We’ve met the rising Hollywood super-starlet who’s into classic Fords, but how exactly did the automotive bug bite? There’s an unexpected connection to classic Porsches, it turns out. And a potential future Australian twist.
Sydney Sweeney would regularly visit the racetrack as a kid, and calls classic Porsche builder Rod Emory – famed for his “Outlaw” custom 356s – “a second dad.” It’s because of these two influences, as well as hailing from a family of mechanics, she partly credits her love of cars.
READ MORE: Movie star reveals custom Ford Mustang
The 26-year-old Hollywood actor owns a 1969 Ford Bronco and is currently restoring a 1965 Ford Mustang, and has other secret classic car projects on the boil. Sweeney’s TikTok channel, Syd’s Garage, documents the Bronco’s restoration journey, and shows the actor working on suspension and other parts of the vehicle.
She said Emory taught her how to work on the car.
“My best friend’s dad (Emory) … builds and restores classic Porsches,” Sweeney told the Kelly Clarkson Show.
“And I bought this Ford Bronco and called him up, he’s been like a second dad to me my whole life. I was like, ‘hey, I bought this old car, I want to fix it up but I kind of want to learn how to do it myself. And so he let me bring it into the shop and he just walked me through every step, and we changed the transmission, the brakes, the interior.”
According to a 2022 Vanity Fair profile, Sweeney revealed she is working on a classic Porsche for her garage. In the same profile she outlines her car history, which started with a 1940s Ford pickup of her family’s farm before she even had her licence.
Once she could legally drive on the road she headed to Los Angeles with a 1994 Toyota LandCruiser before swapping to her grandparent’s 1990 Volvo sedan. Once she got her big break she spent her first paycheque on a Range Rover Sport – with the V8 engine.
The American star of the hit TV series Euphoria more recently partnered with Ford to create her own custom, baby blue 2024 Mustang GT, which was given away in a competition in March.
Sweeney said when she was a child she had babysitters who also happened to race cars – although which ones exactly isn’t clear – and she’d be regularly dragged along to the racetrack.
More recently, on the set of Anyone But You, filmed in Australia, all cast members were tested on whether they could drive a right-hand-drive manual vehicle.
“I’m the only one who could,” smiled Sweeney.
Sweeney has been spotted filming the upcoming Ron Howard film Eden in Brisbane, and told the Smallzy Surgery podcast she is looking to buy a house and move to Australia.
“I love it [Australia], I’ve downloaded multiple real estate apps to look into moving to Australia,” she said.
Spotting this upcoming Hollywood star at a local cars and coffee at some point in the not-so-distant future? It’s not beyond the realms of possibility for this American, Down Under-loving car enthusiast, it seems.
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