STRIP TEASE

ADAM ROGASH HAS STRAYED FROM HIS COMMODORE ROOTS TO BUILD ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S QUICKEST STREET CARS 

- LIAM QUIRK

AS THE proprietor of MPW Performance, Adam Rogash is not new to building show-quality, big-power cars to tight deadlines, but his new street-and-strip Capri is next level. It also represents a change of tack from Adam’s previous projects, as he elected to build the car largely at home rather than at the shop, allowing his wife Kelly and young kids to be heavily involved.

Not only did Adam and the family choose to depart from the Commodore platform and twin-turbo LS engine combination that has served them so well over the years, they gave themselves just six months to build it. Lunatics.

“I was keen to do a Fox-body [Mustang], but the missus liked the shape of the Capri,” Adam says. “We found one in Queensland that was engineered for a big-block, so that seemed like a sign.”

The car turned out to be a bit like a Tinder date – it presented pretty well in photos online, but when Adam and Kelly laid eyes on it for real, it was barely recognisable. “It was f*cked,” says Adam, bluntly. The years had not been kind to the Capri, with dodgy rust repairs and liberal helpings of body filler among the hidden ‘gems’ awaiting the Rogashes as they began to tear the car down.

Adam, Kelly and the kids spent every spare evening and weekend tinkering on the car together – family time that Adam is grateful for. “The car was pretty bad, but it gave me the opportunity to get the kids involved with rust repairs and bodywork and teach them the process,” he recalls fondly.