My 1980 HDT VC Brock Commodore

THE Aussie muscle car bubble has burst, but car dealer Donald Smith isn't concerned even though he could have made a sizeable profit on his 1980 HDT VC Brock Commodore.

"I actually put the VC on the market to buy a Brock VL and had an offer of $132,000," he says. "But I changed my mind and I'm glad I held on to it even though it's only worth about $80,000 now," says Smith who owns four Brock specials.

Legendary touring car racer Peter Brock collaborated with Holden in the 1980s to produce high-performance Commodores to fund his Holden Dealer Team (HDT) racing exploits and to homologate some models for racing. The first HDT Brock special was the VC, available in HDT racing colours of black, red or white.

Brock made 502 VC models, but only 69 were black and only about 30 had four-speed manual gearboxes, making Smith's VC build number 110 one of the rarest variants. It was originally bought by HDT Car Club of Queensland foundation member Clinton Fox in 1980 for about $20,000.

Smith bought it from a dealer for an undisclosed amount in 2007 with only 71,000km on the odometer. "The oil was blacker than the paint and we polished it about six times," he says. The dashboard has been signed by Brock and his brothers Lewis and Phil, lauded race team manager Harry Firth, Brock's co-driver John Harvey and HDT parts manager Chris Ceswell.

It is in original condition except for the wheels which have been replaced with Simmons mags and Bridgestone Potenza RE55S road-legal racing slicks. However, Smith has six original Irmscher alloys fitted with "very hard" Uniroyal Steel Wildcat tyres. The VC is powered by a 5044cc (308 cubic inch) V8 pushrod engine with just 160kW of power which is 30kW less than today's 2997cc V6 Commodore.

He only drives his cars to HSV Car Club events and plans to show the VC and VL at the RACQ Motorfest at Eagle Farm racecourse in Brisbane on July 17. "You don't see too many 31-year-old cars that look as good as this," he beams proudly.

Peter Brock's Holden Dealer Team made about 4000 road-going cars from 1980 until the introduction of the highly controversial "Energy Polariser" in 1987. They included the VC Group C, VH SS Group III, VK SS Group A and VL SS Group which were primarily made just to meet racing regulations. Holden approved of the HDT cars, but the relationship soured when Brock began fitting his "Energy Polarizer" in 1987.

The unit contained crystals and magnets and was claimed to improved the car's performance and handling by "aligning the molecules". It was fitted to the Director model which failed to sell after the Polariser was criticised by the motoring community as hocus pocus. When Brock refused to let Holden test a Director, the company withdrew warranty support. This led to the birth of Holden Special Vehicles (HSV).

SMITH'S OTHER HDT CARS ARE:

• 1985 HDT Brock VK SS Commodore (5L V8, four-speed manual) that cost $22,000 new.
• 1987 HDT Brock Director (4.9L V8, three-speed auto) with a controversial "Energy Polariser" fitted. It cost $87,000 new and only 12 were made.
• 1988 HDT VL Brock Commodore Bathurst Aero (4.9L, five-speed manual) that cost about $60,000 new. Only eight were made.

AT A GLANCE

Model: 1980 HDT VC Brock Commodore
Year: 1980
Price new: about $20,000
Price now: $80,000
Engine: five-litre V8
Body: five-seater sedan
Trans: four-speed manual