CRANKY AS

RAY ELIA'S VH VALIANT REGAL HAS GONE FROM P-PLATE CHARIOT TO BAD-ARSE, 543-CUBE TYRE-FRYER

-  JACK HOULIHAN

WE’VE all dreamed of finding that perfect one-owner project car, and Sydney’s Ray Elia wound up with one of these elusive gems – not through years of hunting, but straight from his Chrysler-mad old man, John! “My dad bought it new; I drove it when I was on my L- and P-plates,” Ray grins. “I bought it off Dad when I was 16 years old – 27 years ago. I met my girlfriend, who’s my wife now, in the car as well.” By the way, don’t get him confused with Ray Elia of blown VN fame (SM, Dec ’22) – that’d be his namesake and cousin!

“I was 22 when I stripped the car,” Ray continues. “It’s just been a slow build ever since; obviously with starting a business and starting a family, it went on the back-burner.” 

Ray’s first iteration of CRNKY1 hit the blacktop back in 2014, having been doused in custom-mix PPG metallic silver by Keven at Grange Smash Repairs to replace the original black-vinyl-on-white combo. “It was a really good base,” Ray says. “I was actually going to paint it in [Mopar] Vitamin C or Dukes of Hazzard orange, or maybe even a purple, but I reckon the silver came up all right with the chrome!” The wraparound stripe kit from Angel Signs isn’t directly based on a particular design, though similar treatments feature all over American Mopar hotties of the era.