Australia's Most Unlikely Show Cars

With that said though, it’s undeniable that these are some of the scene’s most iconic and memorable show cars, and the quality of work throughout makes them impossible to overlook.

We’re listing some of our favourites from over the years, but the list is by no means exhaustive. Share your favourite dark horse show car with us on the Performance Garage Facebook page!

XPLOD MITSUBISHI MAGNA

We had cause to think about Daryl McBeth’s wild Mitsubishi Magna earlier in the month when we spoke to its current owner, Gary McGuigan, who also owns the unique FLUERO XR Falcon. Even if you didn’t know that Daryl was the original builder, you’d no doubt know the car and you can imagine how polarising it must have been when it hit the show scene in the early-2000s!

The car didn’t do much for the Magna’s sex appeal and the path that Daryl forged with the diamond-badged custom is a path he would ultimately tread alone - not that that would bother him one iota, he chose the platform because he knew it would get chins wagging and that’s precisely what it did.

Looking past the Magna badging, the car is an absolute work of art and carries all the hallmarks of an elite-level custom vehicle, including staples of the street machining world that forced you to prick your ears up including the 400-cube, C.O.M.E Racing alloy Holden V8 propped up by the custom IFS front end.

The fact that the car still tours the show circuit today is a credit to the quality of the original build.

BOOSTED HOLDEN RODEO 

Darrell Leemhuis’ BOOSTED Rodeo minitruck has been a mainstay of the show car scene for over two decades, and in various incarnations, has been handsomely awarded at Autosalon, MotorEx, Summernats and more. 

It’s latest iteration (debuted in 2006) shot it from a mildly-modified pride and joy to a full-blown elite-level show car and since then, it’s won (among other accolades) Grand Champion at Summernats 22 in 2009 and Showcar of the Decade at MotorEx in 2010. 

While a Holden Rodeo minitruck certainly stood out in a sea of chrome-bumpered classics at the time, it could be argued that BOOSTED was one of the vehicles the hoisted Australian minitrucking out of dimly-lit home garages and thrust it on to the mainstage, paving the way for minitrucks and minitruckers to feature so heavily throughout the Australian custom car scene today.

TAILSPIN FB HOLDEN

By the time Kylie and Adam Perry debuted their TAILSPIN FB Holden, previously unloved chrome-bumpered Holdens (FB, FX, HR, HD, etc.) were experiencing somewhat of a renaissance as their more credentialed Holden stablemates ran away in price, so we’re not suggesting that an FB Holden was an odd choice for a show car.

What made TAILSPIN such an unlikely hero was the amount of work the Perry’s and builder Howard Astill poured in to what would easily lodge itself in the Top Ten most wildly customised cars in the country.

A Skyline roof, detailed undercarriage, a transplanted EFI Holden V8 heart, trim that would look right at home in a hot rod… the list of mods could fill a phone book! 

DNA 911 PORSCHE 911

Reigning Summernats Grand Champion, Livi Krevatin’s 1978 Porsche 911 SC is a beautiful car, there’s no two ways about it. But we’re not questioning the car’s obvious aesthetic appeal, nor the relentlessly high quality that abounds throughout the build. The fact is, it is an unlikely Australian show car, nonetheless a Summernats Grand Champion!

The Porsche is proof that the judging scorecards at major shows like Summernats and MototrEx don’t lie, and they certainly don’t have any brand bias! Liv’s Porsche is just about perfection incarnate, and the subtle-yet-well-executed body modifications, the quality of the paint work and the consistent theme throughout the car made it an undeniable champion.

That is, unless you read the comments on social media! The car has proven its show prowess and silenced its detractors, and even drove down to MotorEx in Melbourne earlier this year making it entirely undeniable in our books.

GILTEE VW BEETLE

VW’s iconic Beetle has been many things over the years, but it’s not often you find them as wildly modified as Joe Tanti’s GILTEE! Debuted at MotorEx in 2012, the Beetle boasts a plethora of custom modifications including the front-mounted supercharged 400-cube V8 engine which reportedly makes over 800hp! 

As if the giant blown small block wasn’t enough, Joe then went and painted the Beetle in a hot rod-inspired two tone blue over orange!

Huge meats on the back and the unmissable rear spoiler make GILTEE unforgettable, and as if all that wasn’t enough to take in, amazingly the car is engineered and street registered!