Built in conjunction with the general, was this rare and stylish, two-door VH Commodore
Many Holden fans will be familiar with the Brock Monza two-door, but have you ever heard of a two-door VH Commodore? Based on a VH SL/E chassis, the Adayer Sportif was a two-door, with a run of just 11 cars and one prototype built by Melbourne-based Dominion and International Automobiles (DIA) in conjunction with GM-H in Australia and sold exclusively through Village Motors.
With the idea of creating a luxury European-style sports tourer, DIA acquired the last 11 VH 4.2-litre cars to roll off the Holden assembly line in 1884 and sought about converting them from four doors to two, using kits imported from GM’s German-built Opel Rekord. The VH’s came with no soft interior, only the dash. The conversion was relatively straightforward, with the doors, side panels, and glass removed, the B-pillars modified, and the two new doors fitted.
The Adayer Sportif received a Recaro interior, deep-pile carpet, polished woodgrain trim panels and lower dash, a front and rear deck spoiler, ROH wheels and an Adayer embossed panel between the tail-lights. According to the sales brochure, the Adayer Sportif was available in either a manual or auto transmission with three engine options: six-cylinder (3.3 litre) or V8 (4.2 or 5.0 litre). However, it is unclear if a six-cylinder option was ever ordered.
What colours were available? As Henry Ford famously said, “You can have any colour you want as long as it’s black.” The same went for the Adayer Sportif; all 11 cars were finished in Tuxedo Black, with custom gold badging and pinstriping.
Fully ADR certified, with a factory warranty backed by GM-H and DIA, the Adayer Sportif came in at a hefty luxury price tag: $27,300 for a manual and $28,200 for an automatic. Almost double the price of a VH SL/E at the time. Despite the price and intriguing European styling, the Adayer Sportif was popular enough to sell all 11 vehicles as a pre-order from the concept vehicle showcased at the Sydney Motor Show.
The majority of Adayer Sportifs had a uniquely styled grille and twin-headlight front end. The look was somewhat polarising, with many referring to them as the ‘ugly duckling,’ the European front-end not quite hitting the mark with Aussie buyers. Many owners of Adayer Sportifs switched the twin headlights and grille back to the original single VH factory version. And that’s precisely what the current custodian of build number 11 opted to do.
Adayer Sportif owner Mike Myers (no, not that Mike Myers) has been a long-time Holden fan and fascinated by the Adayer Sportif since their short-lived release.
“I knew about them in the late eighties; I saw one in a magazine and thought, ‘I’d like to own one someday.’ I’ve had around 60 Holden’s over the years. It’s a bit of an obsession, but I love it.”
Good things come to those who wait, and the planets slowly aligned for Mike, with the purchase taking almost seven years to get over the line.
“I first saw it advertised around 2008; I contacted the lady that owned it and went and had a look. It was fairly rusty, and the interior was crap. I made her an offer, but she wanted a ridiculous price. I kept her number and kept an eye on it for seven years. Along the way, I started another project, a white SL/X six-cylinder Commodore I was going to get converted and put a V8 in, but I couldn’t get the Adayer out of my mind. I had a bloke lined up to build a motor for the SL/X in 2015, but the night before I dedicated the money to him, I rang her up and made one last offer, and she took it.”
Mike’s Adayer Sportif arrived home in a neglected state and hadn’t been started for quite some time. Like most of us, Mike, with a new project in the driveway, was determined to get the old sports tourer to fire up and see what lay ahead.
“I bought the car home on a trailer; it hadn’t been started for probably 14 years. So, being the very impatient person that I am, I stuck a battery in it and made sure it turned over. It had spark, so I primed the oil pump, buffed the spark plugs on a wire brush and fired it up. It ran on about six cylinders, smoked and rattled. I thought this motor has got to be buggered. So I changed the spark plugs and fuel pump and dumped the oil out, which stunk, put diesel in the sump, idled it for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, dumped the diesel out, put Penrite in it, and after 10 minutes, all the smoking and rattles disappeared, and it’s just been a beautiful motor ever since.”
With the Adayer Sportif firing on all cylinders, Mike sorted the brakes and suspension, retrimmed the seats and then turned his attention to the panel repair and paint.
“The body was no good. I got a quote for the panel repairs, but it was a little out of my budget, so I figured I’ve got a plasma cutter and a mig; how hard could it be? I attacked it in my shed, and about five weeks later, I drove it out painted in the correct Tuxedo Black, sporting a set of V51 Gold Simmons and custom SS Adayer Sportif decals as my own personal touch.”
Mike acquired his Adayer Sportif with a 308, which was not the factory motor; rumour had it that the car had a hot 253 in it before the 308. The previous owner thought it was a handful and swapped it for a tame, fairly stock 308. Luck would have it, though, that the original motor for Mike’s Adayer Sportif popped up one day completely by surprise.
“I went to a car show with the Adayer four years after I got it; a bloke came up and said, “I’m an engine builder from Brisbane. A bloke dropped off a motor for this 12 years ago and hasn’t been back to pick it up. I’ve rebuilt it, and it’s sitting in my workshop.” It was the matching-numbers motor, which I’ve now got sitting in my shed at home.”
DIA had imported several extra kits to build more two-doors, but when the VK came out with a different rear pillar from the VH, DIA didn’t proceed with any more conversions and was left with a rumoured 15 kits.
Mike has managed to amass quite the Adayer Sportif inventory of spare parts over the years, including one of the remaining kits and a spare gold-plated Adayer Sportif badge he purchased through a chance chat with a panel beater who’d worked on one in 1987.
“I’ve got all the original bits from my car that were removed, including the motor, so I can restore it back to 100 per cent original if need be. I’ve got two full sets of spare mudguards, doors, glass, trim, everything. A bloke in Coffs Harbour bought the 15 kits, and he converted a lot of cars over the years and ended up with just two kits. To my knowledge, they were the only two left on the planet. I rang him up, and I secured one kit. He was 78 at the time. And I said, what are you doing with the other kit? He said, ‘I might build another car.’ I laughed and thought the obsession never stops.”
It’s believed only five or so Adayer Sportifs are still in existence, making Mike’s car a true unicorn of the 1980s era of Aussie companies like DIA, having a go.
Photography: Anthony Nguyen