When we first presented Dale Gridley’s AP6 Valiant ute as an in-the-build Drag Challenge contender (SM, Apr ’21), his dream was to run eights and do as many drag-and-drive events as he could. I guess you could say he got halfway there, lighting the boards with an 8.99@136mph but lunching the motor in the process.

First published in the March 2026 issue of Street Machine

“It started eating a piston about halfway through the run, so I backed off and pulled the ’chute at 1000 feet, and it still ran an eight,” Dale recalls. “After that, I sort of got the shits with it. We were going to put another big-dollar LS in it, but then I was talking with Kev who does my engines. I said, ‘I want to go faster. Let’s just build it as a proper race car and not do this street car shit.’”

In its previous incarnation, the ute wore DIY275 plates, as the entire build, apart from the ’cage and the diff, was handled by Dale in his shed at home. This time around, he wanted everything done to the highest standard – panel and paint aside, of course. So, he sent the car to Kev and Peta Morton at KPM Performance Engines, where it was built into a dedicated track weapon.

Don’t worry, Dale’s still got a cool street car – an AP5 sedan with a Gen III Hemi that we featured in the March 2024 issue of Street Machine – and he’s about to build another car for drag-and-drive too. As for the ute, he’d initially planned to stick with the drag-and-drive theme but with some major upgrades.

“It was going to be funny car-caged with a twin-turbo big-block and all that sort of stuff, but then we got that far into it, it was too big for the street, so it’s a dedicated race car now,” says Dale, who set his sights on the OG275 class in the Kenda Radial Series.

“With the rules for OG275, it’s still got to be an original-looking car with somewhat original floors and somewhat original chassis,” he explains. “The original chassis was cut and it was lifted into the Val 150mm; that’s how we got it so low. We built a chassis car inside the standard body. Most people would gut the body, build the chassis, then put the body over the chassis. We built the chassis inside the car and welded it all together.”

While the AP6’s body remains much the same apart from the addition of a canopy, just about everything else has changed. “The only things that survived from the original build were the computer, the dash, the diff and the body shell. Everything else is basically new,” Dale says.

The biggest change is under the bonnet. While it’s still Chevy-powered, the turbo LS3 got the flick in favour of a twin-turbo 532ci big-block. “The whole engine set-up is not much different to what Alex Taylor runs in her blue ’55,” says Dale. “Some different parts, but much the same combination that she ran a six with. It’s still got steel rods and a cast Dart Big M block.” With the considerable assistance of the Pro Mod-level twin 88mm PSR turbos, the engine makes north of 2000hp.

One feature that does have people scratching their heads are the zoomies – not something you’d ordinarily see on a turbocharged car. “I love the look of the big nitrous Pro Stock cars, so the big Pro Stock scoop and the zoomies are because of that,” says Dale.

With so many changes made, not to mention twice as much power underfoot, Dale wasn’t 100 per cent sure how the ute would behave once he hit the track. “The first time you let go of the transbrake, you don’t know what’s going to go on,” he says. “You don’t know if it’s going to go straight or left or right or whatever. We had a few issues, but the first time we got it down the strip and had good power in it, the first eighth-mile pass was a 5.0, and it was dead straight.”

The car has since gone 4.58@163mph – just a little too quick for the OG275 4.60-second minimum, but Dale’s not too sad about that. That time would put the Val deep into the sevens over the quarter-mile, and, while most of the racing Dale plans to do is eighth-mile, he does have dreams of running a six and going 200mph over the quarter.

Of course, there’s a story behind that paintjob, or lack thereof. Dale bought the ute off his good mate Jeremy Schoch, who had often touched up its flat black paint over his years of cruising and working on it. “I was going to keep it flat black, but who knew flat black came in so many different shades?” Dale says. “I put paint stripper on it, but then I got an urgent call to go back to work.” When Dale returned three weeks later, there wasn’t any flat black paint left. In fact, there wasn’t much paint left at all! He maintains that ‘finish’ with a healthy coating of Flood Penetrol.

So, while at first glance you might think the only thing you’ll get from this AP6 is tetanus, on closer inspection it becomes obvious that this is an extremely well-fabricated race car. Once it blasts past at 200mph, the only thing you’ll be catching from this old ute is a glimpse of its tail-lights.

DALE GRIDLEY
1965 CHRYSLER VALIANT AP6 UTE

THANKS
Kev & Peta Morton at KPM Performance Engines; Scott Cortina at Gazzard Brothers Racing; Gypsi Warburton at Gun Performance & Exhausts; Jason Behan at JB Tyre & Mechanical; Dean Wilson at DKW Race Fab; Jacob & Mick at 1320 Motorsports; A-Grade Anodising for custom work on the wheels; Rick Fenwick for wiring; James Horan at Full Race Fabrication; my mates Nobby Smith, Justin Cartwright & Linda Green; my team Mason Cahill, Lawrie Page & Adam Wilcox.