GETTIN’ HIGH – PETER KLOCKNER VC VALIANT GASSER
Warning – drag racing can be addictive. It can also be expensive, but only if you let it be. Sure, there’s a cost to building and maintaining a purpose-built race car, but thanks to some of the special brackets unique to the Cruzin Magazine Nostalgia Drags, creative rodders and racers have been piecing together all manner of budget race cars just for fun.
We’ve watched as Peter Klockner of Klockwerk Kustoms has been building this VC Valiant gasser in his downtime. A skilled tradesman, Peter has been offering mechanical and fabrication services from his Gold Coast hinterland workshop for around eight years, after moving on from some testing roles, including running his own bike shop in Nerang more than a decade ago.
“I was working on people’s cars and bikes from home part-time, so I just started working for myself again and just built my reputation up from there,” says Pete.
The racecar idea was born about four years ago after someone gave Peter a 1966 VC Valiant rolling shell that he thought was in reasonable condition, but closer inspection proved otherwise. It was around the same time that his regular attendance at the nostalgia drags at Willowbank Raceway saw him camp out one night with Vintage Gas advocates, Steve Biggs and Damien Kemp.
“At that stage, I was thinking of building an altered, but the gassers looked like so much fun, and I always liked gassers anyway. I already had enough bits and pieces to do it. I ended up sourcing another car for $400 with a perfect shell that needed only minimal repairs. I just cleaned it up and used it.”
Of course, it wasn’t quite that simple, stripping the newfound sedan down to bare metal before making minor repairs and converting it into a dedicated strip warrior. Also inspiring the makeover was the 4.11 geared 9” diff centre and monstrous rear wheels that Peter picked up around the same time.
The 318 is from Peter’s parts shelf; he confesses the Chrysler small block is close to stock. “All I did was freshen it up; new rings and bearings, a quick hone, mild porting to the heads and a very mild cam. The motor is out of my old Dodge D5N truck, which I was going to use as a tow car,” he reveals.
“I did all the front suspension myself; it still uses the standard steering box, but I got rid of the fabric steering joint and used proper universal joints. I also centred up the motor and trans up, which is usually offset.”
Pete confirms that the Centerline-style rear wheels are actually early Weld wheels, while up front are 10-spoke Rocket rims.
Inside is simply business, Pete building the cage and mounting a single race seat. For safety, there’s no glass in the car, removed in favour of a polyglass front screen and blue acrylic side windows. Peter went to a lot of trouble to make accurate templates of the side windows from 3mm craftwood to ensure an exact fit. He also made his own door cards from 0.9mm aluminium, which were installed after a date with the beadroller.
Additional credits go to Brent Emanuelli for the straight axle, Montana for the wiring, and to mates Grant, Rob, and Rod for helping bring it all to life.
Peter debuted the car at Mopar Sunday at Willowbank last July, but failed to make a pass due to a gearbox glitch that stranded him on the starting line.
“I got to the burnout box, the wheels spun about four times, then it stopped! I had no forward gears whatsoever. I had it out on Monday afternoon, turned out to be a faulty band.”
A few weeks later, he ran in Vintage Gas at the Cruzin Magazine Nostalgia Drags, and after some practice passes at the Saturday night test and tune, he managed a best of 13.4 at over 100mph on his last run on race day.
“I was hoping for a high 12, but it’s over-carb’d at the moment with the 750. I have a 650 for it, plus it’s hard getting off the line with the stock convertor.”
Pete’s Val is no powerhouse, but it is a fun and affordable car that he’ll be tinkering with for years to come.
