Vic Allen from the Central West Car Club owns this eye-catching WB Holden ute and I recently caught up with him at the Forbes Motor Show where it debuted after a 12 month rebuild.
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Vic and his good friend Peter Rendall did all the work on the car themselves except for fitting the front windscreen and gassing the A/C.
When I politely asked Vic why a 70-year-old bloke like him was doing up a car more suited to a 'P' plater at a B and S ball, he said "because we can"; which sounded perfectly fine to me.
The ute is a 1982 WB Holden with a 253 V8 matched to a four speed manual gearbox. Vic and Peter flew to Kalgoorlie in WA exactly 12 months ago to pick the car up and drove it all the way home.
"It took us eight days," Vic laughed, "and the only trouble we had was people wanting to buy the thing, including an aboriginal elder from one of the local missions who was determined to swap it for his Land Cruiser Troop Carrier including the four blokes in it!"
Once they had the WB home they immediately set to work on it. It'd already had a rough restoration 15 years ago but if the photographs are anything to go by it was indeed rough. Vic did all the body work and the painting in his carport at home.
"I tarped out the carport to make my own spray booth and in total laid on 18 coats of paint to finish with a beautiful custom purple," he said.
There's blackouts on the bonnet, door pillars and the flutes along with the hard cover and the tailgate. He also customised things a little with a Statesman rear bumper, Commodore fuel cap and a deeper front bar.
"I sectioned out a second bumper to add another 80mm depth to the front bar," Vic said.
The interior has been refurbished as well, and there's Queensland Jarah timber in the tray and polished 14" mag wheels.
Both Vic and Peter have recently joined the Parkes based CWCC from their home in Dubbo and they proudly said that after meeting a couple of the members at ARC shows they felt immediately welcomed and have commented that the CWCC is one of the friendliest clubs around.
Vic intends on taking his ute to the upcoming CWCC Charity Show and Shine this Saturday, October 19 at Pioneer Oval in Parkes.
Parkes Tyrepower and Mechanical in association with Parkes Antique Motor Club (PAMC) and Shannons presents the Central West Car Club 15th Annual Charity Show'n Shine and Market Day with the PAMC Annual Swap Meet.
The car show raises money for the Parkes branch of Can Assist. See CWCC website for vehicle entries www.centralwestcarclub.com.
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