History
Back in 2015 although this wasn’t a V8 like most would go for I bought this VT as a gift to myself for almost being off P plates and lasting that whole time with the same car and not losing my licence at all..
At the time the car had an SS bodykit that was the wrong silver, CV8Z taillights and bad sunburnt paint and the dreaded clear coat peel and was generally a little worse for wear after apparently being an ex show car that was 5L V8 converted and full of audio gear before it had all the good stuff removed, V8 included as it apparently blew a head gasket so was returned back to factory standard V6.
But I saw the potential in the car and decided it was going to be my project that when finished would make an awesome cruiser and show car.
As you can see in photos it’s had a massive journey with multiple different styles over the years while I’ve been cleaning it up.
But after wanting a Caprice in this colour I had a problem. Not only were they rare but my driveway where I was living at the time was way too steep and my garage way too small lengthwise for one to be logical as the VT had trouble going up and down even with a normal kit so I eventually came up with the idea to cross my love of luxury Holdens like the Caprice and the Calais and make my own VT Caprice complete with all the rare goodies from each model and put it all together as if it was a factory ordered car which a friend smartly helped name “The Calprice”
After more than 2 years of planning and searching high and low for the good bits in early 2019 I finally started finding what I needed and starting turning this car into what I envisioned and it still continues slowly.
I do have quite a long list to work through but next things to do are to finish getting the Gmax wheels chrome polished, putting the interior together complete with a power windows conversion, find another caprice chrome outer door handle as I’m missing one and get them painted and fitted, get the last of the paint and body work done including filling in the tow bar hole and getting the front bumper fabricated to fit the front lip as it’s only been test fitted for now and get a decent set of Calais or Caprice wheels and polish them to chrome if they’re not already done topping them off with a white wall on the tyres for the factory standard look and when I’m feeling like rolling nanny spec.
With all that in mind the big long term goals would be to get a sunroof, front and rear airbag suspension and just because it’s a Series 1 VT I’d love to put another 5L V8 under the bonnet but with decent engine work and a manual gearbox for the ultimate uniqueness considering from the front it will be a WH Caprice and WH never had a 5L V8 option like a Series 1 VT did nor did a Calais or Caprice of this era come in manual either.
Modifications
- Monaro headlights
- WH Caprice front end swap
- WH Caprice stand up badge
- WH Caprice dash
- WH Caprice chrome exterior door handles
- WH Caprice chrome interior door handles
- WH International blue leather/suede seats
- VZ Calais thick chrome window moulds
- VX Series 2 grey dash cluster piece
- VT Calais taillights
- VT Calais garnish with chrome piece
- VT HSV Manta kit
- Chrome pinstriping
- Custom air intake with SS inductions OTR
- 20inch polished chrome Gmax Heritage wheels
- I❤️LUXRY custom number plates
