BLACK MAGIC

A PERFECT FINISH AND BLOWN LSX376 GRUNT DEFINE TIM MARTENSTYN'S ULTIMATE HK GTS

- JACK HOULIHAN

TIM Martenstyn's epic blown HK Monaro isn't his first crack at building his dream machine, as the Werribee bloke explains. "Before this build, I had a blue HK Monaro," he says. "Every nut and bolt was brand new." Tim was on the home stretch with that car before a cancer diagnosis in 2005 threw him a massive curveball. "It broke me mentally and physically, and then in 2007 my marriage ended, which left me no choice but to sell the car," he says. "I was heartbroken watching it go down the road on the back of the tow truck." Soon after, Tim resolved to build another HK GTS, even if it was the last thing he ever did. "Well, after 11 years, here it is!" he laughs.

Tim's second chance appeared when an HK GTS cropped up on eBay near Brisbane in 2010. "It was a mess, but it had tags and seemed a genuine, honest thing," he says. "I booked some flights for myself and a couple of good mates and we headed up for a look." A deal was reached and Tim got the car back to Victoria, where he got a rude surprise. "One of the major selling points was how great the floor was; well, after getting the body blasted in Thomastown, it was like a sponge - holes everywhere!" Good mate Rod Coleman got stuck into replacing the floors, tubbing the car to the rails as he went. "Trust me, if it wasn't a GTS, it would have some serious rubber on the back, but I couldn't bring myself to cut it up," Tim admits. That's not to say the car's rolling on cheese-cutters; the rears are a 20x10 to gel with the 'Dub' look Tim has long been a fan of. "Big wheels, car as low as you can make it that became my vision," he explains.