Matt's 72 Chevelle

 

 The Magazine Feature Story No 3

 https://classiccarsworldwide.com.au 

“Imagine having your own framed print* and feature story about your classic car.”

BRINGING THE CLASSIC CAR COMMUNITY TOGETHER

From an early age Matt McArthur (now 38 years old) has had a love of cars. “My folks tell me that I used to sleep with my ’72 Corvette matchbox car every night’ says Matt. He has now progressed to something somewhat larger and is the proud owner of a 1972 Chevelle SS 396 in dark cherry.

Matt’s great interest in cars, combined with a love of photography, led him to start his own photography business called ‘Capturing Classics’ in 2019. His main occupation is Production Manager at Opal Cartons, Heidelberg, Victoria. He says “Capturing Classics is a way for me to reconnect with my love of photography that I hadn’t pursued since high school. It’s also a way of getting to meet and spark up a conversation with people at car meets. I chose the name due to what I was shooting most often, classic cars. It has since morphed to all aspects of photography.”

Current Classic Car – ’72 Chevelle. The epitome of cool, fast and furious

Matt’s first and so far, only classic car is a dark cherry 1972 Chevelle SS 396. “Originally from Texas I purchased it from a broker here in Melbourne” says Matt.                     “I brought it over just as the rules changed to needing a Vass certificate before registering so I had to jump through a few hoops to get it registered and on the road.”

“Since I’ve had it, I’ve converted it from carby to a Holley Sniper with electronic timing with the help of Mick LePiane (self taught master of the Sniper systems and all-round great bloke).             The rest of the money I’ve put into the car has been to just keep it running.           The next job is to drop the car a few inches and also the interior needs some love.”

Mr. Excited – A million ideas a minute

Matt met Glen Higginson (Mr. Excited) when Glen was Master of Ceremonies at his first car show, Eltham’s Wheels for the Firies, and was impressed by his infectious excitement and personality. “We started chatting on-line and built a strong friendship over our love for classic cars and Star Wars” says Matt. 

“Over the years Glen had asked me if I was interested in helping grow the Mr. Excited & Friends page. I was honoured to be asked and I offered any help I could. The vibe of the group and page is different to all the other pages out there as there is no negativity whatsoever. I was able to help with the technical aspects of a few different things but mainly just supported and helped where I could.”

Matt assists Glen with the filming of his pieces as well as helping direct the videos and capture the photography used in the videos. “Glen’s drive is second to none” says Matt. “It’s mainly just helping out with the million ideas a minute that Glen has and put them into words.” 

Cars Owned

Matt’s first car was a VB Commodore which he took over from his father when he was 16 years old. His interest quickly turned to Japanese imports in his late teens and twenties and owned a ’94 Integra, an R33 Skyline and an Evo 7. His heart though, was always in some US muscle. Matt’s current daily drive is a 2020 Kia Cerato GT utility which he moved to when he found his previous car, a two -door Chrysler Crossfire SRT6 wasn’t practical anymore.

Strangely enough the Chevelle was not Matt’s first choice. He had always wanted a chrome bumper Stingray but couldn’t find one clean enough without having to spend heaps on it which he was not willing to do. He says “being a big movie buff I fell in love with Matthew McConaughey’s ’70 Chevelle SS. His character was the epitome of cool and the car was an extension of that. Also, the fact that Dom drove one in a couple of Fast and Furious movies didn’t hurt either.”

Car Clubs, Shows and The future

Matt is a member of a few different active car groups. Club V8 Melbourne, SS owners Club, Melbourne Street Cruisers and he tries to work with Cars and Babes Australia as much as possible. He is also an active member of his car club, Metro Classic Cruizers.

Matt tries to get to a show a month when possible and says “some of the standouts have been the Lygon Street breakfasts run by Rob at Kingpin Kustoms. Also, the Loyola College fundraiser supported by Metro Classic Cruizers and Cars and Babes under the Bolte run by Cars and Babes Australia. The highlight for me has been the Rosebud Rockabilly weekend. It is a really well-run event that takes over Rosebud for the entire weekend with all that I love. cars, live music and food vans.”

Matt’s aims for the future are to keep working with Glen and capture as many of the private collections as he can. He concludes by saying “these collections need to be seen to be believed and I hope I can be involved in showing these to the public. Also I want to help support the building of Mr.Excited cars Cruises that he has in mind, bringing together as much of the fantastic community together as possible.”

Written by Keith Watts

Produced by John Markham

Photos by: Capturing Classics