STREET MACHINE

MOPAR SUNDAY

Awesome day. See ya there!

VF Valiant Makeover, Part 2!

And here is the beast in all its finished glory, what a transformation!

Wanna buy it? Look here
More of Simon's work here

VF Valiant Makeover, Part 1

Because we want to bring you the best of the best, most of the builds we cover in Street Machine are epic in nature, with lots of sacrifice, dollars and years of hard yakka. All fantastic, but that doesn't mean that you can't have fun and really achieve something with a quickie build. This makeover job by SM contributor Simon Major is an excellent example, as Simon explained to the troops on www.ozrodders.com:

"You know how you shouldn't buy things on impulse sometimes? We'll I did it and now I've got no fingerprints left and a lung full of sanding dust...

Ok, here's the background: My VEG Safari wasn't even finished and I was out on my wedding anniversary with the better half a couple of months back; after lunch and a movie we're heading home and she says "hey I think there's a Valiant down there for sale..." and points to a side street. Sensing a trap I proceeded with caution and replied with a wary "ok..".. "Do you want to go back and have a look?" she says. Now, here I am on my wedding anniversary with my wife asking if I want to (1) look at a Valiant for sale and (B) potentially spend money. I am scared and rightly so; so I hit her straight up and say "Is this a test" and she says "No, I want you to have a look, it might be half alright".

So we went back and I saw it was this red VF sedan. I remember the car from a few years ago and it used to be owned by a chick on the Southside. Straight up I'm trying to talk myself out of it as I've really been half-keenly chasing a VG ute to put away as a future project, which I'd really rather have if I'm gonna spend the coin: "It'll be a Slant, I don't want a Slant car" then stick my head under the front and its had a Hemi conversion. Damn it. "Oh its not an auto, it'll be a 3 on the tree, I don't want a column manual", I look inside and its a floor shift 4 speed. Fark. "The 7" jellybean mags look ok but the tyres will be rooted", Shite, they're nearly brand new. Last resort: "The paints shagged and it'll be full of rust" It has a small amount of rust in the lower rear 1/4s from a poor previous repair but the roof and bootlid paint are totally shagged with crowsfeet, but the rest of the paint just needs a good cut and polish.

The shell was a corker so I ring the guy who comes back while we're there, I find its a 245 on LPG/petrol with a new VH44 for the front discs, extractors, new exhaust, lots of new body rubbers, front and rear swaybars, neat interior trim and new carpet, mint dashpad and a 350 2bbl Holley. I get it started and it runs great. The bride gives me the double thumbs up and says "at least its not a boring colour like the rest of them!".

Next thing you know its home and I'm busy sanding again. The original plan was to respray the bootlid and roof and leave it at that, but matching the paint was a nightmare so it was out with the Hoover again for a full respray. Thankfully there was no real bodywork required so it was a simple rub back for the rest of it. The gumby boot and roof paint was that knackered that it came off quite easily.

As you can see by the photos, the McValiant tag comes from obvious styling cues, the yellow interior metal and engine bay will be replaced by black and red respectively asafp."

Show and PLENTY of Go!

Cassie Rhodes' E55 Charger was on the cover of Street Machine back in May 2007. It was a serious contender for SMOTY that year and also got a Meguiar's Superstars invite, so you know it's a pretty nice car. The plan was always to race the car, and with a blown and injected 408 cube Mopar sucking methanol, expectations were for a 9-second quarter.

Sounds like a big ask. Nope. Check it out!

Road Runner

Michael Innins's stunning '69 Road Runner. Power is provided by a 490ci Wedge motor screwed together by Trick and Mansweto and backed by a TKO Tremec five-speed. Michael is currently working on a slick EFI conversion.

Hot Machines

These days, more and more street machiners are giving their rides traditional rod and custom styling cues. One such person is Simon Major, who refers to himself as a 'Hot Machiner'. "I follow the Hot Rod and Custom scene but apply these influences to cars that are more normally associated to the Street Machine scene" he told us. The approach makes a lot of sense too. A tidy late 60s or early 70s ride can be picked up for a reasonable sum, and the stock mechanicals are suitable for reliable and comfortable cruising without extensive mods. The other advantage is a cool ride can be thrown together without breaking the bank, which makes it a great approach for a first project. Lucky for us, Simon shared with us a few pictures of his rides for inspiration.

