like the HZ it also featured Radial Tuned Suspension, Like the Torana it had rack & pinion but the front sat on mcpherson struts, it came with holdens tried and trusted six cylinder plus the red 253 V8 it was the V car project ,it used nasa computer technology to create it and the engineer that did it put down his VB (it's a beer) , did a huge burp , looked down at his 16 k ram nasa computer and said, hmmm that's what I'll call it, yeah., he finally had a name for the V car and was excited, he grabbed skippy, his Kangaroo and his dog matilda, ran accross to his mate Bazza's bush shack on the other side of the Harbour Bridge were he left his HK ute the night before when he had to many beers at the pub accross the road from mick's house just down the track from the new opera house . when he got to bazza's ol bazz was working on the misuses EH, he told bazz about the new name for the car Bazz said "you ripper" , he then told Bazz he just needed to now come up with a model , Bazz said how bout a VB mate, the engineer loved it and grabbed matilda and skippy and drove back over the bridge to his shack, packed his bags, swatted two blowfllies in one go on his monitor, checked the oil in the HK and drove to the plant, it was nock of time when he got there and all the boys at holden were drinkin beers and doing burnout's in the carpark, when he told them every one but the Tooheys drinkers loved every thing about the new car.
ther was variations, being the basic commodore, the SL and the top of the line SL/E the later featuring alloy wheels, plush velour trim, extra interior lights, plush pile carpet and a extra set of wipers to keep the rain out of it's eyes, This year Bathurst was one by Peter Brock in a Holden Torana.
In 1980 the VB commodore was replaced by the VC and the VC had a new grill and various refinements throughout the car, it had the new blue motor in six and eight cylinders, there was also a cut down version of the 202, it was the 1.9 liter Holden starfire four cylinder engine , also used in Toranas and fitted to locally made Toyota Corona sedans & wagons.
In 1981 The VH was released, still wth the same body but with a cleaner more moderrn styling, The base model was now called the SL, the SL was now a SL/X while the SL/E stayed the same, The SL/E now had a very plush interior with velour everywhere and big headrest on the rear seats, cruise control was now avaliable as well as a seven function trip computer. you could also get a SS sports model. Bathurst was won this year by Peter Brock and Larry Perkins in a Holden commodore.
in 1983 holden released series 2 versions of the de ville and caprice, by now the holden range included heaps of strange rebadged crap in the yards like the shuttle, the rodeo, jackeroo, gemini, and now ther was the J car, the first front wheel drive with holden badges on it , it also had the new Holden family 2 four cylinder ohc motor , it was supposed to be like a upermarket hi tech small sedan here to take over the four cylinder market, this car was known as the camira.Bathurst was won this year by Peter Brock in a Holden commodore.
84 saw the release of the VK commodore, the 4.2 liter V8 was dropped, thre were now only 3 engines, they were the 3.3(202) the 3.3 (202) EFI and the five liter, the new motors were black to show buyers that there time was coming, the basic six now sported a timing sensor that worked of the fly wheel and was electronically controlled while the EFI version had factory tube headers and almost had as much power as the old 186 X2 engine but the commodore was a bit heavier, the commodore was rather small compared to Fords family sedan as the commodore was origionally cortina competition and the kingswood was the Falcons competitor, in order to make buyers feel there car wasn't to small they changed the apearance to make it look bigger , this was done by adding a extra window to the rear pillars, the new VK also had a set of futuristic looking plastic bumper barsand a modern grille, there was also a tail light update.The all new world class VK commodore was still availiable in a SL but the SL/X became the Berlina and the SL/E became known as the Calais, the calais had leather as a option and now had a digital instrument cluster, along with cruise control and trip computer, there was also a SS brock special group 3. This year Bathurst was one by Peter Brock in a Holden commodore.
In 85 Holden released the llittle rebadged crap box scurry as well as a rebadged Suzuki Samuri / Sierra called the holden drover, the Gemini was replaced with the all new front wheel drive RB modelthis year Peter Brock did not win Bathurst, instead it was won by a V12 Jaguar coupe
due to Brock having a bad hair day thanks to brocken rear and front windscreens, I can still remember standing by the track as a 10 year old screaming at the top of my lungs you can do it Brock as the red white and blue VK died just before the race ended, it didn't seem rite that another car win as by now it was just expected that no other car could Keep up with the Aussie family sedan, America tried there camaro's and mustangs germans had there BMW's the japanese had there RX-7 's and turbo's Itally had it's alfa's but there was nothing quite like a holden family sedan when it comes to motorsport.
In 1986 it became compulsory for new cars to be unleaded, by now the Holden six was out of date being pretty much the same motor as the 63 EH and the Holden guys talked about it over a few beers at mick's house down the track from the opera house because the bottleshop was just across the road and , the next morning they were to hung over to update the Holden six with the twin cam crossflow alloy head it should have got, and called their mate from nissan and got them nissan boys to send over some three liter EFI ohc sixes, nissan also had Holden Familly 2 engines in there Pulsar. the new VL commodore upset alot of people with the nissan motor but it was rather smooth and a 150 kw turbo version was also offered and a hit with the police there was also a 4.9 liter unleaded version of the V8 released, a new performance division was formed and a 4.9 twin throttle body EFI V8 was fitted to the groupA VL by Holden Special Vehicles.
In 88 the babbies from the sandman era were now teenagers and it was getting squeezy in the back of dads VL or VK , the way to solve this would be to bring back the Kingswood but instead they just made a bigger all new commodore, this being the biggest change ever in commodores, it had a european look with an american based 3.8 litre V6 Efi motor with a 4 spd auto, soon after the 5 liter V8 was back by demand, now featuring EFI, not only did the V8 come back but Holden started resurecting its old models. There was a return of the Holden ute and a new statesman and caprice were formed from a wagon wheelbase, the new caprice had radio controls and vanity mirrors for the rear seat passengers mounted in the roof as well as electric everything, Independant rear suspension and anti lock brakes were also a new feature.