The pic pops-up on the socials every few months. It’s a terrific shot of a dark blue VT Commodore SS on the high-speed track at the Holden Proving Ground (also known by many Holden enthusiasts simply as Lang Lang due to it being the closest town) in southern Victoria.
The speed track – a 4.7km circular loop with a characteristic slope that allowed cars to travel at speeds in excess of 200km/h without centrifugal forces tugging too hard at their steering wheels – is part of the facility that was established in the late 1950s.
Since then, every Holden (and many other GM vehicles) was developed and tested there.
As well as the flat-chat track, there were ride and handling roads, water splash pits, concrete corrugations a big skid pan, and a series of buildings and garages where the development engineers weaved their magic on prototype Holdens, testing ideas and performance.
Anyway, it’s where the VT Commodore was developed, and in mid-1997 first shown to the world … And the bloke in the passenger seat of that blue VT SS pictured on the speed bowl is me.
I’ve had a couple of VTs – a Berlina V6 and an HSV Senator 195i – and now own its series replacement, a VX2 Berlina wagon, powered by the mighty 5.7-litre V8.
I like ’em!
Plenty of other people like ’em too. These days, after being fleet and family cars; fast cars and first cars, the now 27-year-old VT Commodore is following the familiar form of becoming a favourite for Holden collectors/restorers.
After seeing my efforts with the Commodores I’ve owned over the past seven or eight years – my 1989 VN V8 Calais, a brown 1979 VB wagon, a 1992 VP V8 Exec, my Bombodore (1979 VB) and Coomadore (1981 VC) ‘saves’, another ’81 VC wagon I saved, and now another VN 1990 V8 Calais, it was with some pleasure and pride for me that my mate Juddy asked me to help him restore a VT Commodore SS.
Juddy is a proper Holden-trained tradie mechanic with his own little biz. He’s a staunch Holden man who figured this 1999 VT SS would be an awesome weekend cruiser – and with ‘late model’ comforts such as auto trans, comfy seats, icy air-conditioning and power steering, one his wife Dani could enjoy cruising too.
His car is a ‘series 1’ VT so carries the Aussie 5.0-litre ‘iron lion’ V8. Interestingly, the car was built in May 1999, in the absolute last weeks prior to the introduction of the imported all-alloy GM LS1 5.7-litre V8.
Juddy basically handed me the keys and said, “Make it happen.” Mechanically complete but a bit shabby and with some minor rust, my task was to inspect and disassemble the car, source any required components (such as original SS wheels to replace the aftermarket alloys the car wore), repair any rust and liaise with a motor trimmer and painter and then button it all together again!
Thankfully I was able to grab a few bits for the resto before my local wrecker yard closed (see What Do You Reckon, this issue) and there are a few NOS (new/old stock) and good second-hand bits available from people who are parting-out the remaining VTs that aren’t quite good enough to save. So I got in to it!