BUILDING his custom made VK ute was a labour of love for Danny Board, but one that was worth the effort. The ute took out two trophies at the Kandos Street Machine Show recently.
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His pride and joy, originally a VK station wagon, was dissected, engineered and then rebuilt as a VK ute.
The project was only finished a few weeks before the car show, with Mr Board registering the ute on Christmas Eve.
He has no idea how many hours’ work went into the project, with mates joining him to work long hours after work and on weekends.
The super-charged engine came from a VY SS Commodore, with all the interior and parts of the exterior custom made to fit the ute.
“We had to remake all of the front of the bonnet to fit the VY dash,” he said.
Mr Board said it cost him about $30,000 to build the car, but if he to pay labour the cost would have been closer to $45,000 or $50,000.
He based the design of the ute on the Peter Brock Group 3 series, making it the same colour, with identical signage on the side and retro 19’’ rims.
It’s even got a fake drop tank which can be used for storage. The tank is accessed via an electric sun roof installed in the ute’s tray.
Mr Board took the ute to the Summernats in Canberra, but it didn’t have a judging sticker on it and so wasn’t judged, though he said it would have won the “best ute”.
In Kandos though, Mr Board came away with the goods, placing in the Top 10 Burn Out Competition Forced Induction and winning the Best Modified car.
“It was on Facebook and I got a lot of feedback on that. Out of 500 likes I only got two dislikes,” he said.
Mr Board he said he was stoked with the results the car achieved at Kandos and he will look at entering other shows.
“I’ll see if I can win a few more trophies,” he said.
Mr Board also has a new project in the wings, rebuilding a Holden Monaro, which is already on a hoist in his shed.
“I can’t stop doing it, I just keep buying them,” he said.
