“I'd grown up with VK's in the family. My mum had a red VK with a 5.0 litre V8 and Simmons mags when I was young and I'd always admired that particular car.

“I really wanted to try to buy it back after mum sold it but I couldn't, so I decided to build my own.”

So for Darryl, his own take on the VK began in Sydney about 13 years ago with a $700 purchase.

It was a 1985 VK Commodore Berlina with a 202 cubic inch six cylinder and alloy wheels.

He drove it around as it was and then three or four years later started the transformation with front and rear HDT spoilers and a full body respray in HSV Red.

The wheels were upgraded to 16 inch Simmons B45's and then came the engine.

A fuel injected 5.0 litre V8 was sourced from a VS Commodore and mated to a five speed manual transmission. Darryl has also had the suspension lowered and is pretty happy with the end result. That said, in car circles there's always room for more.

“It had a fire in the engine bay a few years after the rebuild and so it needs a tidy up under the bonnet and maybe some engine work to boost the performance while we're there,” Darryl said.

“And I'd like to one day go for bigger diameter rims again and another respray to refine the imperfections.”

There's no plans for Darryl to get rid of his VK - now that it's turned out like he'd envisaged he plans to keep it forever.

As for his mum's VK, which spawned the idea in the first place, it's now back in the shed at home.

Darryl's brother found it and bought it back, so one day it might make it back on the road to complete a matching pair.

Darryl joined the Central West Car Club and has now put his car on conditional registration to suit his needs.

Visit www.centralwestcarclub.com or on Facebook. Meetings  are held the first Wednesday of the month at 7:30pm at the Parkes Leagues Club.