1988 Holden VL Walkinshaw Group A SS Sedan (#238)

Holden Special Vehicles, operated by Tom Walkinshaw, was established in 1988 to replace HDT following Holden's widely publicised split with Peter Brock in 1987 and the first model offered by the new performance tuning operation was the radical Group A SS based on the then current VL Commodore. Built between March and November 1988 in very limited numbers (a total of 750 were made) to homologate the car for Bathurst, the Walkinshaw Commodore boasted a highly tuned 5-litre V8 with Delco EFI producing 180kW of power and 380Nm of torque. A five-speed Borg-Warner T56 manual gearbox, Turbo 6/V8 brakes and 16 by 7-inch alloy wheels on 225/55 VR16 tyres were clothed in a dramatic body kit whose most arresting feature was the built-up boot-lid spoiler. All Walkinshaw Commodores were finished in the same Azure Blue and were priced on a par with the best European luxury cars at $47,000 (more than three times the price of a base VL) when new. With enormous growth in prices over the past couple of years, the Walkinshaw Group A Commodores have fast become hot property on the modern Aussie muscle car scene and prices seem set to continue rising in the near future.