A custom car builder shot dead outside his NSW Central Coast business was the de facto victim of a bikie-linked feud, detectives believe.
Respected automotive industry figure Laurie Starling wasn't known to police and he played no part in the Rebels outlaw bikie gang fraternity.
Rather, it's believed the 29-year-old's life came to an abrupt end last July because he was unwillingly caught up in a dispute between a Rebels member and another man allegedly linked to an organised crime group.
Sources say the dispute had its roots in but wasn't limited to drugs.
As Mr Starling sat in his ute outside the car restoration yard he'd poured his heart and soul into - The Chop Shop - on July 24, 2014, he was ambushed.
He was shot multiple times in the stomach and bled out behind the wheel.
The belief is Mr Starling was targeted because he'd been drawn into a dispute involving someone he knew, and was shot as an act of retribution.
Detectives say: "It was a case of `they couldn't get A so they got B'."
Homicide investigators believe three men were involved in the slaying, members of a Sydney chapter of the Rebels who travelled to Mr Starling's business on an industrial street in West Gosford.
However, local members of the gang are also understood to have taken part in the planning.
As detectives close in on the suspects, they have released a CCTV image of the grey or silver Toyota Corolla the trio used as their getaway car.
They are now painstakingly sorting through thousands of registrations of vehicles of the same description.
After the car left the scene of the shooting about 7.45pm, it's thought to have been driven about 5km north and then "loitered" around Deane St in Narara.
"We are very interested in the movements of this car around Deane St very soon after the murder and just before the car returned to Sydney," Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Grant Taylor told AAP on Friday.
Mr Starling left behind his brother, Jamie, father, Robert, and friends who have worked passionately to keep his legacy alive.
The family has set up the Laurie Award, which provides recipients with training and education in car fabrication.
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