This episode of Carnage feels like it’s been over a year in the making, as Scotty finally gets to road-trip his dad’s VE Valiant ute from Melbourne all the way up to Queensland for Mopar Sunday!

For those in need of a quick refresher, Scotty inherited the 1968 VE ute from his father after the latter lost his battle with cancer roughly 10 years ago. It had a slant-six in it, but Scotty’s dad had always dreamed of dumping a V8 into the thing.

Around 12 months ago, Scotty decided to make good on his dad’s dream and set about V8-swapping the ute, with the original intention of doing it in just five weeks in time to drive it up to last year’s Mopar Sunday. Unfortunately, COVID-19 lockdowns and general car-building nightmares saw that goal delayed until this year, so Scotty was well and truly champing at the bit to hit the road and fulfil his original dream for this car.

The trek from Melbourne to Willowbank Raceway in Queensland is a huge 1800km each way, so naturally Scotty expected some hiccups along the way.

The Valiant creamed day one without any issues, with the minor improvements Scotty made for the highway miles in last week’s episode doing their job nicely.

Day two was looking much the same until just 50km out from the overnight stop in Narrabri, NSW, where the Valiant lost all ignition and came to a grinding halt, kicking off a whole heap of electrical issues for the old ute.

So sit back, grab a coldie and chill out with some Carnage viewing, and cross your fingers that Scotty still makes it to Willowbank for a Mopar-filled Sunday funday.