ON THE STREET KILLERRides Rides LIAM VEZINIAS 1975 VJ VALIANT UTE

“After building the Charger, I’d always wanted to do a Ute. The out of the blue, I got a call from a mate in Cooma who knew I was into Valiant’s, telling me that the “Barber’s Ute” was on the market. I quickly snapped it up and had it delivered on a mate’s tilt tray,” Liam explained. Luckily, this was 2013 and long before extra zeros were added to cars and parts around the world, so Liam got a bargain for just $1500! The old saying is “you get what you pay for!” but in this case, Liam got so much more. Being from the country, the body was rust free and covered in the original, but faded paint. Sure, there were the usual bumps and scratches, but that’s what happens to work cars more often than not. Regardless, Liam knew had had scored a great start for new build. Initially, Liam had the crew at Johns Twins Smash Repairs remove all the defects from the body before giving it a fresh coat of PPG Fuji White, which is complimented by the familiar Mopar stripe across its flanks in black, with the bumpers and grille surround also scoring the darker colour. The white flows into the smoothed-out load area where the mini tubs and black alloy fuel cell become visible.

Having already been entrenched into the Mopar lifestyle with a VK Valiant Charger, Liam Vezinias had his next project fall into his lap…

After the paint was sorted, Liam put the Ute back together using the bench seat and original trim and slotting a stock 245ci six pack back by a threeon-the-tree manual trans. That didn’t last long though with a tougher 265 Hemi and 5-speed replacing the smaller engine. Wanting more power, Liam decided to sell off the 265, with plans to drop a 340-cube small block into the engine bay. That would have been an easy option, but when he came across a brand new, in the crate, 6.4-litre injected Hemi at the right price, he simply couldn’t go past it. The 392 Hemi offers lots of performance as seen in the range of SRT 300C and Jeep variants its slotted into. With late model technology, the injected Hemi does everything right, and there’s a wealth of power upgrades available in the aftermarket now too! Fitting the new powerplant proved to be a bigger hassle than he first thought, even though there’s people out there claiming that using their products offer a straight, bolt-in operation!

That’s rarely the case though as old cars were hand built in the factory to very loose tolerances so every car will be just a little difference. Though at times he wanted to call it a day, Liam persevered with the conversion whilst completing a Uni degree and dealing with finding the right parts for the job. One of those parts was the radiator, with a phone call to Rick at South Coast Radiators building a cooling system to suit. Some three years after he started, the Ute rolled out under its own Hemi power! Whilst the engine is more or less stock now (with a pair of stainless headers, 3.5-inch system and X-Force mufflers), there’s every chance the engine bay will see some forced induction one day soon which will take Mopar’s 485hp output to another level.

THANKS TO: My old man Paul – I couldn’t have done it without him, even though at times we both wanted to kill each other during the build. Simon Kryger – Innocent Motorsport. Tommy Raikko for brake and fuel lines. Johns Twins for all the paintwork on the car. Kon from WAS for the tune. All my mates who lent a hand and spun a spanner on the car over the years!

Backing the engine is a built 727 Torqueflite fitted with a reverse pattern, manual valve body and a custom SDE converter with a 3500rpm stall speed. Gear changes are made via a B&M Stealth Pro-Ratchet shifter. Daniel Engineering supplied a 3.5-inch tailshaft with 1350 unis and a Sonnax yoke that easily gets the power back to the 9-inch diff built by Geelong Diffs using a Tru-trak 3.7-geared centre and 35-spline billet axles. The underside also features Koni shocks front and rear, Wilwood 320mm and 280mm disc and calipers that live inside the ever-popular 15x10 and 17x4.5-inch Weld V-Series wheels. Getting the Ute lower to the blacktop is handled by the 1-inch heavy-duty torsion bars up front with reset leaf springs on the rear. Future plans call for Mono-leafs and Caltracs when Liam gets the urge to try some quarter mile action!

When the Ute reappeared, the old bench seat was given the flick, replaced by a pair of more-comfy, VX Calais leather buckets that look right at home in the old Valiant! The original gauge cluster is still in place, but Liam relies on AutoMeter gauges to keep him more accurately informed. Since its completion, Liam has made the most out of his new build, having scored a place in the Top 60 street cars at Summernats 34 and again at 35 with a place in the Retro Tech class, and at the time of doing the shoot, he was preparing to make the haul to Chryslers on the Murray to show off the Hemi-powered Hauler to those who live, breathe and eat Mopar muscle. He’ll certainly be in his element…