YOUNG LION

26-YEAR-OLD TIM POLSEN HAS BUILT AN AWARD WINNING HQ PREMIER THAT WOULD MAKE ANY STREET MACHINING VETERAN FOAM AT THE MOUTH

- KIAN HEAGNEY

TRADING household items for chrome-bumpered Aussie metal sounds like the kind of dealings that would’ve gone on in the 90s, but that’s exactly how young gun Tim Polsen got his hands on his HQ Premier.

“Dad got it for me as a Christmas present in 2011, trading a chainsaw for the whole car,” he says. While it sounds like a ripper deal, as with any Lion of this age, it wasn’t all gravy and rainbows. “It was painted with what looked like three layers of house paint, and it had rust in three of the doors, the rear quarters and the firewall, so it needed some work,” says Tim with considerable understatement.

The initial stage of Tim’s journey with his first car saw him turn it into a sweet P-plate cruiser, with a 202, GTS interior and a new lick of paint. “The first rebuild was decent for a P-plater, but not up to scratch for what I wanted, and everyone assumed it was my dad’s car!” he laughs.

This triggered phase two of the build, culminating in the beastly HQ Prem you see before you now. “I had a good mate of mine, Terry Keys, giving me inspiration and advice during the build, and he knows how to build a Summernats-level car on a budget,” says Tim.

Every inch of the car was given a thorough makeover to transform it from a cool cruiser into a major trophy hauler. Job one was finding a new mill, and after a brief stint with a 350ci V8 ended with a blown head gasket during a failed burnout attempt, Tim decided to seek some serious stonk.