1988 VL Walkinshaw SS a hot auction

A sought-after 1988 Holden Commodore VL Walkinshaw SS Group S Sedan (build No. 479) brought $57,750 at Shannons Melbourne auction. It was being hotly pursued by a number of muscle car enthusiasts. 

The Walkinshaw or Walky was created in 1988. It had a number of other nicknames, including the Plastic Pic, Winged Warrior, Plastic Fantastic and Batmobile  to name a few. The Walky came about after Holden and Peter Brock's HDT parted ways in 1987. 

Holden needed someone to build performance cars and it turned to Tom Walkinshaw's British based TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) and that's how HSV was born. 

With the resources of TWR and a much bigger wallet, HSV had the necessary ingredients to show it was able to match, if not better, HDT's previous cars. 

It didn't disappoint. The VL SS Group A SV was its first task. To meet International Group A homologation rules, 500 had to be sold. This wasn't a problem as they sold like hotcakes, and HSV decided to build another 250. 

But sales slowed as the release of the VN Group A SS drew near. The story goes that HSV was left with many of the cars, and there are reports of some being sold without the entire body kit and of some being raffled off. 

Apart from the outrageous body kit, the Walky became the first Holden V8 to be fuel injected. It also came with four-bolt mains and twin throttle body inlet manifold. The body kit was designed to minimise drag and maximise down force. 

It was designed and tested extensively in a wind tunnel by TWR in Britain. At $47,000 the Walky was by no means cheap, but has held its value reasonably well for a car built over 20 years ago. 

It's certainly a head turner wherever it goes, which is part of its appeal and has cemented itself as one of Australia's true muscle cars.

For more information on Walkinshaws, check out www.walkinshaw.net