With shitloads of detail and a stove-hot 355 from Flowcraft Race Engines, Frank Darmanin’s first incarnation of PROGM8 was more car than most of us will ever have in our sheds. Debuting in 2007, the VH SL/E became a staple of the show car circuit.

First published in the July 2024 issue of Street Machine

“I drove it a bit, but I didn’t get to race on a slick with the old engine,” Frank recounts. “Then I had a little mishap, so I tore it down and started again!” It takes proper ’nads to pull apart such an epic car to essentially start from scratch, but the result is one of the most beautifully finished Commodores we’ve ever seen.

The PPG BMW Blue Pearl finish has always been key to PROGM8’s identity, so Frank’s good mate and uber-talented painter Elvis Barbieri, the man behind Showcars Melbourne, was called upon to lay down a fresh coat. As Frank explains, he wasn’t about to change things up just for the sake of it – in fact, he’s leaned further into the vibe by colour-matching the upsized 22×8 and 22×12 Simmons FR wheels. “I definitely wasn’t changing the colour,” he says. “I think it became pretty popular because of the colour – a lot of people know it! It’s striking, and it’s been influential.”

But the respray and big wheels are barely digging a nail into the flow-coated surface, because PROGM8 has been totally reborn underneath, thanks in no small part to Frank Vella at New Image Panel & Paint Restorations. A custom flat floor looks right at home around the John Lang chassis and tubs, sharing space with a tubular front end and parallel four-link, which holds a monstrous Pro9 sheet-metal diff. It’s all coated in PPG blue, of course, which took Elvis 13 hours of paint-booth work to apply.

The iron lion has been swapped for a monstrous, naturally breathing 440ci Dart LS, again built by Eugene of Flowcraft. A Wilson Manifolds four-barrel throttlebody and 1000cc injectors feed atmosphere and E85 to All Pro heads through a two-piece intake manifold. On the other end, a Dailey dry sump arrangement helps to keep the Callies/Diamond rotating assembly happy at big revs-per-minute.

Resistance from fouling pushrods initially had the power curve rolling over at 7500rpm on the dyno; the problem was discovered when Frank and crew temporarily switched back to a stock cam. “It should’ve been turning to 8000rpm easily,” he says. “As soon as we sorted out that issue and put it on the hub dyno, bang – with a full exhaust system, it was making power to 8000rpm, no dramas. It’s gotta be making 900hp now – if not a touch more – through the mufflers.” Aaron at Geelong’s DTM Transmissions installed, wired and tuned the Emtron brains.

Interestingly, the transmission is a Ford C10 – another DTM contribution. “I didn’t know the boys at DTM, but they knew the car,” Frank laughs. “With the 355, it had a killer Trimatic, which I loved, so I said I wanted a three-speed that wouldn’t drain a heap of power and be heavy. I told them what power I was going for, and they said they could build me a C10 that would hold it as long as I didn’t put a transbrake in it, which I don’t need. It’s been good so far – not that I’m a Ford fan in any way!”

Instyle Custom Trim led the interior design process, fabricating custom bits like the flat console, with Scheels to seat four. If something’s not dipped in carbonfibre pattern, it’s wrapped and custom-stitched with Nappa leather or AMG Alcantara.

Frank’s mate Tony Carabott also chipped in with his own work, both inside the car and out. “He designed heaps of stuff for me and had billet parts designed and made all over the car,” Frank adds. “He helped with everything.”

Given Elvis’s heavy involvement, it made sense for Frank to debut the rejigged VH at Showcars Melbourne in 2022, where it reached the Top Five and claimed the Top Elite trophy. It was a shoo-in for a place in the Meguiar’s Superstars hall at MotorEx 2022, and in 2023, Frank added a place in the Super Six to the VH’s ballooning trophy cabinet.

A trip to Canberra for Summernats 35 earned Frank a top-three spot in the Grand Champion stakes against hard-charging drivers like Livi Krevatin and Nigel Warr – about the stiffest competition imaginable! The Top Sedan award and an Elite Top 10 ranking were fair consolation prizes.

Having scored highly at Australia’s most prestigious shows over the past two years, Frank has now set about racking up road miles in the car. Appearances so far include the Queenscliff Rod Run, the Bright Rod Run and lower-key stuff like Geelong’s Australia Day Street Car Meet. “I got caught in the pissing rain there,” Frank laughs.

“It’s been so good for what it is, with the big engine and six-grand converter – no temperature issues or anything!” he continues. “We did the photoshoot on a 38-degree day; I drove it from my place in Altona to Little River in that heat, and that’s not exactly around the corner.”

For Frank, it’s always been about distilling what makes PROGM8 great, and he reckons the car’s finally achieved its ultimate form – at least until it gets some

sticky radials for a blast down the quarter-mile. “I don’t think there’s much else you can really do – you’re not going to get a better chassis and rear end,” he says. “Now that winter’s coming, we’ll get it ready to race and run well into the nines!”

FRANK DARMANIN
1983 HOLDEN VH COMMODORE SL/E

THANKS
Johnny Lang; Frank Vella; Elvis Barbieri at Showcars Melbourne; Tony; Aaron and Craig at DTM Automatics; Richard at Instyle Custom Trim; Nate at Browne’s Metalcraft; Eugene at Flowcraft; Steve at Boosted Fabrications; Rare Spares; Admir; Lofty; all the boys who ran around picking up stuff for me; last but not least, the family for putting up with me: Amy, Sarah, Lachan and Jake.