Rays 73 HQ Ute

   The Magazine Feature Story #12

 https://classiccarsworldwide.com.au 

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AND BEST PAINTWORK - 2.0 MEGA SHOW & SHINE CAR & BIKE SHOW 2022. RAY O’BRIEN TALKS ABOUT HIS DOUBLE AWARD-WINNING 1973 HQ HOLDEN UTE 

By the narrowest of margins, one vote, 48 year old Ray O’Brien won the People’s Choice Award at the 2.0 Mega Show & Shine Car & Bike Show held in Scoresby, Victoria on 13^th March 2022. It was a hot day and a hotly contested vote, and Ray won the day over a very high standard of great classic cars on display. The paintwork on his stunning green HQ Holden Ute was also judged best on the day.

Ray is married, his wife Jacinta is also a car enthusiast, and they live in Bundoora, Victoria. He is currently employed as a Head Spray Painter at a smash shop in Fawkner. He has been spray painting since he was 15 years old, which no doubt over the years has helped him achieve the fabulous high quality of work he  enjoys today.

“I’ve been interested in cars since I was seven years old” says Ray. “I was inspired by watching all those old television shows such as The Dukes of Hazard, Fall Guy and Knight Rider. They all featured great cars. Also, my grandfather used to take me regularly to car shows and my interest in cars just grew from there.”

Cars previously owned

Over the years Ray has owned a number of cars. His first car owned was a 1948 Holden Sedan and his current daily driver is a 2000 Holden VT Commodore Wagon. Apart from the Holden Sedan, other classic cars owned by Ray include a 1974 MK1 Escort, a 1967 MK1 Cortina and a 1940 Ford Pick-Up.

Current Classic Car – 1973 HQ Holden Ute

Ray now owns a locally built 1973 HQ Holden Ute which he acquired in Carrum Downs in 2000. “I wanted a V8 Ute to pick up parts for another project I was working on” explains Ray. “I also loved all the chrome. It’s unique to me as I did the rebuild myself. It was a two year project this time around, fixing all the imperfections I wasn't happy with the last time. I spent approximately 1400 hours on it. I saved on cost by using my own labour and skills, my workplace, after hours three hours each night every day, and all day on weekends.”

Ray has owned the car for 22 years and it was a daily driver. He highlights the major features and the modifications he made over the busy two year period. He says “it has a HQ body with a HZ Statesman front. It has a 2” reverse cowl on the bonnet, shaved door handles, a modified rear bar, custom crocodile interior, custom door cards and a large Soundstream car audio system. It has a Mild .308, a turbo 400, 2800 high stall converter and 10 bolt Salisbury .308 ratio diff. It also has GTS rims with 15x8 rear and 15x7 front hoops. It is painted in Debeers custom green Xyrellic paint, has sharpened body lines and a custom hardlid with remote actuators.”

The Rebuild

“I found the Ute through an advertisement in The Trading Post in 2000” says Ray. “It looked good but had rotted out sills as well as the lower quarters and lower back window, both doors, bonnet and tailgate. It was a bright purple colour, already had the HZ front fitted, on dual fuel and the engine was chewed out.”

“That engine began the first rebuild” explains Ray. “Because it was my daily driver and parts car I needed it to be 100% reliable. It stayed bright purple for a while, then when I started to fix the rusted out parts I painted it a darker purple. Around 2008 the passenger door got dented so I rebuilt it again and this time I decided to paint it green. I also implemented some ideas I had wanted to try for a while such as the shaved door handles, relocating the mirrors, removing the aerial and petrol filler and converting it to straight gas. I also had the tailgate airbrushed which I have now retired. On this build I created the green Xryellic paint to really enhance the sharpened bodylines.”

Problems and solutions – A good imagination and many trips to Bunnings!

Obviously such a prolonged project and a labour of love was never going to be easy, and Ray highlights some of the road bumps he encountered along the way.

He explains, “I managed to keep the bowed bodylines by using baking paper and magnets while splining. Fitting the fibreglass hardlid involved stretching it and making custom hinges for it, along with fitting the electronic actuators and creating locator pins to fix the lid in place. I fitted a wagon rear bar, cut down 2”, to look like it was meant to fit, then remade the quarters to snuggly fit the bar and then removed the bar bolts for a cleaner look. I also installed and hid a reverse camera.”

“The sub port in the cab, between the seats, is a replica of the HQ rear quarter and tail light. I wanted to create something unique that ties into the car so I made it out of expander foam and fibreglass. Trying to fit four sets of speakers into the cab was another challenge. I came up with the idea of using MDF rings and dowel to angle and position them. I used an old dog blanket and a lot of fibreglass resin to create custom door cards. I couldn’t find a console I liked so I made my own with Perspex, using a heat gun and handrail to form the shape I wanted.”

“I did a one day spline course by Melomotive, held in Bayswater, that taught me a lot. It uses spline blocks to pick up imperfections in the body which really helped me to get the car straight and sharpen the body lines.”

“The faux crocodile skin came from an Etsy store in the USA and many other pieces came from friends, Daleys, eBay, swap meets and Facebook Marketplace. The Infill panel (under the bonnet), came from Probuilt CCE, the radiator and thermostat are from Norm Hardinge at Aussie Desert Cooler, and the wiring was done by Neil Davis of Romsey Auto Electrical.”

“After all that I am pleased to say it’s awesome to drive and draws a lot of attention!”

The 2.0 Awards – People’s Choice & Best Paint

Ray is thrilled to win two awards and says, “with Best Paint it means heaps to me because that’s what I do for my job. With Peoples Choice I was really rapt that people enjoyed and appreciated the work I put into building it. I never expected to win that award!”

On show day Ray’s display included some quirky ‘Gremlins’ and ‘Ghostbusters' figures. He explains, “Gremlins and Ghostbusters are two of my favourite movies so Slimer was perfect for the subwoofer box. He bobbles around with the sub force with that look on his face! Gremlins are also a natural fit. The car used to break down a lot and it seemed like there were Gremlins in the engine always giving me a headache. That gave me the idea to get the rego plates HEDACH and incorporate the actual Gremlins from the movie.”

Car clubs & shows

Ray is associated with the Northern Gal Car Club and says, “I love attending her Saturday Night Fever events and Cars & Coffee meets.  Prior to COVID I would attend about 10 car shows a year. The most important ones to me being Motorex, Euroa, Traralgon and of course the 2.0 Mega Show & Shine Car and Bike Show and Vintage Market. I also regularly read Street Machine and Australian Street Rodder magazines.”

Not one to be idle, Ray is now building a 1965 MK1 two door Cortina for his wife, and also a 1940 Ford Pick-Up, highly modified.

Ray winds up by saying, “the Aussie car scene is slowly picking back up after COVID and I am looking forward to attending more car shows and cruise nights again.”