LIGHTEN UP

GOING MID-NINES IN A VG VALIANT WASN'T ENOUGH FOR AARON JAMES, SO HE WENT LOOKING FOR SOMETHING A BIT SLIMMER TO CHASE EIGHTS WITH

- STORY BORIS VISKOVIC

LIKE all good drag racers, Aaron James is always looking to go quicker, and you can do that two ways: add more power or push less weight.

For the past 10 years or so, Aaron's been happy to go with option #1, which has taken his Drag Challenge-honed VG Valiant from a solid 11-second street car to a drag-and-drive weapon capable of mid-nines. But recently he decided to give the second option a go, and this '77 Chrysler Centura is the result.

"With the Centura, I don't care if there's a dent in it or a crack in the paint, but if I crashed the Val, I'd be gutted," explains Aaron of his decision to return the VG to street-only duties and transfer its 528ci big block Chrysler driveline to the smaller car.

Aaron had initially been offered this Centura years ago by the car's original owner, Lee Baxter, back when it ran a Dodge R5P7 NASCAR mill. He'd knocked it back at the time and had always regretted it, so when it turned up on his radar again, Aaron wasn't about to repeat that mistake.

"Lee messaged me out of the blue and said, 'I bought my old Centura back and am about to advertise it, but I thought I'd offer it to you again'," he explains. "I thought, 'holy shit, this is a sign'."