SENTI-MENTAL

PAUL VAVITIS'S PARENTS BOUGHT HIM THIS VL CALAIS TURBO TO CONVINCE HIM TO FINISH HIGH SCHOOL. NOW IT'S AN 1100HP FAMILY HEIRLOOM TO BE PASSED DOWN TO HIS SON

- LIAM QUIRK

ONE of the hardest and most frustrating aspects of any project car build is having to rectify the decades of sins committed by previous owners before you can enact your own vision. Fortunately for Paul Vavitis, he's owned this beautiful VL Calais Turbo since it was brand new, at the tender age of 10!

“My parents said that if I promised to finish my VCE, they'd buy me a car there and then,” he explains. “This was 1986, and the VL Calais Turbo commercial was playing on TV. It left such an impression, I knew I had to have one.”

Once he was old enough to get behind the wheel, Paul somehow managed to avoid the usual P-plater tropes of distasteful mods or seriously injuring the car at the hands of his youthful enthusiasm. “It did get a little bit rough around the edges back in the day – blue ignition leads, blow-off valves and shit steering wheels,” he chuckles.

But it was Paul's brother, Zac, who lit the spark for Paul to begin turning that first car into the 1100hp showpiece it is today. “After I got my Calais, my brother wanted a VL too, so my father bought him a Turbo SL,” he says. “He sold it a few years later and always regretted it. He told me to never to let go of mine, and to build it as best I could. A few days later, he passed away in a car accident.”