DAYLE SCOINS

1965 VALIANT AP6 REGAL

“I FIRST saw this Valiant on the drag strip at Willowbank with a ‘for sale’ sign painted on the back window. It sparked my interest and I took a closer look at it in the staging lanes, where I fell in love with it. It was rough, but I had a vision and knew it could be something special. Unfortunately at that time we were not in a financial position to purchase it. As luck would have it, my partner found it on Gumtree a few months later still for sale, so we contacted the owner, hitched up the trailer and drove to the Gold Coast to take a look at it. We arrived at the address and were greeted by a shady-looking character (who turned out to be a really nice guy) and took the car for a test run. Not long into the drive, I knew I had to have it. We negotiated a price, loaded the Valiant onto the trailer and took her home, driving through torrential rain (the car passed the waterproof test – no leaks!). It runs a slant-six with a 350 Holley and extractors. The steel wheels are painted body colour with centre caps and wrapped in whitewall tyres, and it still has the rear wheel spats and venetian blind. It won Best Mopar at its first show ’n’ shine at the Willowbank Nostalgia Drags last year. It is on standard full rego and I drive it everywhere.”