1989 HDT VN Aero – Today’s Aussie Performance Tempter

By: James Robinson, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 15.11.2017

Don’t see many of these

The VN Holden Commodore is the first iteration of the second generation of arguably Australia’s greatest automotive moniker.

Replacing the outgoing VL Commodore, the VN was first released in August 1988 and stayed in production until August 1991.

Being developed from a completely different platform that was essentially a hybrid blend of the Opel Omega and Opel Senator, the VN had myriad changes over its predecessor.

Power was derived from one of three different engines; a 2.0lt inline four-cylinder, a Buick sourced 3.8lt V6 and the herculean, locally built 5.0lt V8.

The shove from these donks was sent to the VNs rear wheels via either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission.

Body styles that customers could choose from comprised a four-door sedan, five-door wagon or a two-door ute.

Once HDT got hold of the VN, it wasn’t long before they had developed a bespoke, performance oriented variant that they coined the ‘Aero’.

The Aero scored a new bodykit, 16x7 or 17x8 ‘Starform’ wheels, engine modifications such as a new cold air intake and a revised suspension set up.

Just 77 HDT Aeros were built, making them an exceedingly rare beast in the local automotive landscape.

This particular HDT Aero is a 1989 model and comes equipped with the herculean 5.0lt V8 and four-speed automatic transmission.   

According to the seller, this Aero has travelled an original 190,000 kilometres from new and is build number 24 of 77.

The HDT Aero is $23,000 and anyone interested in this rare Aussie muscle classic can view the full listing here. 

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