PURPLE REIGN 700-plus horsepower Plymouth GTX

The original Charcoal paint was soon just a memory after the shell was sandblasted revealing a small amount of rust in the aging sheet-metal, making the body work task a little easier for Ray Nelson. Before the paint was laid on, Ray removed the fuel filler and spare wheel door, along with the factory fitted side mouldings and badges giving a much smoother look. Ray also spent lots of time painstakingly removing years of imperfections from the EH’s metal to a point where it was straighter than a Supreme Court judge! Owen’s first choice for the new colour was black, but after thinking long and hard about it, the lure of a candy paint job had him change his mind, finally opting for PPG Wine Fire which was laid over a Spearmint Green base to get the right effect. The paint work was handled by David Brown and looks absolutely stunning on the EH’s reworked body. Completing the body and paint transformation is a custom fibreglass hard cover and EH sedan rear bumper. The chrome work against the candy Wine Fire colour is a matchmade in heaven – so much better than it would have looked like in black. Great choice, Owen! That paint was laid on 20-years ago and still looks amazing! A true testament to the talents of both Ray and David. While it was great to have the body and paint completed, it did make the rest of the build that much more difficult. That last thing you want to do is scratch a fresh candy paint job. Touch ups can be costly so everything that happened from this point on had to be done very carefully.

These rims are actually a long way from what Owen originally fitted – larger diametre Billet Specialties rims that matched the current steering wheel. Hands up who thinks the new rolling stock is a much better combo!

After a break from the build, it was time for Owen to get back into the EH and sort out the driveline. After speaking with Peter Fitzpatrick, he advised Owen to speak to Paul Sant at Pro-Flo Performance. A meeting with Paul saw the rolling, painted Ute shipped to Sydney for Paul and his team do the necessary mods to get the job completed. Owen wanted to keep the Ute Holden powered, so Paul got stuff into the engine build, piecing together a 383ci stroker, using a COME stroker crank and Callies Ultra rod combo, SRP forged pistons and a Crane roller solid cam that gives the stretched Holden engine a nasty idle. A pair of VN heads soon joined in but not before Paul fitted them with Ferrea valves and Manley Nextek springs. A single 750 Street HP Holley carb sits on top of a Harrop single plane intake manifold. Firing the 383-cuber into life is left up to an MSD ignition system comprising of a 6AL2 box, coil and distributor. Once the fire starts, the gases are shown the door via a pair of custom Pro-Flo fabricated headers and dual three-inch exhaust system. For the record, the single carb, pump-fuel Holden stroker made an impressive 590-horsepower on the dyno. Backing the potent engine package is a built

Turbo 350 auto fronted with a TCE 5000rpm converter and fully-manualised internals. The third member of the driveline trio is a Pro-Flo sheet-metal diff housing with 31-spline billet axles and a 3.7-geared 9-inch centre. Owen told the Pro-Flo team to do what they had to, to have the car complete and working when he picked it up, so the boys replaced the original front end with a HR assembly, fitting it with a front mount rack assembly, DBA discs with VT calipers, King Springs and Koni shocks. Likewise, the rear end scored DBA discs with VL calipers along with matching springs and shocks. All that gear is hidden behind the 17x4.5” and 15x8” RC Components Torx rims – the rears having bead locks fitted for that true tuff-street look. These rims are actually a long way from what Owen originally fitted – larger diametre Billet Specialties rims that matched the current steering wheel. Hands up who thinks the new rolling stock is a much better combo!

Leaving just the interior to complete the project, Owen called upon Trims by Shaun to transform the old interior space into something that could hold its own against the quality of the build so far. Shaun and Josh knew exactly what to do and took the EH Premier bucket seats, factory door trims and dash pad and redid them in tan leather. The same material was used on the custom centre console and the ring surrounding the Billet Specialties steering wheel. The headlining was finished in Alcantar. The interior is full of custom additions including the push-button park brake and the machined dash facia that now holds a host of American Muscle gauges from the AutoMeter catalogue. The stereo system starts with the Retro Sound head unit and flows through Alpine speaker and amps. Audiotech handled the install. Any thoughts of throwing tools or timber in the rear load area are long gone, with that area now covered in matching vinyl and chrome accents hiding under the lockable cover.

It certainly was a long way to travel to get the build done and Owen is adamant that if he was to build another car, he wouldn’t get the paint done first. In fact, he was so impressed by the work performed by the team at Pro-Flo that he would head there first to have the entire build completed! With that said, he wants to thank those that helped him get through the build process during the past 20-years including; his wife Tipa, and kids Tots and Ninj, Paul at ProFlo Performance, Shaun and Josh at Trims by Shaun, Troy at Reflections Coatings and Detailing, Harvey Miles the EJ-EH Guru, my brother Wombi, Mum and Dad and Peter and Aaron Fitzpatrick for their guidance.

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