IN A break from previous years, the Meguiar’s Great Uncover at Summernats 35 was brought forward to Thursday night instead of its usual Friday timeslot. This meant punters could soak in both the unveiling ceremony and all the concert tunes, while Friday-only attendees got a chance to get up close and personal with 24 super-fresh builds.
That’s right, a huge two-dozen cars had the covers pulled off, and that’s not counting debut cars like Peter Lewis’s incredible Howard Astill-built XC Falcon.
The combination of the new night, massive roster and no COVID caps made for a packed Elite Hall. Ford and GM muscle unsurprisingly made up most of the roster, though oddities like Ellis Dickson’s Mighty Boy and Al Magritzer’s blown Morris Minor added some niche goodness.
But of course, the unveil cars weren’t the only things to grace the pavilion over the weekend. A solid turnout of SM feature cars old, new and upcoming were deemed worthy by Owen Webb and the judging panel, from Jason Mansweto’s reigning Summernats 34 Grand Champ XW (now a proven seven-second missile) to Heath van der Waerden’s self-built Torana hatch, which he drove up from Melbourne and pulled plenty of attention over the weekend.
Here’s the lowdown on all 24 cars to be unveiled at Street Machine Summernats 35.
MATT McINTOSH - HQ STATESMAN
MATT McIntosh’s Stato was one of a few SBC sluggers in the hall, with 403 cubes and twin Precision turbos lurking in the mega-sharp engine bay. The Engine Master-sourced mill is already rated to 1000hp on the run-in tune, and it shifts via a Reid-cased Turbo 400 hooked to a 9in
