and the apt number plates to go with it.
Mr Syed bought a black 2018 Mercedes AMG GLE63-S off a friend for $140,000 in October and has spent another $7000 doing it up.
He took it to workshops and got the car’s suspension lowered, modified the exhausts, blackened out any plastics or spots on the exterior, and got a carbon fibre lip added to the front.
“My life has been in cars, and everyone knows it’s a reflection of your personality,” Mr Syed said.
“I don’t like to have a car that blends in with everybody else, I like to have something that just stands out a bit from the crowd.
“I enjoy spending time in cars, modifying them and making them look a bit different.”
The Mercedes replaced Mr Syed’s old car, a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT.
He has two other cars and a motorbike at home, but uses the Mercedes as his everyday, cruise-around-town vehicle.
His favourite features of the car includes its massage seats, its powerful V8 twin-turbo engine and its slick white leather interior.
“It’s got class to it, its quite luxurious, but it also has a powerful engine and is comfortable … it feels good and looks good,” he said.
“Most people just leave it as it is … but I’ve gone out and changed it up a bit, which people seem to like about it.”
Mr Syed is the owner of Glenny Kebabs, which has stores in Glen Waverley and Forest Hill and known for its trademark menu item, the halal snack pack (HSP).
His car has custom number plates – ‘HSP DLR’ – and Glenny Kebabs stickers on the exterior.
Mr Syed often shows off the car at the Forest Hill store for its Wednesday Night Chills car meet, and also takes it to other Melbourne car events.
“I always need to have a big car just in case there’s issues or I have to take things to and from the stores … it fits a lot of HSPs,” he said.
– Kiel Egging
DES COOPER
When Des Cooper bought his 1965 Plymouth Barracuda, it was looking “pretty damn ordinary”.
Five years and many hours of work later, it’s impeccable.
“It wasn’t a rusty car or anything, it was just knocked about — had quite a few dents in it,” Mr Cooper, a panel beater from Warrnambool, said.
“Somebody had given a shot-over of a grey metallic paint that looked terrible, it was all flaking off.
“I stripped every bit of paint off it, stripped the whole thing down – and just starting repairing things.”
Mr Cooper said the Barracuda was a rare find.
“They weren’t terribly popular. They came out about the same time as the Mustang which became popular,” he said.
“In 1965 I was working here with John Inns, they were the Chrysler dealers in Warrnambool, and the boss brought one home from Melbourne. We only had it for about a week in the showroom, it never got sold. That’s the first time I’d ever seen one.”
The next time he’d lay eyes on one was when he was wandering through a garage in South Australia five years ago, and when the owner said it was for sale Mr Cooper pounced.
Restoring classic cars is not a new venture for Mr Cooper. The semi-retired panel beater – “I’m not retired, I’m just tired,” he jokes – from Des Coopers Panel Works has spent decades restoring classic cars.
– Simon Cameron
STEVE KORONIS
Steve Koronis has had a passion for cars since he was a teenager.
“I always spent my wages on cars – always had reasonable cars, big wheels, lowered, a lot of noise,” he said.
Then, five years ago, the painter by trade swapped a motorbike that wasn’t getting much use for a 1975 HJ Holden ute.
It’s been taking pride of place in the Mildura Muscle Car Club member’s garage ever since.
Mr Koronis said when he bought the car, it needed some work.
He said the look of the HJ ute was what attracted him to the car.
A good clean, a new interior, repainting, reconditioning of the gearbox and a rebuilt motor were all part of the process.
The latest finishing touches – chrome bumper bars – now have it sparkling.
Mr Koronis and his wife enjoy taking it on short trips, such as to Swan Hill, Renmark in South Australia and to Broken Hill and Balranald in New South Wales.
Events such as Adelaide’s Bay to Birdwood is also on the calendar each year, where they join more than 1700 cars going from West Beach to the Adelaide Hills.
He said at least 14 cars from Mildura would be making the trek this year.
The car club has more than 400 members and a wide variety of cars, which often catch the attention of passers-by when they congregate.
Mr Koronis said he’d often get thumbs-up from strangers.
He enjoyed being part of the club and the support that was offered.
“Everyone’s always too willing to help each other,” Mr Koronis said.
“If someone breaks down or something happens on the road, everyone stops.”
– Michael DiFabrizio
KEITH COLLINS
Wodonga’s Keith Collins said there was no better feeling than getting behind the wheel of his 1963 Morris Mini Cooper and racing round the track at up to 210km/h.
Mr Collins bought the Morris Mini in February this year when his fascination with Mini Cooper’s and his desire to get back into racing collided.
After racing motorcycles when he was younger, Mr Collins said he wanted to try racing something that was a bit easier on the body.
“They say it’s like driving a go kart, but I think it’s more exciting than driving a go kart,” Mr Collins said.
“It’s certainly a lot faster.
“It produces 150 to 160 horse power and keeps up with the lotuses on the straight.
“It does have a fair bit of go this Mini, because it was purposely built for racing.”
Mr Collins picked up first place for his class in the Mt Leura Hill Climb, and third place at the Winton Repco Sprint Series.
He said he couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel again at Winton this Sunday for the Victorian Super Sprint Championships.
“After doing a full day’s racing it’s very tiring and you’re very drained, but it is an adrenaline rush,” Mr Collins said.
“It’s better than anything else that I know.”
Mr Collins, who also owns an Austin Mini Cooper 1000, said he loved going to racing events to meet people as passionate about Minis as he was.
“You meet a lot of other people that race cars and make a lot of new friends,” he said.
“There’s other like minded people who race Mini Coopers and other cars.”
He said there was just something about Mini Coopers that people seemed to love.
“Everywhere you go with the Mini, everyone just looks at them and it makes them smile,” Mr Collins said.
“I don’t know what it is about the Mini they like but, even at club and race meetings, I always get multiple people coming up to me and saying how much they enjoyed watching the Mini go around the track.”
- Cassandra Glover
Investor exodus continues in Vic — what it means for auctions
Victorian property investors are still bidding farewell to the state in throngs, as a land tax increase introduced more than 12 months ago continues to bite.
300 Melb suburbs that would save $100s with a rate cut
Mortgagees could save anywhere up to $600 a month if interest rates are cut following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s first meeting later in February. SEE HOW.