ENCYCLOPAEDIA MECCANICA

STELIO BIRBAS BEGAN HIS VF VALIANT COUPE BUILD AS A TEENAGER. TWENTYFIVE YEARS AND MANY MISSED DEADLINES LATER, THE CAR IS FINALLY COMPLETE AND WORTH THE WAIT

- CARLY DALE

STELIO Birbas’s sharp-as-a-tack VF Valiant coupe has been a build of faith and sheer determination. With the project spanning 25 years, even some of the Adelaidean’s nearest and dearest had given up hope of ever seeing the car completed.

The tumultuous love affair began in 1997, when 16-year-old Stelio laid down $2800 for the VF Regal 770. “I always loved Chryslers – especially coupes – and at the time not many Vals were getting around,” he explains of the then-stock, vinyl-roofed two-door.

For three months, Stelio racked up cruising kilometres, but when rego ran out, he reckoned it was a great time to give the car a quick freshen-up. Soon the entire coupe was ripped apart on the family’s front driveway. “The idea was a quick respray, freshen the 245ci, lower it and add a new set of wheels, then have the VF ready by my Year 12 graduation at the end of the year. Well, who was I kidding?” Stelio laughs. After the pull-down, the keen teenager managed to get a coat of primer whacked on before the graduation date came and went. It was a sign of things to come.