1982 VH Holden Commodore SL – Today’s Fixer Upper Tempter

By: James Robinson, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 22.06.2017

Low-price project car

The VH Commodore is the third instalment in the first generation of the locally built mid-size family car.

Production of the VH began in October 1981 and ran through to February 1984.   

Local production of the VH took place at Holden’s plants in Dandenong, Victoria and Elizabeth, South Australia.

Updates the VH brought to the product range were mostly cosmetic in nature, however, revisions were made to the 1.9lt inline 4-cylnider and 2.85lt straight-6 motors to improve fuel economy and a 5-speed manual gearbox was introduced.

The VH also brought with it a restructuring in the Commodores product range; the SL was now the base model Commodore, with the SL/X being created as a mid-range package, and the SL/E was now the Commodores range-topping model.

Powertrain offerings for the VH were many, and included a 1.9l inline 4-cylinder, 2.85l and 3.3l straight-6 and 4.1l and 5.0l V8.

These donks were mated to a choice of the three gearboxes: a 4-speed manual, 5-speed manual and a 3-speed Tri-matic automatic gearbox.

The VH also saw the introduction of the first SS Commodore, which in turn spawned the now fabled HDT Brock Commodores.

This particular VH Commodore is a 1982 SL model and, at the sellers own admission, needs a bit of work.

On the plus side, according to the seller it has never been in an accident and the rails are straight.

The seller is asking $2500 and anyone interested in this locally made project can view the full listing here.

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