VELVET SLED GEHAMMER

THIS 1969 DODGE CORONET R/T IS A BRUTAL STREET THUG DRESSED IN AN ARMANI SUIT

- CRAIG PARKER

DON'T let this '69 Dodge Coronet R/T's sleek, factory-appearing exterior fool you - there's a 2000hp, twin-turbo 572ci Nelson Racing Engines Hemi lurking under its snorkelled hood. Owned by Chris Retzos and built by Shane Rowe and the team at Southern Rod & Custom, the Dodge was crafted from the outset around that head-kicking engine, but there's much more to this car than its character-defining mill.

The Coronet has been in the works for 15 years. It was all but finished 10 years ago, not long after we featured it in baremetal form in the February 2013 edition of Street Machine. When Southern Rod & Custom relocated from Deniliquin to Shepparton, the car went into storage with only the partially finished trim left to be finalised. SRC then got very busy, and Chris was sidetracked by work and other projects, pushing the Coronet further down the schedule. But after nearly a decade, Shane and Chris decided enough was enough, and an unveiling at Meguiar's MotorEx 2024 became the new line in the sand to finally have the car completed.

Shane recalls how it all began. "I was buying an A12, lift-offhood Super Bee out of the US, but I had to take this Coronet as part of the deal," he says. "It was very rough, but it was a genuine R/T Hemi car - B5, which means blue pearl paint - with a fourspeed, white interior and a vinyl top."

Now, before all the purists go busting a valve about cutting up a classic, the car was also a total basket case and wasn't worth restoring to OEM spec. Fortunately, Chris was able to look past all that when he spied the sad hulk languishing in SRC's workshop. His imagination was fired up and he saw the Dodge as the perfect canvas for a mega Mopar build. Ryan Carter of Stylemaster Designs whipped up some super-cool concept drawings, and it was all full steam ahead.