“Every month NZV8 ask their cover car owner for the concept they’d most like to build, or see built”

Steve and Leanne Milne have built themselves an awesome ’56 Chev 210, which we feel fortunate to have on the cover of NZV8 Issue No. 125. If you've read the feature article on the car — you did read it, right? — you’ll know that the car was a result of them deciding to take a break from drag racing for a while, and look at building a nice cruiser instead. So, when we asked Steve for his thoughts for this issue’s Concept Corner, we did think a drag vehicle could be on the cards, but what he came up with was totally unexpected — and we love it!

View fullsize

“For my concept — well, I’m just dreaming, but here goes — I’d love to build an angry twin of our ’56, with the same two-tone orange and silver paint scheme. However, all the trim would be airbrushed on,” Steve tells us.

“Why? Well, the main body and doors would be steel, with a carbon-fibre front and carbon-fibre bumpers finished in satin chrome. There would also be a carbon-fibre boot, incorporating a doorslammer-style wing, albeit a tad smaller than the real deal. The car’s glass would be tinted, the same as the current car. 

“Underneath, I’d like to run a full tube chassis built to be right-hand drive, with a double funny car cage inside. I’d run a Strange Engineering strut-type front end, with a full race car–style four-linked nine-inch rear end — full floater, 40-spline axles, the works!

“It’d have to be strictly a two-seater, since the back would be filled with wheel tubs to fit as big a wheel and tyre as can be made street legal — I’d still run the Torq Thrust II wheels, but in a 15-inch diameter instead. The rest of the interior would be pretty sparse, with carbon-fibre panels, carbon-fibre tubs, and a pair of race seats and belts. 

“I couldn’t go to all those lengths and not have something special under the bonnet, though — it’d have to be an all-alloy big block Chev displacing somewhere around 600 cubes, with electronic Kinsler stack injection up top — or a tunnel ram with hat-injection EFI. Backing that would be a built TH400 — tried and tested. 

“Basically, what I’d end up with would be a street-legal doorslammer. I have no real aspirations to be the quickest street car or anything, hence no blower or turbos, but it’d be perfect for events like Beach Hop and rod runs — drivable for short periods! 

“I guess it’d need a fairly large fuel tank in the boot,” Steve adds. “Mmm, this has really got me thinking now!”

This is exactly the type of car we’d love to see built, with not one aspect changed from the concept. Steve sure knows how to cook up cover cars!

You can pick up an edition of NZV8 Issue No. 125, where this concept was created, and Steve's car was featured, by clicking ‘buy now’ below: