Nissan VH45 V8-powered Valiant Mexicana and more Marketplace finds

We check out an am amazing retro tech Valiant, a classic 80s SM feature car and more!

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Facebook Marketplace trawling is one of the Street Machine team’s favourite activitites in our downtime. We’re always tormenting each other with bargains that someone else needs to buy. Here are our three faves this week:

VG Valiant Mexicanas are sufficiently rare to get our attention anytime they pop up. In fact, we’re pretty sure we’ve only featured one in the whole history of the mag!

But this one we spied on Marketplace in Toowoomba is something different again, featuring a Nissan VH45 4.5-litre V8 conversion! The ex-Nissan Infiniti V8 is backed by a manually-shifted four-speed auto and 9in driveline combo.

The ad states that while the car had a bare metal respray 17 years ago, it has been parked up for 12 years. The paint is said to be in great nick, but there is at least one rust repair to attend to. We’d get it up and running, tidy it up and fit a rear-mount turbo to get it humming in time for Mopar Sunday 2024.


This FX Holden ute looks in very similar condition to when we feature it in the Oct/Nov 1986 issue. Back then, it was a fresh build by Queenslander Earl McCallum. The mods were pretty high-end for a humpy back in those days, including a Weiand-blown 372 Chev, backed by a TH400 and the obligitory F100 9in.

Finally, we dig this Toyota Publica KP36 ute! Apparently quite rare, this one is running a KE11 front end and bolt-on flares. Power is provided by the trusty 4K four-pot and four-speed ‘box. Do a search in Bayswater, Vic.

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