I have a deep passion for kit cars, because they are a rare and breath-taking form of automobile. I specailise in restoration and upgrades on most kit cars as seen on this AC Cobra replica fitted with a highly modified LS-1. The owner wanted his engine bay to stand out so I've surrounded it with polished alloy, hid all the wiring and fitted braided lines. This is a brutally quick example.

Ben Creswick asked me to perform a lot of the custom metalwork on the Hankook WRX. Work includes fabrication and lowering of the rear wheel tubs by 6", complete reshaping and lowering of the front wheel tubs by 6", firewall, rollcage, dash and pedal modifications. Under the car I raised the diff cradle approx 6" up into the bodywork by modding the diff cradle, the chassis and surrounding framework, allowing the suspension full movement at it's lowest settings. This is easily the lowest WRX on the track.

As so often happens, a customer comes to me to have someone else's shoddy work rectified. In this case, the so-called "Kings of Custom" took outrageous money off this customer and gave him doors that don't open anywhere near as much as they're supposed to. I repaired his doors properly by installing a quality hinge assembly and charged him less than half of what he was charged at the "Kings". Do yourself a favour. Talk to someone that has done the job properly himself, many times, rather than someone who sends his custom work elsewhere.

Another car Queen St sent me was this S15, on which the customer wanted a set of front suicide doors. It's the same one that's featured in the "In the Build " section of September's Hot Fours magazine. A fairly straight-forward install, I used a stronger custom hinge with this job as the doors are longer and heavier than usual doors. It'll be interesting to see what Queen St does with it from here.

Queen St had me suicide the rear doors of one of their customer's H3 Hummer. Not quite the straight-forward install due to the door's size and wieght, the doors where never-the-less modified, made compliant and engineer approved. The paint and interior is typical Queen St. No job is too hard for the Metalsmith.

These are just a few examples of my customer's cars. My metalworking skills differ to all other customisers because they don't have the capabilty or the time to create something truly incredible. I can chop roofs or suicide doors easily. Turn a four door car into a two. Turn a front wheel drive into a rear wheel drive. Nothing is too hard for me. Unlike other "We can do anything" customisers who send all their custom work out, often to me, I do all my own work in house and far above the usual standard. It is way more important to me to have a satisfied customer than to have dollars in my pocket. My customers keep coming back. And they bring their mates.

I won the Australian Army contract over Queen Street, X Customs and several other custom car businesses in early '09 to build the Army their next recruitment and promotional tool: Project Digger. Its' a 1978 Ford LTD which I've chopped the roof 3", shaved the gutters, flattened the firewall and installed a full transmission tunnel. The engine bay inner guards were also flattened and I completely modified the boot to suit the aftermarket fuel tank. The rear doors were suicided and engineered for ADR compliance. It was unveiled at the 2010 Summernats to rave reviews. It's been featured heavily in Street Machine and Street Machine Fords magazines. If the Australian Army/Government trusts me with their cars above all other modifiers, who should you trust with yours?

The August edition of Hot Four's front cover car, the metal work and the hidden air bag install was done by the Metalsmith. Fully compliant rear suicide doors are an obvious highlight. The custom air bag strut length allows this car to sit low over it's magical rims. This is one of my signature cars. It won the Pinnacle Award for groundbreaking concept and design at the recent Motorex in Sydney. Want to stand out from your mates? Imagine a set of suicide doors on your car. I can do it for you. LEGALLY.