The SummerNats car festival is more than just a big, beautiful gathering of petrolheads and their incredible machines. For those with a nose for these things, it can give an indication of future trends in the aftermarket sector. Lara Wilde attended the 34th edition of the festival in January, and as well as spending time behind the microphone in the commentating booth, she went on a quest to discover just what those trends might be.

Words: Lara Wilde

---

For many, the mention of SummerNats brings to mind visions of mullet haircuts, bogans drinking slushies, and burnouts. The world’s wildest car festival has hosted crowds of automotive-loving patrons every year (except for the COVID-plagued 2021) since 1987 with peak crowds reaching almost 120,000 screaming fans.

Australia’s biggest horsepower party promises something for everyone. There are the much-loved daily drivers, the elite show cars, the peak performance machines on the dyno, and the mad monstrosities on the burnout pad. To a true car lover, every machine at SummerNats can be admired for one reason or another. Many of the beasts on the burnout pad could easily pass as show cars at your average Show and Shine.

While I have a personal passion for steel bumper V8s, I can also appreciate the blood sweat and tears that go into creating an elite Mazda RX3. Whichever way you look at them though, every car at SummerNats is a cool car. And the secret to a cool car at SummerNats is to tick a couple of boxes.

1. The buy-in must be reasonable. If you have to pay $100,000 or more for the car before you play with it, you are probably in the LS-swap-in-a-Lambo crowd and not reading the SummerNats room well (not that anyone wouldn’t love a Lambo with an LS). In an ideal world you can pick up your project car for $1,000 or less leaving plenty of bank to play God under the bonnet.
2. You need to think outside of the box to be completely unique while also having access to as many mainstream tools and parts as possible. An example of this thinking is Jessie Barbeler, who took a 1984 Suzuki Mighty Boy and shoehorned an 1150 horsepower (858kW) 408 LS into the party compartment.

In the main pavilion at SummerNats this year, I met Nathan Giunco who built his XE Falcon sedan named JETFTR over the past 13 years. The immaculate white showstopper caught my eye and my first question to Nathan was, “What possessed you to invest in an XE 13 years ago?” In 2009, an XE Falcon was an ex-taxi. It was the car you picked up as a cheap family runabout for a few hundred bucks. It was a daggy car. In 2009, the cool kids were playing with Mustangs and Stingrays, not Falcons.

So why did Nathan choose to sink a few hundred thousand dollars, and more than a decade, into a car that notoriously had terrible doors? The answer? Because he liked the car. Because Nathan could see something in that XE that others could not. Because Nathan is ahead of the curve. Because Nathan is a SummerNats guy who sets trends.

What does that mean? Why should you care, particularly if you have no intention of ever attending SummerNats, let alone building a car in which to cruise there? Well, because if you are in the automotive industry and there are people out there spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on cars, don’t you want to know what they are shopping for next?

SummerNats aficionados led the charge for the LS swap and then the adoption of the Barra engine into every make and model imaginable. SummerNats is where you can see the next wave of popular aftermarket trends rear its beautiful mullet head.

Fashion has Paris Fashion week, but watching supermodels strutting in couture gowns hardly represents the clothing to be found in Target and Kmart. And yet that is where those clothes come from. And that fashion trickles down from the major retailers to charitable op shops where it is picked up by the truly fashion savvy who then chop, modify, and bedazzle to make„ it their own in the world of street fashion. Within the car world, we have supercars as our couture, and their developments trickle down to the new car market. Within 5 to 10 years, those new cars become a part of the second-hand market and are quickly snaffled by the car savvy who then chop, modify, and bedazzle them, making them their own in the world of street machines.

So, who are the trend-setting fashionistas who will determine the price of second-hand cars and in-demand parts for modifications in the next 5-10 years? Like Nathan and his XE Falcon, you’ll find them at SummerNats, and right now they are picking through the cheap pile of motoring rejects on Facebook Marketplace and dropping the equivalent of the price of a small house to turn them into the street machine of SummerNats dreams.

Let me introduce you to Mick. Mick bought his 1999 Ford AU Falcon station wagon for $50. He then spent close to $70,000 to supercharge the straight-six-cylinder motor.

Mick then worked on the big green wagon customising the interior and modifying the body so that he could compete at SummerNats in the Burnout Championship.
His first qualifying run ended near tears as his radiator failed. Some frantic phone calls and desperate Facebook posts later and a new radiator was sourced and installed ready for the finals. Mick launched onto the pad with great gusto and within two minutes the rear of the wagon was engulfed in flame. Mick could not be happier. $70,000, a few years of hard work, 120 seconds of tyre-shredding joy, and he takes home the title of ‘SummerNats 6-Cylinder Burnout Champion’ and a prize cheque of $100.

Would Mick do it all again? In a heartbeat. Would you want Mick dropping that $70,000 in your workshop or your aftermarket parts store? In a heartbeat.

This year, I had the honour of being a commentator at SummerNats 34, and spent four days marinating in all things cars. From the elite hall to the super cruise to the burnout pad, I saw cars of all makes and modifications. Here are my predictions for what to prepare for in the next 5 to 10 years based on what I saw.

I am not talking about the cool cars here, I am talking about the will-be-cool-in-the-future cars – the no frills, plastic bumper ’90s cars. We have already seen the trend of skyrocketing prices for old-school, steel bumper JDM cars. An unmolested Toyota KE20 Corolla is a rare unicorn with a ridiculous price tag (at least according to my bank manager!) but we are entering the age of the mid-’90s models.

Mitsubishi Sigmas were a common sight at SummerNats 34, with the interest first being raised by Adrian Cuthbertson and his burnout car ‘Stigma’ a few years ago. That humble taxi favourite, the AU Falcon has a cult following online and the much sought-after Barra powerplant promises them a profitable future.

Two-wheel-drive tradies’ utes that have high kilometres seem to be a favourite to drop in a powerful donk, with the Mazda Bravos, Ford Couriers and Holden Rodeos finally finding their moment to shine. The Commodore family, with the much sought-after Calais and HSV lines, has been pillaged too. Now, the die-hard fans are scraping the bottom of the barrel taking Berlina wagons and similar editions to rebirth them into something cool. Could there one day be a jaw-dropping Camira in the elite hall? It looks highly likely.

So there you have it, my SummerNats prophecy for the cars to come. Just as the truly fashion-conscious stalk Paris Fashion Week to know if they should stock up on denim or sequins, I invite you to follow SummerNats so you can be prepared for the incoming wave of cashed-up car lovers who are looking to make their mark.

Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (February 2022) 

10 February 2022