1976 “Zeus Dominator” Custom: Hot Wheels owner review

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"Its was intended was to be a rolling artwork that can be driven on Australian roads..."
Owner: Tony

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I'm a metal sculptor and have been planning this build for a long time. So, when retirement came into view, it was time to stop planning and start building.

The Zeus was built from a 1976 HJ Holden one tonne ute and is powered by a fuel-injected Holden 253 V8 (4.2-litre), with approximately 230hp (172kW). It is the cruiser version as its intention was to be a rolling artwork that can be driven on Australian roads.

I crammed the whole thing into one year — full time, seven days a week, 3,500 hours. There were no drawings. No plans sketched out on paper. Just form following function, which is the philosophy behind everything I make. You start with what it needs to do, and the shape comes from that.

The car was very much a budget inspired home build and the entire body is hand-formed aluminium, finished in high-vis colours with mirror-polished components throughout.

It's a two-seater open wheeler, for a pilot and co-pilot, and is road registered and engineered to ADR compliance. Put simply, it is built to drive not to sit in a shed or be trailered to shows. It's done 25,000km so far.

It runs an automatic transmission and LSD (Limited Slip Differential) rear end. The wheels are Mickey Thompson Sports Radials on custom steel Interceptor rims with custom one-off rubber tyre lettering.

Both seats are fitted with full-face Bluetooth helmets for communication and safety.

People see it and they don't quite know what to think at first. Then it clicks. Adults, kids, it doesn't matter, the reaction is always the same.

"It's a real-life Hot Wheels."

That's not something I planned for, it just turned out that way because the design philosophy is honest. Freedom, art, technology, with no pretence.

Previous show judges have called it "next level engineering” and it has taken home Peoples' Choice and Judges' Award at the most prestigious shows in Tasmania. I've used it for charity work from time to time too.

But mostly I just drive it. That was always the point.

Owner: Tony