First up, we have Simon's old VG Safari wagon. Believe it or not, the entire car was painted with spraycans! The matt black with flames and red steelies is a big nod to the traditional flavour which influenced the build. A more subtle custom touch is the neat full width grille, which works well on the car. "I ended up selling it to buy a VF hardtop," he explained. "I bought it back 3 years later, and I was going to redo it, but we needed some extra cash to buy our house so regrettably it was sold (again)".

Next, we have Simon's current daily driver, another flamed Safari wagon, this time a VE. "I chose the VE because I couldn't find a decent VF or VG Safari and missed having the old one for parts hunts. Custom touches are an XC front bumper, modded grille, and chrome vinyl on the tailgate to give it a full red 'Millenium Falcon' type jet look."

Lastly, there is Simon's current project, a VG sedan. As you can see, Simon has filled in the inner indicators on the front guards. It's a nice subtle mod, which most people will walk past, but is sure to get a few Mopar nuts attention. The last picture is a great example of creative thinking to solve a problem. "I've removed the heater from it which left a big hole in the firewall where the fan motor poked through," he told us. "So I got a VH Charger hubcap with the Dodge emblem and cut the centre out to make a heater blanking plate."

Vacuum cleaner paint job

When we saw the pictures of Simon Major's VG Valiant, we couldn't help but love the American cop car style paint. Imagine our surprise when he told us it was painted with a vacuum cleaner in the backyard! "The vacuum cleaner sprayjob came about more out of necessity than anything else," he explained. "I don't have the funds for a professional job and I like to do as much as possible myself".

So what inspires a bloke to try painting a car with a vacuum cleaner? "I read in an old 60's Australian Hot Rod magazine that Eddie Ford painted his friends Ford with a vacuum cleaner gun so I figured it was a do-able process. I picked up a CIG 'Vacuum Cleaner' Easysprayer from a Swap Meet for $10," he told us. "It's cheap to do and owes me about $300 tops all up for all materials." Simon uses enamel paint, but lays it on nice and thick so he can cut it back to get a nice finish. The method isn't without it's quirks though, "I was laying the third coat onto the left rear door and stood on my vacuum cleaner paintgun hose, which choked the air supply and spewed out blobs of paint".

Simon is hoping to have the old girl finished for Mopar Sunday on July 27. Keep an eye out for it, it'll be the one with the 'Mopar County Sheriffs Dept.' signage.

Dodge this!

I spent the long weekend in Canberra, staying with a certified Mopar nut. This bloke has an impressive collection of literature on the marque, so I got busy reading. At first I just flicked and picked out the cars I liked the best - a black 1966 Plymouth Satellite for me please.

After a couple of hours, my head was swimming. Dart. Daytona. Demon. Duster. Super Bee. Savoy. Swinger. A-Body. B-Body. C-Body. E-Body. Challenger. Charger. Barracuda. 'Cuda. 'Cuda AAR. Road Runner. GTX. R/T. R/T SE. Coronet. Polara. Superbird. Scamp. Sport Fury. Belvedere...what kind of a name is that? I read and read about the history of these cars (which is fascinating), but I couldn't put it all together. In desperation, I made up a Mopar family tree on paper and things started to fall into place.

I've got a way to go still, but I was very happy when Damien Morey sent us an email about his 1973 Dodge Challenger Rallye. Straight away, I knew that the Challenger was Dodge's late entry into the ponycar market, introduced in 1969, with the R/T as the hot version. I also knew that by 1972, muscle car sales were shrinking due to a combination of high fuel prices and insurance dramas, so the R/T Challenger (and Charger) were dropped in favour of the still-horn Rallye. Cool, huh?

Damien's car is a 440 with dual quads, Slap Shift 727 and a rare sunroof option. The beast will be fitted with a period-correct Paxton blower over the winter months.

Urban Warfare

Mark Arblaster pulling the fronts in his famous Val. With a Procharged, intercooled and EFI big block, WAR440 has made over 1000hp at the treads on pump fuel, but getting all that to the ground via leaf springs has been a challenge to say the least! Mark recently ran a new PB at WSID of 8.47 @ 164mph, with a best-ever 60 foot time of 1.34. Arby has a new project on the way that is gonna turn some heads, so watch out Mopar fans.