FIFTY NOT OUT

AFTER FIVE DECADES SPENT TINKERING WITH CARS, SIX-TIME SUMMERNATS GRAND CHAMPION PETER FITZPATRICK AIN'T SLOWING DOWN ANY TIME SOON

- ANDREW BROADLEY

WITH a record six Street Machine Summernats Grand Champion titles, a SMOTY win and countless other accolades to his name, Peter Fitzpatrick, aided and abetted as always by his better half Michelle, is firmly among Australia's most decorated street machiners.

With 2025 marking the 50th anniversary of his involvement in the show scene, his 70th birthday, an exciting new project taking shape in the shed, and the evergreen 'Trilogy' FC on display at MotorEx, Fitzy's had a bit on this year. So, it was the perfect time to send photographer Ben Hosking to Canberra to capture some images of the new FC wagon project, while I sat Pete and Michelle down for a chinwag at MotorEx.

Respectfully, a lot of guys your age are starting to slow up a bit, but that doesn't seem to be the case here!

Peter Fitzpatrick: This year marks 50 years in the scene, since I took my EH to the first Street Machine Nationals in Griffith in 1975. We won Top Engine Bay! People often ask me if I'm going to retire, but I'm building another car because I need something to do with my spare time. It's an FC wagon, and I'm building it as my version of a street car. It'll hopefully be at MotorEx or the 'Nats next year. The street machine scene is just part of us. We do it because we love doing it, and the amount of people that I've got to meet all over the world is just great.

It seems building cars is very much an intergenerational thing for the Fitzpatricks.