SS Group A..

Time for a little more 80's Australiana; in the way of a little HDT goodness spotted at a car show last month...
 

1987 VL Holden Commodore HDT SS GROUP A.

One of a handful of tuned versions of the 5th generation (1986-1988) Holden Commodore, by HDT (Holden Dealer Team) - Holden's official performance modification and motorsports arm at the time.

 This SS GROUP A model was one of 500 identical cars built for Group A racing Homologation.

All 500 cars wore the same HDT-specific aero, Naca-duct style bonnet scoop, and 'Permanent' red paint...

..while wheels were these fantastically-period 16" Momo Star's.

 Love the gradient Text in the SS logo in the two above pictures too..

Inside were a pair of Scheel seats, plus a Momo wheel and shifter. The light grey works really well with the dark red paint outside..

Good looking rear lip spoiler, which likely doubles as a mobile bird bath in the rain..

One last pic - surrounded by some colourful company - an XR Falcon GT, 34 Ford, 65/66 Fastback Mustang and a VH Charger.

Unfortunately I haven;t got an engine pic, for the same obvious reason the photo of the interior is taken through the glass...
Regardless; what you would have been looking at is a carburetted 5litre V8 - a warmed-over version of an engine Holden had been producing for 20years at this point, and charged on for another ten! This oversquare, 2Valve, Pushrod unit pumped out 137kw (a little over 180hp) @ 4400rpm; with shifting done through a Borg Warner 5speed manual, and to the ground via a LSD-equipped solid-axle in the rear. Brakes were discs all round.

Done.

I love these.. all of the HDT and HSV cars produced from this era onwards. I have a bit of a thing for the Mercedes-AMG or BMW-Motorsports Nissan-Nismo/Impul/SVD etc, style of OEM period modifications. Its just always quality and done so well, while still giving a little bit of period aftermarket vibe when looking back - the types of wheels, seats, audio, styling of the aero, decals, and fabric/trims chosen. SO great.

You know things have gone well when...

..you're filling up the 290 litre tank..
...that fuels the 5.2 litre V12..
..in your 2.7 tonne Lamborghini.

1990 Lamborghini LM002.
One of a couple hundred built over the 7years following its 1986 introduction. Being 1 or 2 years too late to the party means I'll always see this as an Italian Humvee/Hummer, rather than the other way around; but these always seemed so shamelessly over-the-top excessive luxury by comparison. A V12 borrowed from a Countach and a handful of Lamborghini badges will do that!

One of the (so wide..)Pirelli Scorpion's made specifically for the LM002, a great simple colourmatched rear wheel cover, and an angled twin split exhaust..

Upward angle too. Partly with departure angles in mind, and partly because its awesome.

Love how smooth the whole rear tub area is, with what seems to be no bumper whatsoever. Crazy seeing such huge flat slabs of panel/paint remaining totally unprotected. Even one excursion down a gravel road would leave the lower doors looking less than impressed...

Small rear ute/tub area. 

..Well, this thing is 2 meters wide, so might just seem deceptively short..!

Oldschool 4-zone climate control: Simply place the seats a time-zone apart!
So much room, and just as much black leather. Love the detailing in the carpet and tunnel covering, the wiiide console, shifter locations, and what looks like a warning light panel on the left side of the dash!

 A couple shots of what is struggling to hide under the massive bulge on the bonnet/hood.



And done.

I absolutely adore these things. What a car.. what a 4WD..! Not for just what it represents as epic unnecessary excess, or for the fact its a Lamborghini V12-powered 4WD, or for being properly capable; but because it happens to look great inside and out to boot. This car in particular - which is currently for sale in Japan for a I-dont-need-to-know price - is an especially nice example; solid red over black, no skirts, bars, or brushguards, and sitting on original silver pressed-steel wheels. Really, really nice.

SSR EX-C FIN, 28 years later..

Another set of Speed Star's here; as I had just noticed I'd gone 5 posts without posting any damn wheels! Cant have.. any.. of that...

SSR EX-C Fin
14 x 6", +25.
February/March 1987
Early style - painted face, polished tall caps, and full face mounting flange.

A staple in the world of 80's SSR's, but surprisingly difficult to find a good solid set.
I picked these up from YAJ ~6months ago. Complete, neat, and original set of early EX-C Fins; a little hard to resist, despite the odd stud pattern!

Original silver painted face, black fasteners, and full mounting flange.
It seems a lot more common to find the EX-C Fin (moreso than the mesh) with the full-chrome face, plated fasteners, chrome caps, and notched mounting flange.

..actually, no; now it seems most likely to find a set of those with absolutely fingered chrome, 3 plates, 2 caps, and peeling decals; 14x6 +40 full-reverse, and a recent encounter with a gutter at ~60km/h.. :(

Speed Star Racing. EX-C.
A pressed aluminium plate, and sits slightly above the face.

 'Tall' caps are an interesing inclusion on a set with such a relatively high offset, but just a bonus to me (more cap to love..?).
Early cap anyway; with the polished body instead of chrome, and the black locking mechanism. As what was on the Hiro V-1's, and Meiju Radius' I've posted before.

 Cap and plate removed. Tall collar screwed to the face of the wheel.

Like the 4x100 EX-C's posted below; the PCD decal is almost an afterthought, stuck on top (or beside) the empty field on the standard decal.

Safe to assume these didn't go on too many cars over the decades since they were made. Very little wear throughout..
Faces produced in February 1987..

..while the barrels were made the following month.

Matching early 14" EX-C Mesh. Both 1987 production.

Not bad! Other than the Fins here have a white face.. and I possibly had the lips on the mesh above over-polished...!

 Full-reverse versions.

And one more; a late 80's, silver, 14", SSR-sampler...



Done. <3 SSR.

Lil' Red, the AW11 - February 2015.

An update (..and just a little flattering..) photoset of my AW11 from last weekend. It has been on the road as-is for a month now..

As I wrote here a few weeks back; I have owned this for almost 9 years, with the car casually getting a tidy-up for the last two.
Still not 'restored' - just agressively maintained..!

So chips, scratches, thinned paint, and half-a-dozen different reds; but as long as it looks good enough from a couple feet away..

..Or pictures in soft light with the colours cranked up, amirite!

The factory turned-finish 'teardrop' alloys. These are the 1986-89 Supercharger-spec wheels in other markets, but fitted to all AW11's in Australia.

185/60R14 Bridgestone Potenza RE001's now replace the same-size Potenza RE88's fitted 27 years ago..

All Australian delivered cars got the early (MK1A) rear lights and garnish, due to the large format of the standard rego plates. Obviously the plates on there now are on the opposite side of that scale..

All local cars were fitted with the full aero too, as well as the colour-matched mudflaps.
Ignoring special paints (metallic or two-tone), the sunroof was one of only 3 options - with the other two being Cruise and Air.

Exhaust is a Fujitsubo Legalis-R, but otherwise standard back here.

The factory rear visor shadows 'TOYOTA' on the rear glass. I will never let this go unmentioned..

yyyyeah naturally-aspirated 1.6! The 4A-GE. More here..

Its been rebuilt; but that is the original engine, having now seen over 400,000km..

All factory in here, save for the Recaro LX-C's, TRD gearknob, and the tartan..

..which extends back to the boot.

Done.

Bonus pic from June 2006! Same car, same location.
Might be hard to tell... but that photo's actually a little grainy. As for the angle, I'd like to say it was accidental.. but...