Stojan Stekovic’s VL Calais truly is cranked up to 11. Stojan’s taken everything good about one of the most contentious Commodore shapes of all time and wicked it up, making it the kind of street machine VL nerds fawn over and car fanatics – regardless of their creed – can’t help but love as well.

First published in the November 2025 issue of Street Machine

“Growing up, I was surrounded by friends with old Commodores, most with tough Holden motors,” Stojan says. “To be honest, I had my heart set on a VK, but I saw this car for sale in Melbourne, and it ticked all the boxes.”

The car’s stance and the fabrication work it had already undergone helped draw Stojan in. “It was already tubbed, and it had Convo Pros and a pretty tough 383 in it,” he explains. That was enough to keep mile-wide smiles on the faces of Stoj and his brother Branko as they relentlessly cruised Canberra for two years.

Stojan is quick to admit that his ‘spirited’ driving style contributed to the cam bearings taking a sudden and unplanned vacation just after Summernats 32 in 2019, but that just gave him a good excuse to considerably up the ante.

“I’d always wanted a set of Group A twin throttles, as one of my favourite cars growing up was Dusan Zec’s VH (SM, Apr ’04),” explains Stojan, who ended up finding a set of Walkinshaw twin throttles in a neighbouring suburb. “As soon as I sourced the manifold, I doubled down on giving the car a full overhaul.”

First, Nathan from Welfare Engineering tackled some fabrication work, smoothing the engine bay and relocating the brake hardware under the dash in preparation for the car heading to paint.

What happened next is a disgustingly common story. “Hampered by COVID travel restrictions, we went with a local painter who wasn’t our first choice. We agreed on a price for a bare-metal paintjob,” Stojan explains. However, after nearly a year of broken promises and missed deadlines, Stojan got wind that the shop was getting ready to close its doors.

“The owner assured me it’d be finished, but when I pulled up to collect it days before Christmas, it was a mess – defects throughout the paint, and many of the NOS parts I’d supplied were missing. I was gutted.”

That took the wind out of the Stekovic brothers’ sails and they lost interest in the project, until Chubby from Lowe Fabrications asked if they’d be interested in displaying the car in its unfinished state on his stand at Street Machine Summernats 34.

“At the show, everyone was encouraging me to finish it, but inside, I was ready to slap it back together and sell it,” Stojan admits. “It wasn’t heading in a direction I was proud of.”

Fortunately, fate intervened to course-correct the build when Damien Bassett from Empire Bodyworks reached out to Stojan. They’d become mates after buying and selling a few parts from one another over the years. “Damo rings and says, ‘My wife saw your car at Summernats and has told me I have to help you finish it!’” laughs Stojan laughs. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he jumped back into the build with renewed vigour.

As well as fixing all the previous shop’s lacklustre work, Damo and Stojan went to great lengths to seamlessly install a period-correct metal-top sunroof to the car.

“It was finally reaching the quality I’d envisioned, so with the shell in primer, we went back to Nathan at Welfare Engineering and stripped the car to paint and powdercoat the entire undercarriage,” says Stojan.

But the team wasn’t out of the weeds just yet. Three weeks before Summernats 36, they discovered that the freshly built 383 had chewed out the cam gear and the pistons were hitting the cylinder heads. After years of relentless struggles with the car, Stojan and the boys decided to pull the pin on making Summernats that year.

However, Nathan from Welfare Engineering dug deep into his machining apprenticeship and took it upon himself to rebuild the engine over the Christmas break so that the finished car could have its ’Nats debut as planned!

Stojan and his team missed out on a spot in the Top 60 by less than an hour, but for him, the crowning achievement was simply having the car at Summernats, and the adulation of the crowd.

Post ’Nats, Stojan’s next goal was to use the car for his wedding in March 2025. That meant a date with the dyno at Wollongong Automotive Services, with Kon Michaloudakis driving the keyboard. “After weathering teething issues like electrical gremlins and leaking fittings, we finally got the car on the dyno, and the bellhousing split in half!” laughs Stojan of the car that fought them to the bitter end. “Al’s Race Glides built me a new box in 24 hours, and Kon dialled in 501rwhp on pump fuel, 24 hours before my wedding!”

Since then, Stojan and his crew have taken the car to this year’s Meguiar’s MotorEx, where it won with some silverware for 3rd Top Engine Bay in the Street Elite class. Even better, he then got to lap Melbourne in one of the country’s most authentic Holden V8-powered street cars! After all the heartache his VL had thrown his way during the build, that was the sweetest victory of all.

STOJAN STEKOVIC
1987 HOLDEN VL CALAIS

THANKS
Nathan and Patrice Welfare at Welfare Engineering; Damien Bassett at Empire Bodyworks; Damien Lowe at Lowe Fabrications; Al and the team at Al’s Race Glides; Kon Michaloudakis at WAS; Will Weber at GameOn Motorsports; Nick Dekantios; Ed Lee; Dave Geroski at Top End Interiors; Callum Hinchcliffe at Adept Metal Polishing; Sam Ogden at Top Down Detailing; South Coast Radiators; Real Steel Group; Capital Precision Coating; All States Towing; Discount Towing; Jov; Chuck; Mim; Duke; Trifo; Mickey; Dean; Bilal; Matt; Tomi and Frank; my brother Branko and my wife Alanna.