VF VALIANT HARDTOP

Matt Howden

Matt came to The Toy Shed originally having just purchased the car with panel and paint completed. Still running the boring 318, a plan was hatched with the team that included a rebuilt 360ci engine, new headers and exhaust, rebuilt transmission and an limited slip diff along with new wiring and cooling system required to support the new running gear.

While having the engine out, The Toy Shed also took care of painting the engine bay to match the job done on the exterior and had the original turbo mag wheels refurbished to keep the “old school” look.

Matt enjoyed cruising with the new power plant for a while but then returned with “how about a bit more power?” So a set of alloy heads and a roller cam was fitted along with a mild high stall torque converter.

Russel and The Toy Shed team have been awesome from start to finish. I’d turned up with the old girl not really knowing what I wanted but after a sit down with Russel we’d decided on where to go. From there I left the car in their capable hands. Every week or so I was updated with how the build was progressing and made aware of the cost up to those points.

A few months later I’d made the trip over to pick it up and I was not disappointed, everything was what I could of hoped for and some. I’m a details guy and it was hard to fault anything under the bonnet, right down the the original wiring clips (still unsure how they tracked some of those down).

The car drives great now and we all enjoy it at home.

I look forward to further projects with these guys and would highly recommend Russel and the team to anyone needing work done.

Matt Howden

110 Riri Street, Mangakakahi, Rotorua 3015