HDT Special Vehicles "Brock" Commodore VL

The first of the HDT Special Vehicles Commodore's for the VL range would be the Calais LE.

Initially it was powered by the same engine as the donor car, the Nissan sourced 6 cylinder engine being used. Naturally, as other engines became available on the general Commodore range the HDT engineers were quick to use these for their cars, and so both the turbo-six and Holden 5.0 liter V8 would also find their way under the bonnet of the Brock VL.

The mighty VL SS Group A was released in November 1986, 500 being manufactured to ensure compliance with homologation regulations.

The bonnet scoop used a NACA duct, while the front air dam and rear under-tray were beautifully styled, the rear wing blending well into the VL tail light treatment.

We would argue that this was the first Brock Commodore where the additional body adornments actually looked like they should have been there, rather than the “pimp-my-ride” style used on previous iterations.

The Group A’s engine used a Holden heavy duty crankshaft and conrods, while the trusty Rochester four barrel carby was carried over.

Crane roller rockers were used, while the camshaft profiles, combustion changer shapes and exhaust system were all improved.

The engine was mated to a Borg-Warner T5 five speed manual, while inside the cabin wonderful “Scheel” bucket seats were installed, the rear bench seat being re-trimmed to match the new front pews. As expected, a Momo steering wheel was fitted along with the mandatory HDT gear knob.

But it was with the VL that one small device would polarize the once close relationship between Brock and GMH. Designed to “rearrange the car’s molecules to improve ride, handling and overall smoothness”, the fitment of the “Polarizer” had most people scratching their collective heads – in the end most agreed if it was good enough for Brock, it was good enough for them.

The General disagreed, and so the Group A, produced entirely by Holden, was not fitted with the device. Meanwhile Brock deemed it mandatory for the HDT “Group A Plus” vehicles being produced from the Special Vehicles facility to all be fitted with the Polarizer – and only then would they receive his highly prized signature. A statement from the General read “GMH can see no technical merit in it and can not endorse its use”.

The VL HDT Special Vehicles Director was quite a different beast from that introduced with the VK range, the dramatic new look almost being a completely new make over of the donor car. To further demonstrate the rift that had developed between Brock and GM, the car was now simply named the “HDT Director”, Holden notably being dropped from the name.

HDT may have broken away from Holden, but that did not stop them developing some other glorious models, including the Group Three Signature, Designer Series, the Bathurst and Bathurst Aero. For those unable to stretch their budgets for the purchase of a  HDT model, after market “Sport by HDT” kits were available to fit out the more mundane variety.

We know that at least 500 Group A's were produced to satisfy homologation requirements, however we do not have figures for the Group Three or Director.