Words & photos: Lara Wilde

David GilIberto of Guido’s Panel and Paint is a Holden man. He has owned dozens of them, ranging from new Colorado tradies’ utes to classic two-door Monaros. Now in his thirties, he is the proud owner of some collectible Holdens but his red ute named Guido is his favourite.

Guido is a 1971 Holden HQ One Tonner with a cammed LS running on E85. Fully street registered and street driven, the ute does daily driver shop duties during the week and cuts loose on the burnout pad for local comps on the weekend.

David is the second owner of Guido and the ute had a very boring past until it came to the Gilberto shed.

In 2014, an older guy who lived up the road from David’s parents, came to see David at the shop. The guy had originally purchased the ute in 1971 from the local Holden dealership in Ingham – Origlasso Motors. He had all the original paperwork. He was a builder and had used the ute for work carrying tools and supplies around the local area. He was getting too old to drive it, so dropped in to see if David and his dad were interested in buying it.

“The next day he brought it to the shop and offered it to me for $1,000,” said David. “On the spot, I bought it. I just couldn’t help myself.”

When the ute first arrived at the panel and paint shop it was rough but solid. It was beige in colour with a stock six-cylinder 202 motor, a steel work tray and a bench seat. Being at a panel and paint shop, David cleaned up the body and interior straight away but decided to leave the 202 for a while as it was just a shop ute. However, a while is not a long time in David’s shed.

Two weeks after deciding to leave Guido stock as the shop ute it was on a trailer to Cairns as a rolling shell to have a 5-litre naturally aspirated V8 installed by Kev Tier and Loz Sultana. That V8 served David well until 2017 when he swapped it for an LS. David wanted a motor that could enter burnout comps but still be reliable as a street-driven daily. That was the first LS swap but there have been a few more since then.

David is a regular at motorsport events throughout Far North Queensland. Not only does he take the red one-tonner out every chance he gets but he is also the President of the Ingham Motorplex, building a premier motorsport facility in his hometown. With the support of the Hinchinbrook Shire Council, David and the Ingham Motorplex team have been working hard to get their own dedicated motorsport facility in Ingham. They now have a block of land and the Council is working with them to install the first burnout pad for competitions. In the long term, they have plans for a drag racing track and driver training facilities.

“The council have been very supportive and we can’t thank them enough for getting behind the Ingham motorsport community,” said David.

Guido is a regular up and down the coast for competitions and car shows. In 2018, David competed in the Northern Nats event at Springmount Raceway in the burnout competition. Guido made the top 5 in a strong field of competitors and, much to David’s delight, at the end of the weekend Guido still drove on a trailer.

While driving on the trailer after a solid weekend of competition was a great feeling, catching fire and watching the motor burn down was the lowest of low feelings! In 2018, the same year as the Northern Nats high, Guido caught fire at the Ingham Auto Fest.

During the lead-up to the event, a lot of work was done on the ute. David made the most of a Townsville dyno shop to fine tune the motor, leaving nothing about Guido’s performance to chance. Just as David was about to finish the first skid, the motor leaned out at 7,200 revs leaving it starving for fuel. The motor was still demanding fuel and in no time at all it caught fire. Flames engulfed the ute burning the motor, wiring and plumbing.

“Of course, I was deeply concerned for the welfare of my ute so I wasted no time in leaping on the tray for a photo opportunity!” said David.

The Ingham crowd went wild with photos quickly going viral on social media. Amazingly, the paint survived unscarred despite the flames. David headed back to the shop to rebuild the engine and prep Guido for more competitions. Since then the one-tonner has competed consistently and was a finalist at the 2019 NQ Burnouts competition in Cairns.

The 2020 season was set to be a big one for David and Guido but as with many events from all walks of life, the coronavirus pandemic has put the brakes on motorsport gatherings. The Northern Nats, set for the beginning of May but now postponed to at least October, was where David was hoping to get Guido on the burnout pad with some of the biggest cars in the North. Closer to home, the Ingham Autofest has also been postponed.

However, while trophies and viral social media fame are lovely, for David they are not the best parts of owning a ute like Guido. A highlight for him was taking his mum and dad cruising in Guido at the Northern Nats. The look on his mum’s face in the passenger seat as they drove out on the burnout pad was priceless. David will tell you, “My favourite thing is that the ute is road registered and driven almost daily. Guido is not hidden in the shed and I can hand on heart say the one-tonner is built not bought.”

So what does the future hold for David and Guido?

“Guido is complete as it is. Now my attention goes to the next build, a 1971, four-door VF Valiant with a small block 360 Chrysler motor. The Valiant will be a show car and burnout car but still street registered.”

We can’t wait to see Guido with the Valiant stablemate at a show in Far North Queensland soon.

Source: Motor Trader E-magazine (June 2020)

21 May 2020