INSIDE JOB

THIS EPIC HARROPBLOWN LS-POWERED '64 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE WAS BUILT BY ONE OF STREET MACHINES LONGEST SERVING CONTRIBUTORS

- ANDREW BROADLEY

THE team responsible for compiling Street Machine magazine is composed of proper, dyed-in-the-wool car guys and girls, and if you ever needed proof, look no further than our mate lain Kelly's '64 Pontiac Bonneville. lain (or Marv, as he's affectionately known) has been part of the furniture here at SM for two whole decades, so it's a real pleasure to bring you this yarn on his Poncho, especially knowing the hardship he had to endure to finally bring the car to fruition.

Marv's life with modified cars has seen him own a rich tapestry of vehicles, ranging from rad chrome-bumpered Holdens to late-model LS-powered rockets and some weird BMWs and Subarus that we'd really rather not disclose here if it's all the same to you. But the Bonneville is the by far the coolest of the lot, slammed on 'bags, rolling on one-off, custom-made Mawerinspired billets, and powered by a stonking Harrop-blown, Warspeed-built 403ci LS.

But he didn't set out to build the car in this way. In fact, the original plan was to build a different car entirely a '62 Bonneville fourdoor hardtop.

"My '62 was meant to be a 'Bellflower' custom, a style that sits between a lowrider, street machine and a custom, which is typified by the sort of cars you see in the Los Boulevardos Car Club or from Deadend magazine," lain explains.

The build was progressing in earnest in his backyard shed when disaster struck. An electrical fault sparked a fire that destroyed the shed and everything therein: all lain's tools and spares, his prized car mag collection, and, yep, the Pontiac.

lain was quite obviously heartbroken, but once he got back on his feet, he happened upon another Bonneville to resume his Bellflower custom build. As fate would have it, he was tagged in a Facebook post by US creative. Coby Gewertz, who was looking to shift this '64 coupe. Marv promptly bought it, and it landed. Down Under in February 2015.