HDT Special Vehicles "Brock" Commodore VH

First shown as a prototype at the 1982 Melbourne Motor Show, the Brock VH HDT Special Vehicles would prove popular before it was even released. Impatient buyers were going to their respective Holden dealerships to put down a deposit long before the car was even available.

Unlike the VC iteration, the VH came in four distinct models, the Commodore SS Group One 4.2 V8, Group Two 4.2 V8, Group Three 4.2 V8 and Group Three 5.0 liter V8. As you progressed through the models, each would receive a little more by way of modification and refinement.

Starting with the Group One, the VH was lowered and fitted with stiffened suspension, and the 14” wheels were shod with 70 series Uniroyal Wildcat tires. Inside, the car was fitted with a sports steering wheel and gear knob, while under the bonnet the engineers fitted a high capacity air cleaner and  heavy duty master brake cylinder.

Surprisingly, there were no exterior body modification, apart from the addition of decals, however the extra cost of a Group One over the more humble Commodore was kept to a respectable $1995.

The Group Two naturally featured everything that was fitted to the Group One, but the cylinder heads were blueprinted, along with the fitment of a gas-flowed inlet manifold, exhaust extractors, chromed engine parts, wind splitters, a rear spoiler and Group Two decals.

No longer a “budget special”, the Group Two commanded a $3250 price premium over the Commodore from which it evolved. The Group Three received even further blueprinting of the engine parts, along with an upgraded ignition, Irmscher 15x7 wheels shod with 60 series Uniroyal Wildcat tires, a front air dam, side skirts, rear under-tray – and just to make sure every one knew it was a Group Three, the requisite decals were added.

Now $4750 over the cost of the donor car, the Group Three was not cheap, but most were able to dig deep and find a further $750 and option the 5.0 liter V8 (and for the extra money you also got a rear facing bonnet scoop). As you would expect, not too many were buyers were interested in the 253ci version, and this would soon be “discontinued”, allowing HDT to concentrate on the Group Three 5.0 liter. At the same time, Holden release their own “all factory” SS Commodore, that could be fitted with either the 4.2 or 5.0 liter V8.

It seemed to many that Holden were trying to compete with HDT, but the truth was that they needed to homologate a lightweight car, as CAMS based a vehicles racing weight on that of the base road car. But it was never surprising that the cars that graced the race track looked remarkably like Brock HDT versions, not the factory built ones.