The Evil Twin
Now I know what you are thinking. This is Gup’s big block massive turboed HQ, known as Elvis. Well you are close. It is Gup’s, but it is not the 1273.1 rwhp monster. This is Gup’s original HQ. Now Gup and I go way back to the days when we were both 20 years old with V8 VB Commodores. But there was a lot of tough street cars for ‘Mr Powercruise’ before Elvis was born, including this Nitrous sucking, 74 HQ.
The list of tough cars Gup has had isn’t a short one. His first V8 was a VB Commodore. I remember that car so well. Even the plates. 308PIB. Gup reckoned it stood for ‘Pretty Intelligent Bast….’ - You know what I mean. Then he bought a HZ ute and discovered nitrous. The ute ran into the 11s on the spray and had a white engine bay with pink fleck. If that wasn’t enough to make Gup stand out, the 350 horsepower, 308 powered bright yellow Moke was. 2nd in the Summernats Go-Whoa and ‘Most Unusual Car’ in the show n shine put Gup on the map.
Then came the wagon. Gup bought a HZ wagon off his uncle. Anyone who frequented the Willowbank test n tunes around that time knew this car. It was a wheelstanding monster in jellybean mags. With a 308 and 100 shot of gas, this thing lifted the front wheels up on it’s way to mid 11s. The wagon played a big part in the building of this HQ. But I will get to that in a minute. Let’s talk about Gup’s small block Q’ey.
Firstly, it is a 1974 HQ Belmont. Gup bought the car for $75. He was in the market for a HQ. When he went to look at the engine, the heads were off and the pots were full of rainwater. Gup told the bloke, ‘Mate I wouldn’t give you $50 for the whole car’. The blokes wife stormed out and said, ‘Call it $100 and it is yours’. The deal was done for $75, and Gup sold most of the car off in parts. The roller was still left and a local bloke wanted one to do up. He spent 3 years restoring it to orginal. It looked nice and just the way it rolled off the floor at General motors. Gup liked it so much he bought it back for $2000.
It sat around in the yard for quite some time, until a small mishap with Gup’s HZ wagon. He was driving right past Ipswich Fire Station when the wagon suffered a small case of fire. You would think that the best place to have your car catch on fire would be in front of the fire station, but alas the poor wagon burned to the ground. So after Gup signed the death certificate on the old wagon, it was decided all the running gear from the wagon would go into the HQ.
Let’s start with that paint job. It is Barbados green with Gold Pearl. All the bumpers are painted in silver, to give them that billet aluminium look. The wheels are Cragars and when I asked Gup how big they were, I was informed ‘Not big enough’. The suspension and brakes are both stock items. So let’s get to the business end. The motor is a mostly stock bottom end, with forged pistons. “So what sort of forgies are they Gup?”. “Silver slugs from parts unknown.” He didn’t know what the cam was either, but it is hydraulic. The heads have a ‘bit of work’ and Yella Terra rollers. Not sure if he was being a bit hush hush about it or he just didn’t know. Your guess is as good as mine.
The fuel comes from the custom made fuel cell through 2 Holley Blue fuel pumps, into the 750 Barry Grant Mighty Demon. One thing is for sure. He has a nitrous kit. He only runs 100 shot. 150 has been tried a few times, but without success. The old 308 on 100 shot of spray has been good enough for 370 hp at the bags, and 11.47 @ 116 mph. For his slow car, this thing is no slouch.
The gearbox is a trimatic. Full manual and all the good stuff from Precise Automatics. Gears get changed by a B & M Pro-Bandit shifter. There is a 4000rpm ASNU Nitrous converter. The rear end is all the good stuff too. Ford 9 inch mini spooled with 4.11s and 28 splined axles. Gup reminded me there are 2 of them. The exhaust is extractors running into a twin 2 1/2 inch system through to the back, supplied by Gary at Ipswich Muffler Shop.
The interior is a custom made unit in white, with all custom gauges. It has a fairly decent noise maker too. All good Alpine gear. Head unit, splits, twin 12″ subs and amp. This is one hell of a tough street cruiser. There are too many people who put their hands into this car to name them all, including me (2 painful days converting standard windows to electric). The last time the engine was bolted together it was by Bluey, but Gup would like to personally thank anyone who put their time and effort into this car.
We all know Gup has his big Turbo HQ with 1270 odd horsepower, and his new Camaro that has run 7.83 @ 182mph, but despite going that fast, I can tell you that he still gets a big thrill out of hopping in the old HQ at Powercruise with a full bottle on board, and giving the old girl a good squirt of the good stuff. I haven’t really had the chance yet, but I can’t wait to get side by side with the HQ at Powercruise in the old VK, because although he has a top end pro-streeter and is a big time promoter now, the old school Gup still appreciates what we have been doing for the last 20 years………….STREET CRUISING
I have decided to release one of the best kept secrets in the history of Powercruise events, if you are good enough to find it. All you need to do is click the link below, which takes you to straight to the Powercruise homepage. There is a secret link somewhere in ‘Australia’, to a very cool addition to Powercruise. Only a few of Gup’s closest mates have been allowed access to this secret link, but now all you readers of Street Cruising will be allowed access. One more little hint for you - ‘X marks the spot”
