KNOCKING ON SEVEN'S DOOR

JOSH TUSKIN’S BARRA-SWAPPED XW IS HEADING FOR THE SEVEN-SECOND ZONE, LEAVING A TRAIL OF BROKEN PARTS IN ITS WAKE

- TAS MCMILLAN

JOSH Tuskin didn’t get much of a say in where his automotive allegiances would lie. “My old man always had an XR Falcon, ever since he was 18,” he says. “He had that many XWs and XYs, I guess that’s why I fell in love with them. Dad was right into buying and selling these cars; at one point it was one or two a week. I listened to him and when I was 12 I bought a set of XY guards for $750 and sold them for $1500.”

Josh’s careful buying and selling of parts and cars led to him purchasing this XW as a shell on a rotisserie when he was 16. After putting it back together with parts he’d collected, he spent the next couple of years torturing pre-crossflow sixes to death, including one attempt to rip a fat skid that broke both engine mounts and punted the fan into the radiator.

Eventually, the need for speed led Josh down the then-rare path of the Barra swap. “I wanted a car that would run a 10,” he says. “I’d never even drag-raced a car before, and it went 10.1 the first night I took it to Calder.”

The XW eventually ran 9.49@149mph with the standard engine, but after a lot more work and an ever-growing pile of broken parts, Josh got a new PB of 8.27@170mph. “I’ve broken every part of this car except… Nah, I’ve broken every part of this car!” Josh laughs, presumably to keep from crying.