The first VC-retro-VE Commodores is nearly complete. Photo Gallery
The car that put Peter Brock on the fast track to showroom success is back.
The original VC Commodore he developed for the Holden Dealer Team has been re-created as a VE Commodore thanks to some of his biggest fans.
Peter Champion, one of Brock's closest friends and the owner of more than 20 of his famous racing cars, began the VC retro project and it has picked up pace with help from Patterson Cheney Holden in Melbourne.
The first VC-retro-VE Commodores is nearly complete and Champion is expected to appoint dealers in other states soon as production of the cars and HDT parts shifts into gear.
The car is expected to be priced from $65,000, although there is no final pricing yet on parts including body kits, exhausts, suspension and brakes.
"We are behind the project with Peter Champion. He spent a lot of money developing the body kit and I though he was onto something. It pulled the sentimental heart strings for me," says Nick Batzialas, the new-car manager at Patterson Cheney in Vermont.
"I thought a lot of people would like a car like this. They have grown up knowing the original car and wanted something like it."
The car has the same look as Brock's VC original thanks to the body kit, HDT striping and Irmsche-look 19-inch wheels.
But Batzialas knew he needed more and went to Autotechnique in Victoria to find it.
"We needed a package that was fun to drive. So Autotechnique did the suspension and performance work," he says.
"They have come up with a package that puts a smile on your dial, even under 100km/h. It just feels like a muscle car."
The work runs from a free-flowing exhaust to improved suspension and, with help from Harrop Engineering, there will be more HDT-badged performance gear in future.
There is only one VC-retro-VC Commodore so far, but Batzialas believes there will be strong demand.
"We have just completed our first car. It's just been released. We've already got someone who wants the car, once it's completed with an interior upgrade," he says.
"We've only just got the ball rolling. But we've got a lot of interest.
"We are thinking the car is going to be $65,000 driveway.
"I think I could sell four or five cars a month. But it's going to be built on demand. And we're not planning on exceeding 500 cars, which is the same as the original homologation for the VC."
The VC retro is based on a current SS-V Commodore sedan and Batzialas says initial problems with GM Holden have been overcome without worrying about a conflict with Holden Special Vehicles.
"It was a bit tickly, but we've steered around it," he says.
"We have been given the Victorian distribution and Peter Champion is negotiating with other states. We've got a proud history at Patterson Cheney with hot Holdens and we helped give Brocky his start.
"We're also coming up with a line of HDT products, so people can buy the brakes, the suspension or whatever. That's something Holden dealers haven't had, because a lot of people don't want the full HSV package."
