PREMIER CLASS

FACTORY LUXURY COMBINED WITH STOMPING LS POWER AND SHINY PAINT? ANDREW SIMMONS BUCKS HIS PATINA ROOTS TO BUILD HIS DREAM HK PREMIER

- STORY SIMON MAJOR PHOTOS CHRIS THOROGOOD

ANDREW 'Simmo' Simmons has long been a fan of all-care, no-responsibility, patina-style builds. This one, as you can see, is very different. "Mate, I need a shiny one this time. No patina. Something proper." This was the build directive he gave his friend, Matt Smoors, for this HK Premier. "Patina's easy," Matt replied. "Shiny will give you brain damage."

Matt runs FST Motorsport and has walked the walk with his own projects, including his jaw-dropping VL Commodore (SM, May '25), so Simmo's HK was in safe hands. He wanted this one to be perfect; it was his holy grail: "I'd always dreamed of owning an HK Premier in Silver Mink," Simmo says. "My business partner, Aidan, spotted it on Marketplace back in 2020, and within five minutes I'd bought the car sight-unseen." Buying any car without first laying your peepers on it is always a gamble, but Silver Mink HK Premiers with black vinyl tops aren't exactly flooding the market, and Simmo understands that beggars can't be choosers. When the truck arrived from Queensland, it was nothing more than a rolling shell with a few odds and sods, but he didn't care - the dream was sitting in his driveway.

Simmo had entrusted his previous two projects to Matt - namely an HT ute and HG wagon, both patina-clad and LS-powered - so he knew Matt was just the bloke to complete his K-T-G trilogy.