First up this morning, some fantastic news. A friend on Facebook who races Kawasakis in Southern California messaged me this morning saying that he is posting on Tuesday, to my address, free of charge, a set of 29mm smooth-bore carburettors for the Shadowfax…the generosity of some people simply amazes me.
Stoner gets his 8th pole of the season, Checa on pole at the Nurburgring.
Now, the title of today’s missive.
I’ve tried, but I just can’t understand the obsession that the car fraternity appears to have with the VL Commodore. A young bloke up the street sold his perfectly good, late model Commodore and bought a VL, a 1987 model, so what’s the deal?
The VL came at the end of the line of the first iteration of the model that began in 1978 with the VB. By 1986 the famous “grey” engine had well and truly past its use-by date and was a thirsty and unrefined lump. Despite rudimentary fuel injection fitted to the VK model it was obvious that something had to be done. So, Holden turned to Nissan, who was their partner at the time, and sourced the 3 litre straight six engine that was concurrently being fitted to the Skyline sedan. Along with it came the 5 speed gearbox and suddenly Holden’s engine technology went from Flintstones to Jetsons.
But that was yesterday, this is today. Why is it that this old car, now 24 years of age, is preferred over later, more sophisticated, faster and better equipped models out of the same factory? Granted it is, by far, the nicest LOOKING of the first models, but there has to be more to it than that.
If someone could tell me, I’d love to know.
good when a plan comes together phil
the shadowfax rebuild gets closer to completion
Sure is. I’m just staggered at how things are working out.