Australia checking in here. Petrie, North Brisbane.



And the hot black Trans Am.

Wow! You are out there! I didn't know they had birds down under!

Yea, we do have them down here but not too many of them. We have to change them to right hand drive to drive on our roads, but a law has been passed recently that cars imported that are over 30 years old do not have to be changed. We are in a Pontiac club and go on cruises every month and drive it to car shows and the drags. We can drive our cars all year down here because we only get snow down south in the mountains. Trans Ams are not common down here and a lot of people look at he car when you drive it around. It stands out with the Firebird on the bonnet.
I just love it.

Wow! You had to change it to right hand! How hard was that task?

I was lucky with the Trans Am, it was already changed when I bought it. I got it off a young guy who was married and had just bought a house and needed money for furniture. He didn't want to sell it but had to for the money. I felt sorry for him but I loved the car.

We did import a Fiero and changed it to Right hand drive. You have to redo the steering to the other side and make a dash out of fibreglass and have it recovered and they shrink wrap the coating onto it. It comes up like new. The seat belts also need to be changed to Australian Standards, and the tyres also need to be changed. It is a big job but it looks good when its finished.

The laws must be completely different over there than what they are here in the U.S.

Welcome xcler8, how long have you had it and is it your first Trans Am?

I must admit id does seem weird seeing a Right hooker!

Some US cars came to the Uk as RHD i sold an engine to a guy in London that has a 60's Impala that was RHD from the factory, it even had stamping in the firewall.

Yes it is my first Trans Am and I have had it for about 6 years. I bought it because I always loved them and just had to have one. We have since bought another 1980 which we are doing up. In the last year Muscle Cars, both Australian and American cars are very popular here. Lots of people have a car stashed away in their garage and bring it out on the weekends to cruise. They go to car shows and Nostalgia Drag meetings and club cruises or just to the shops, anywhere just to drive it.

We also have a 1965 Mustang which is left hand drive and we are keeping it this way. They say that there is a shortage of older Mustangs in the States and some people are buying them and taking them back to the States. Don't know if this is true or not. There are lots of Mustangs here.

Here, you cannot just build a Hot Rod and register it, there are a lot of rules and regulations to follow and it has to be inspected as you are building it.

A guy we know imported a Lowrider with the air bags and could not get it registered. Air bags are illegal. Our Son had them on his ute and was pulled up by the cops and had to take them off and have the car inspected. He was also fined. Lift kits for 4x4s can only be about 2inches, hardly worth doing it. Even Window Tint can't be too dark or your in trouble. The laws here are just to much sometimes.

I went to a local car show here last week. There were probably 25 Mustangs.

There were only two firebirds...TWO...my '79 and another guy's 2002.

Around here, I see the old Mustangs everywhere. But that's just locally. There may be a shortage in the whole nation combined.

My buddy just sold off his Ford Model A and purchased a 1965 Mustang. They're quite popular.

xcler8, damm mate i thought the Uk had some daft motoring laws!!

My firebird has red indicators that flash including the brake lights, highly illegal but what the hey!!

Yea the rules are pretty tough. You just have to watch you don't get caught.

We get an Australian " COP " show over here and some of the guys get their cars " ticketed " sometimes they are just unbelievable!

There is a car park at Surfers Paradise that everyone gathers, (ricers and all) and the kids talk and look at all the cars. The cops come along and block the exits and breathalize, check licences, check registration papers, and check all modifications to cars. They hand out the tickets like they are going out of fashion. When some of the guys are cleared, they do a burnout in front of the cops and then take off. This happens a few times per month.

They have other meeting places like this in Brisbane and the cops come around and hand out notices that say, it is alright to meet here but if you do burn outs or take off fast the place will be closed. Everyone behaves and the cops don't bother them.

I used to do alot of " street racing " back in the day, im an old git now!
Id think nothing of blowing a couple of days wages on fuel for one nights racing!

It got to a point where no one would race me anymore because they knew the car and what it was capable of.

The other thing was this was Pre helicopters and the like when they actually had to catch you!!

I must admit i think we have it easier in the Uk than you do mate!

Our sons and their mates go to the local drag track if they want to try out their cars or race one another. They have a great time and they don't get caught.