From Sept 2013.
Hi guys
Great to become a member of the forum and looking forward to gaining more knowledge and sharing with you guys.
I recently bought a 69 VF Hardtop that has a bit of a story, so here it goes.
When I was 16 I bought my first car from my uncle being a VF 4 door for $1000 with a slant 6 and column manual. It sat in the driveway for a few months until I got my licence and then it was go time. When I was nearing 17, I came across a nice looking 69 VF Hardtop Regal with slant 6 and column auto sitting in the back of a car yard. It had just been traded in and needed detailing. Luckily I had my dad with me, who was also a keen Valiant lover having owned an ex police VH 4 door and then a CL. We looked it over and I was SOLD! They wanted $3000 for her and would give me a $1200 trade in for my 4dr, a couple days later I picked it up.
About a year later we moved off to the country and I started to tinker with the hardtop. I bought a VF Regal V8 wagon with 318 but fitted with a 4 spd manual and commenced to transplant the running gear into the hardtop. A year later I pulled out the engine and had my first shot a rebuilding the engine to stock specs and just a mild cam. A bit of time went by and while driving on the highway one of the remote oil filter hoses split and ended up spinning the bearings. My plan was to now rebuild the engine to some hotter specs and revert back to an auto. I replaced the trans tunnel to fix the modded one from fitting the 4spd and then she sat for a couple months. During this time I bought an AP6 fitted with a 265 and 4 spd for a daily driver.
I was now 20 and my parents then decided to move back to the city so the hardtop had to be moved out of the shed. I had just crashed the AP6 and it needed repairing and I had no where to put the hardtop rolling shell. Luckily a mate is a spray painter so we struck a deal, he would repair and paint the AP6 in exchange for the hardtop. He then on sold the hardtop to a guy for around $3000.
Being 39 now, nearly every day my biggest regret was to let go of the hardtop. I dabbled in a Jap import Nissan 180sx with a 2ltr turbo, bloody thing made 400rwhp with factory internals and a medium turbo and cam upgrade and was reliable as anything could be and driven daily for years in this set up. I still wanted my hardtop back so I decide to sell the 180sx after owning it for 9 years and look for a clean hardtop to fill the space of my old one.
Within a week of selling the 180sx, I wondered if the guy that bought my old hardtop still had it and would sell it. I tracked him down and gave him a call.
Much to my surprise he still had it and hadn't touch it since getting it 19 years ago!
I asked if he would sell it and he wasn't keen on the idea, I said think about it and I will ring back at the end of the week. So the friday came and I gave him a call, he had done some hard thinking and said he would sell it back to me if I wanted but would not sell it to any one else. He had been pestered over the years by many people trying to buy it and wouldn't part with it. So I jumped in the car saturday morning and went to have a look.
As soon as I saw her I almost had a tear in my eye, we worked out a price and I gave him a deposit and came back a couple days later and picked her up and took her home.
When I got home I had a good look over her and found the old rego papers in the glove box from last registration with my name from 1994. I also found my old watch and the old L plates that I used to teach my younger brother to drive (he went on and bought a nice VC regal) In the boot was a hubcap with bags of bolts from the engine that I had stripped and bagged up. It was like my own personal time capsule. To top it off, its still registered in my name, he never changed it!
So now after some 19 years, I have her back in the same condition (not one spec of rust has come out in all these years, though the paint is looking sad) I can pick up with the rebuild from where I left off. So I'll more than likely be asking you guys for some info and pointers during this time.
Ah, that took a while to type, sorry for the long intro guys but I hope its a story worth sharing.
Cheers for now.
