Phil Kerjean Building HDT VC Brock Street Car

By chance, I was sitting across the table from Phil Kerjean when he negotiated the purchase of this VC Brock. A mate of mine had bought it months earlier, complete with an EFI Holden V8 engine conversion, and let slip that he was thinking of selling it. Phil pounced.

“I’ve loved VC Brocks since I was a kid - there’s something about the big body kits and the flared guards,” says the Illawarra-based Burnout Master, better known for his wild, blown VC Commodore station wagon TUFFST, that surely must be one of the longest, continually competing burnout cars in the land.

“Plus, the world doesn’t need another VK Blue Meanie replica with an LS in it!” he jokes.

“I wanted a cool car that we could drive with the family. I got it at a good price in late 2014 and it was tidy enough. We drove it around for a few years then I let the rego’ lapse while I went to the States for SEMA. I started buying parts getting ready for the build, and now the time has come,” he says.

Cooking from a recipe that’ll strike a chord with many readers, he’s building a car from his youth - one with many-a-throwback to his original VC wagon that’ll have both Phil and fans of his VC burnout car taking a trip down memory lane.

“It’s off getting the exhaust done at the moment and then once it’s back it’ll go to Ben Ambrose for bodywork and the engine will go to Westend Performance. It’s nothing crazy, just a mild, standard stroke Holden 5L V8, but with 150hp shot (of nitrous) up a similar motor to the wagon. Back in the day we ran 10.90s so I’d be happy if this was an 11-sec street car,” he says casually.

Phil plans on retaining the majority of the VN-headed Holden 5L that came with the car, albeit with some head work, a camshaft and some compression to bring the Iron Lion in to the modern age.

“It’ll stay pump fuel though. I’ve already got a headache car that needs additives and sh_t. I don’t need another one!” he emphasises.

He’s ditching the T5 manual gearbox that came with the VC though, claiming that teaching his wife Nat to drive manual was not worth their marriage! Instead, the streeter will cop an Al’s Race Glides-prepped two-speed Powerglide akin to the box in the burnout car, so that the streeter can give up its gearbox should anything happen to TUFFST.

“We’ll keep the Borg Warner rear end and while it probably won’t have air conditioning when we debut it at Summernats, we’ll fit that eventually. We’ll make it showy but we won’t go overboard - it’ll have remote power steering and a Lowe Fabrications engine bay smoothing kit but we’ll keep the brake booster in the engine bay. Neat, but not overdone,” he stresses.

Under the bonnet, the VC is destined to look deceptively stock. They’re retaining the Brock air tray leading to an air filter as the factory intended, but lurking underneath the HDT paraphernalia will be a Holley EFI system atop a dual plane intake manifold.

Some aftermarket front seats will join a Brock-style retrimmed interior, and underneath will be dotted with refreshed suspension and brakes. Phil has a set of 19-inch Irmscher-style wheels to complete the look.

“We’ll revive the HDT-42L plates that the wagon used to wear and my plan is to have it at the next Summernats. We won Street Champion in 2023 with a customer’s car and my goal is to take it out again in 2024 with my own car,” he says confidently.

Stay tuned as we follow the build of Phil’s VC.