Like our famously unusual animals, there’s another unique beast that’s been living here in Australia: isolated, unaffected by outside influences, and found nowhere else in the world… the burnout car. While burnouts aren’t uniquely Australian, we take them to another level. We hold structured competitions featuring 1000+ horsepower street machines designed for only one purpose: destroying tyres.
To honor this awesome and unique car subculture, OzWheels has partnered with one of the most famous builders in the competition, Mark Schwarz, to bring us this faithful replica of his Holden HQ GTS Monaro, dubbed “HANFUL.”
OzWheels and the HANFUL team have been working together for some time, with the real-life car currently sporting an OzWheels wrap. This is actually the third time OzWheels has released HANFUL, but the first to receive “Fully Sick Details,” aka FSD.
The inclusion of an interior is a serious game-changer, compared to OzWheels’ previous offerings. It brings the car up to the next level, worthy of consideration by the most fastidious of diecast collectors. It’s a weighty car, with nice, realistic proportions. Another upgrade that comes with FSD is the widened rear wheels which make the car look much more accurate to the full size version. The printing is super crisp, a clear step above the fuzzy details you might find on a Hot Wheels Premium, although the $19 AUD price tag reflects that.
If I were to be at all critical, I would have liked to have seen some larger and more prominent exhaust pipes, but maybe the smaller pipes could allow the base piece to be reused to represent a more ‘stock’ version of a HQ Monaro. The tyres are a little bit too knobbly as well, but that’s just me being fussy.
OzWheels’ FSD release of HANFUL was not without controversy, triggering the first instance of negative collector feedback for the brand. Their issue wasn’t with the car itself, but rather the timing. This was the third HANFUL drop in a matter of weeks, coming right after the Summernats ‘Skid Cylinder’ Special Edition from January. With three different paint schemes per release, collectors found themselves looking at a total of nine HANFULs, plus chase versions, all released within a short timeframe. Understandably, they made their way to social media to voice their concerns over the rapid-fire release schedule.
OzWheels responded to the concerns via Instagram & Facebook and explained why they released the FSD HANFUL when they did. In summary, collectors and enthusiasts have the opportunity to buy an OzWheels HANFUL alongside the 1:1 when it appears at car shows. However, the first two HANFUL releases significantly exceeded sales expectations, resulting in them completely selling out of stock sooner than predicted. The FSD version, originally slated for a mid-to-late 2025 release, needed to be produced ahead of schedule to fill this gap. When a retailer inquired about available stock for a promotional sale, the FSD HANFULs were conveniently already in their warehouse, and thus, it had its retail release earlier than planned.
Also released alongside the FSD HANFUL, was another Fully Sick Holden, the “EVIL LJ”. This 1973 Holden Torana LJ GTR was built by Luke Mitchell and his team in only 16 weeks on the TV show “Rides Down Under: Workshop Wars”. Although not a burnout car, this street machine is powered by an enormous blown LS, making in excess of 1500hp. Since debuting at Summernats 2020, EVIL LJ has won a cabinet full of silverware at various car shows across the country.
EVIL LJ is extremely modified, it’s 7.0L V8 dwarfing the 3.3L inline-six found in the original LJ Torana GTR XU-1. Already a formidable competitor on the Australian rally circuit, the legacy of the XU-1 was cemented in 1972 when at a rainy Bathurst 500, the nimble Torana came away victorious, conquering the more powerful Ford Falcon GTHO. This gave Peter Brock his first of nine wins at the event, a feat which would earn him the moniker “King of the Mountain”.
Like HANFUL, the OzWheels EVIL LJ has been available for purchase alongside the full-size car and recently received a retail release. However, unlike HANFUL which was upgraded to FSD from OzWheels’ regular range, the EVIL LJ casting was designed from the ground up as an FSD and is clearly their best and most detailed offering to date.
Everything about this car is fully detailed and accurate to the real EVIL LJ. The reversed rake stance is awesome, as are the wheels which are unique to this car. The humungous bug catcher protrudes out of the bonnet, nearly in line with the roof just like the real thing. Regarding the bonnet, it’s tooled as a separate piece, likely to make it easier for retooling of the casting for future non-EVIL versions.
HANFUL, EVIL LJ and OzWheels themselves all harken from my home state of Queensland, and it fills me with a sense of pride to see a QLD numberplate on a model car which is receiving such global recognition.
Even after a year on the market, the hype and passion for the brand has remained strong, as evidenced by the eye-watering prices some of the chase models are commanding on eBay. OzWheels offer two levels of chase models: the “Raw Chase,” akin to Hot Wheels’ ZAMAC models with printing directly on unpainted metal, and the rarer “Super Chase,” featuring a chrome-like mirrored paint finish similar to Hot Wheels’ RLC. Both are highly sought after, with an EVIL LJ Super Chase recently changing hands for a staggering $1100 AUD on eBay.
Since day one, OzWheels collectors have been asking for clear windows and full interiors, and FSD delivers exactly that. These two FSD ‘Special Editions’ give us a sneak peek of things to come, with a series of six FSD cars on their way this year. If FSD Series 1 has the same level of ‘Fully Sick Detail’ as the HANFUL and EVIL LJ, we are in for a real treat.
