THE A-Z OF Street MACHINE
A LOT of stuff has happened around this joint in the past 40 years, and you’d be crazy to try to condense the highlights down to 11 pages, wouldn’t you?
Lucky I’m nuts! Powered by cup after cup of International Roast (aka ‘bogan dust’), plenty of Pepsi Max and many packets of Smarties, I barricaded myself in the Street Machine archives to emerge with this tour de force. It’s a trip through the highlights, lowlights and mysteries generated through these pages since 1981.
And if you’re looking for a more formal history of the mag, check our website for the piece Geoff Seddon crafted for our 25th anniversary in 2006.
ACMC
THE Australian Confederation of Motor Clubs is the peak body representing car clubs of all genres. We teamed up with them in 2012-13 to stave off some onerous rules that would have had terrible consequences for our sport in NSW. By banding together with our classic car, 4x4 and street rod brethren, and with the support of then-NSW Minister for Roads, Duncan Gay, disaster was averted. While not everyone is into the car club thing, this was a powerful lesson in the importance of having numbers on your side – something to remember when our sport confronts future challenges.
AHMET
THE irrepressible Ahmet ‘The Mad Turk’ Sehirligil earned his nickname on the burnout pad behind the wheel of his BAD065 HD Holden ute, before founding Supernats in 1994. Besides his achievements as a driver and event promoter, Ahmet is a crazy-talented spray painter, cartoonist and airbrush artist.
ADVERTISEMENTS
SOME folks complain about them, but without ads we wouldn’t have a magazine. But we reckon most of the ads in the mag over the years have actually been great content (aside from the Holden Camira spreads back in the day) and are a service to the reader. Plus, they make parts shops’ phones ring off the hook each month when the mag goes on sale, so it’s a win-win. Thanks a bunch to everyone who has advertised or used an advertiser’s product over the years. We wouldn’t have made 40 without ya.
ALAN FLEMMING
THE creator of the Motivator panel van, the J-Rod and now a killer, wild custom fibreglass FJ Holden.
ALLEY CAT
THE first-ever vehicle to grace the cover of a mag with the Street Machine name on it was John Strachan’s Alley Cat, which leapt out from the Aug/Sep 1981 issue of Van Wheels & Street Machine. The Jag V12-powered weapon was one of the wildest vans ever built and is still around today.
ANDREW AZZOPARDI
THE man you can thank for coming up with the classic logo. Andrew was the art director of Wheels at the time, but joined full-time when Phil Scott became editor. He gave the look a serious makeover and designed it through to the Jul/Aug ’86 issue.
