Street Machine (Australia)
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Street Machine is an Australian automotive magazine featuring customized cars from every era.
Contents |
[edit] Content
Street Machine magazine contains many sections including letters from readers, feature cars and tech articles. It mostly covers cars from the 1960s to the 2000s with the occasional hot rod or rat rod, and a rare occurrence of a car such as a Datsun 1600 or Austin A30.
[edit] Regular Sections
- G'day - Editor's foreword.
- Newsfront - The latest news from the Street Machining world.
- Speed Camera - A photo(s) from a recent event.
- People Like Us - Short interview with a 'Street Machiner'.
- Six Pack - Features 6 different cars, from a different genre each month.
- Your Stuff - Letters from readers.
- KB's Workshop - Tips/techniques for building cars, answers to letters from readers.
- In Theory - Tech article.
- Dirty Stuff - Article by William Porker.
- In Gear - Information on new car products.
- Urban Warfare - Drag racing news.
- Top 10 Lists - 10 fastest quarter mile times for different classes.
- Wild at Heart - Article by Victor Bray.
- Stage Write - Article by Bob Kotmel.
- Iron Maiden - Short interview with a female who owns a 'street machine'.
- Readers' Cars - Photos and information sent in by readers about their car(s).
- Young Guns - Short interview with a young person (around 21 or younger) who owns a 'street machine'.
- Laughing Gas - Joke page.
- Sofacharger - Latest car-related video games, DVDs, and the like.
- Expression Session - Drawing competition for readers, each one with its own unique concept. Winners are published two issues after each competition opens, on the following page.
- On Any Sunday - Photos of people having fun with cars.
- Wayne & Vicky - Comic strip series.
[edit] Feature Articles
Articles on recent events and feature cars.
[edit] History
While Street Machine was originally titled "Van Wheels", its history can be traced back to the Australian Hot Rodding Review, or AHRR, of the 1960s and 1970s. By 1976, AHRR had collapsed, and a magazine called Van Wheels had replaced it. Van Wheels had an irregular publishing frequency and was destined to the same fate as AHRR, however Geoff Paradise took the failing brand under his wing. Paradise changed the name to Van Wheels & Street Machine for the first issue under his management. This first issue, named Van Wheels & Street Machine. cost $2, and sold 24,500 copies, compared to 60,000 for Wheels and 45,000 for Motor. For the second issue, the magazine was renamed Street Machine & Van Wheels, and by the seventh issue was just called Street Machine. By this time, the magazine was selling well over 30,000 copies.
Geoff Paradise, founding editor, resigned as Editor-in-Chief of Street Machine in 1985. The level of circulation at the time of Paradise's departure was in excess of 50,000 copies. Paradise is regarded as a legendary but somewhat shadowy figure in the Australian V8 culture. Paradise's replacement was a young tabloid journalist from The Sydney Morning Herald, Phil Scott. Scott quickly put the skills learnt from time spent in the tabloid press into Street Machine - increasing publishing frequency from six issue per year to eight and introducing some one-off car giveaways, which included an original A9X Torana and a Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III. This caused sales to reach 120,000 in September, 1987. However, that was all to change.
In 1988, Street Machine started supporting Chic Henry with his then new Summernats Car Festival, by paying for the burnout pad, underwriting the event and signing up as major sponsor. The Street Machine of the Year award also started in 1988.
From 1991 onwards, Street Machine went into a slow decline, losing the number one spot to Wheels in June, 1994. The publication continued and Street Machine had several different editors, although they had their eyes set on something similar to Wheels and nothing at all similar to Paradise's original vision of a serious, no-nonsense street-car magazine. When Street Machine started assembling the current editorial team in 2000, sales had fallen well below the 50,000 mark that Paradise had achieved in the mid-eighties. The magazine needed to find a direction.
Street Machine sales were up, apparently, due to a revamped presentation of the magazine. However, it is more likely due to people beginning to show enthusiasm towards the V8 culture, the rise of V8 Supercars (Street Machine had several articles devoted to V8 Supercars at this point) and a new dragstrip had been constructed in Sydney. Street Machine has been publishing monthly since November, 2000, and now sells about 65,000 copies, and has over half a million readers as of 2006.[1]
[edit] SummerNats
Street Machine is the main sponsor of the automotive show Summernats, which is run at Exhibition Park, Canberra, ACT, Australia and features burnouts, drags and car show and shines. Street Machine writes up a Summernats Survival Guide each year as well as a feature article reviewing the car festival, which includes winners of all the major and minor awards, Miss Summernats and a feature article on the Grand Champion car.
[edit] Street Machine of the Year
The Street Machine of the Year (SMOTY) award was established in 1988 by Street Machine Magazine. Each August, the staff of Street Machine Magazine vote for their favourite cars from the previous 12 issues and the top 16 become the SMOTY finalists. The finalists cover everything from pure street cars to hot rods, elite hall and drag-strip terrors. Street Machine Magazine's readers then put their vote in and the winner is announced in the December issue. The prize is $15,000 cash and a trophy.[2]
[edit] Winners
Past winners[3]:
| Year | Car make | Car model | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Holden | HQ Ute | Alan Cooper |
| 1989 | Holden | HQ Monaro | Dave Bennett |
| 1990 | Holden | HQ Ute | Ron Barclay |
| 1991 | Ford | XY Falcon | Craig Parker |
| 1992 | Ford | XB Falcon GT | Frank Picollo |
| 1993 | Chevrolet | 1964 Corvette | Frank Rejtano |
| 1994 | Holden | FJ | Colin Townsend |
| 1995 | Ford | XA Falcon Coupe | Howard Astill |
| Holden | FJ | Daryl McBeth | |
| 1996 | Chevrolet | 1955 Bel Air | John Riksis |
| 1997 | Holden | HT Monaro | Bill Murfin |
| 1998-99 | Holden | HJ | Ed Brodie |
| 2000 | Holden | HQ Monaro | Alan Lucas |
| 2001 | Ford | 1966 Mustang | Gary Myers |
| 2002 | Chevrolet | 1957 Bel Air | Mark Jones |
| 2003 | Holden | EH | Adam Le Brese |
| 2004 | Holden | LJ Torana | Steve Leerentveld |
| 2005 | Ford | 1966 Mustang | Gary Myers |
| 2006 | Holden | HK Monaro | Adam Barbaresco Donny Kevric |
| 2007 | Holden | HK Monaro | Mark Sullivan |
| 2008 | Holden | HQ One Tonner | Rob Godfrey |
| 2009 | Holden | LX Torana hatch | Angela Dow |
[edit] Other Street Machine titles
- Street Machine Commodores
- Street Machine Fords
- Street Machine Choppers
- Street Machine Hot Rod Annual
- Street Machine Holden Legends
- Street Machine Ford Legends
- Street Machine Muscle Car Legends
Note: Street Machine Commodores and Street Machine Fords are unrelated to the two magazines of similar titles, Street Commodores and Street Fords.
[edit] References
- ^ Street Machine 25th Anniversary edition
- ^ Official SMOTY website
- ^ SMOTY Hall of fame
[edit] External links
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