Phil Kerjean's Tuffst VK

After a monster rebuild, Phil’s infamous wagon is back again to do what it does best – obliterate rubber.

There would be few people in Australia who call themselves car enthusiasts that haven’t at least heard of Phil Kerjean’s blown VK wagon. Phil has owned the car for 20 years and has spent the last ten of those shredding tyres on the burnout pads at various events around Australia.

The car has also been rebuilt a number of times, getting more and more wild each time. This latest incarnation continues that trend, and takes it to an even more impressive level of presentation throughout as well.

The engine is a blown 377ci Chev-style Small Block V8 with “1000-ish” horsepower and the rest of the driveline features a Powerglide 2-speed, a 9in diff, a custom brake setup, air-bag suspension and new 20in billet wheels that are a very generous 12 inches wide at the rear.

The change that people at events will first notice is the new paint work, with the red over silver replaced with a red over black scheme that is broken up by airbrushing that shows off previous Summernats Tuff Street winners. That is of course, assuming that they can even see the car through the copious amounts of tyre smoke that come pluming off the back tyres as soon as it is Phil’s turn on the pad. See for yourself in the clip below.

There is a full cover story on the latest rebuild of Phil’s VK wagon in issue 238 of Street Commodores magazine, where Phil also writes a regular column. You can find printed copies on the shelf now, or you can get it digitally from Zinio.

BONUS PICS