Howard’s compact Fairlane was a ‘contracted’ project car, with Howard providing the knowledge and labour and Street Machine magazine providing the funding and magazine coverage as the car was pieced together. Originally conceived as a 500ci ‘Mountain Motor’ Pro Street show car, to enable the car to be appealing as a magazine reader prize, the mechanical specification was re-specced to include a brand-new, road-legal 5.0-litre EFI Ford V8 and four-speed auto. The chassis was completely re-engineered to include a nine-inch rear axle on four-link suspension and rod-style wishbone front suspension (like Rock 3). Another feature was a front bench seat. Howard drove just 60km in this car before it was given away.

“I had the opportunity to buy this car back nearly 10 years after I built it and I jumped at the chance. It had 6000km on it by then, so I went through the car [fixed a few things] and enjoyed driving it around home for a while, before driving it on a 1200km road trip through the NSW Outback and Riverina to Summernats 17 in Canberra.” It made the top 60 12 years after it was grand Champion.