Here’s a bold statement: swapping a Ford engine into a Mopar classic is like serving pineapple on pizza—some love it, others hate it. But here's where it gets controversial... Warick Meldrum doesn’t just embrace the controversy; he thrives on it. His eight-second, turbo-charged Barra-powered VF Valiant Regal is a testament to his fearless approach to car building, even if it ruffles a few purist feathers. “It’s just an engine,” Warick quips with a laugh. “Get over it! The shame of a Barra in a Valiant? I live for it!”
First featured in the February 2026 issue of Street Machine, Warick’s VF Valiant Regal isn’t his first rodeo when it comes to upsetting the automotive status quo. He’s no stranger to blending brands in ways that make traditionalists cringe. Remember the Barra-powered VP Commodore he built for the 2017 Street Machine Drag Challenge? Or how about when he transplanted that same Barra into a 1967 Camaro for the following year’s event? And this is the part most people miss... that Camaro build broke the internet, proving Warick’s knack for stirring the pot—and doing it well.
A licensed mechanic and auto electrician, Warick is a jack-of-all-trades who takes pride in handling his own bodywork. With seven ongoing projects and a couple of massive sheds on his acreage—one equipped with a dedicated spray booth—he’s the epitome of self-sufficiency. When he’s not wrenching on his cars, he works for Cummins, the diesel powerhouse. This DIY approach saves him a fortune; he estimates his Barra Valiant build cost him just $35K.
“After the Camaro project, I was on the hunt for another car to pair with a Barra engine,” Warick explains. “Since I was working in Victoria at the time, it had to be a pre-1973 model.” He eventually stumbled upon the VF Regal—a solid body, a finished interior, and a bargain price tag. With just three months to prep for the 2019 Drag Challenge, Warick set out to install a turbo Barra, a rollcage, and get the car race-ready.
Starting with a naturally aspirated wrecker engine, he upgraded it with Spool Drag Pro I-beam conrods and Carrillo pistons. The aspo head featured factory valves and Crow valve springs with 130lb of seat pressure. The rest of the build was equally straightforward and budget-friendly. The inlet manifold, sourced from Marketplace, was fitted with Bosch 2200cc injectors and a Turbosmart fuel pressure regulator, fed by three Bosch 044-style pumps. The hot side boasted a 6boost manifold and a Pulsar 83/85 turbo with a four-inch dump pipe.
To keep intake temps in check, Warick installed a massive, front-mounted 5.5-inch Jonny Tig bar-and-plate intercooler, ensuring temps stayed under 50 degrees even at the top of a quarter-mile pass. A Haltech Elite Pro Plug-In Barra ECU controls the entire setup. “It’s an incredible ECU,” Warick raves. “It’s got more inputs and outputs than you can shake a stick at, plus cool features like built-in igniter and wideband control. I’m a huge fan.”
The conversion wasn’t without its challenges. Matt Galvin handled extensive fab work, including modifying the torsion bar crossmember to accommodate the TH400 transmission. The K-member was swapped for an Elko unit paired with a manual Commodore rack, but engineering restrictions forced the motor to be installed slightly off-center—a quirk later rectified. The sump also interfered with the steering rack, requiring a creative solution: cutting a hole in the sump, welding a tube through it, and feeding the rack through the oil pan.
Other conversion components included Tuff Mounts engine mounts and a Chinese knock-off Holden radiator with Falcon thermo fans. The rearend features a fabricated nine-inch with a Strange nodular-iron center and 3.23:1 gears, paired with homemade traction bars and stock 1969 leaf springs. Up front, factory torsion bars were joined by adjustable shocks.
“It was a beg, borrow, or steal kind of build,” Warick admits. “But it all came together.” At the 2019 Drag Challenge, the Val delivered, running a 9.81@143mph on the first day and improving to 9.35@145mph by Day Five.
Warick ran the car for three years until a transmission failure in 2023 prompted a refresh. With Drag Challenge 2023 looming, he stripped the car, repainted it silver, and installed a new TH400 transmission. However, a driveshaft vibration issue caused the converter to drive the crank forward, resulting in low oil pressure. Undeterred, Warick sourced a new engine, built it in just one night, and hit Sydney Dragway the next morning. He ran an 8.8-second pass before hauling the car to Adelaide for the event, where he finished second in the Speed Pro Six-Cylinder class with an 8.74@154mph run.
Weighing just 3000lb in race trim, the Val has since clocked a 1.26-second 60-foot and a best quarter-mile pass of 8.62@157mph. “Making the car light is like adding power,” Warick grins. Despite a recent refresh that didn’t yield the expected performance gains, he remains undeterred. “I’m aiming for a seven-second pass now,” he says. “That’ll likely mean head porting and maybe a bigger turbo. I’ve figured out how to get the car to hook up, so the rest is just fine-tuning.”
While a Ford-powered Valiant might never grace a Mopar calendar, even the purists can’t deny that Warick’s Barra VF is a tough, budget-built drag-and-drive machine. But here’s the real question... Does blending brands sacrifice a car’s soul, or does it redefine what’s possible? Let us know in the comments—we’re eager to hear your take!
