History
Married now and baby on way. Wife hates my Chrysler by Chrysler 360 and he Celica is a bit small. Lets go car shopping for our first new car. We like the Mazda 323 but too small, Toyota Tarago automatic, failed to overtake a car on the highway as it refused to go beyond 100, Holden Shuttle LT, too close to accident action up front, Sigma SE Wagon, maybe needs a bit more power, Falcon Wagon, wife says too big, Toyota Corona 2 litre Liftback, maybe not enough room for the foldaway cot, Holden Commodore Wagon, wife says good size and I read that they were good handlers.
Yes, Mr Holden, we will have a mist green SL with 202, automatic,
A/C and SLE wheels. Sir, you will need to wait as we will order it. SLE Wheels are slow in coming so you might have to wait a bit longer. OK. Wait, wait and more wait. Mr Holden man, "Sir, we have a wagon in with a special pack, just like an SL but with a fancy stripe, better airconditioning and headlight wipers plus extra stuff for less that the car you ordered." OK we'll have it. Please Rust Rid it.
On our first highway drive, it shook violently at 95 to 98 kph. Mr Holden said it was the tyres and go to Uniroyal dealer. Mr Uniroyal man "You know those Commodore pressed wheels are usually out of round. Take a look! this one is out a 1/4 inch". Back to Mr Holden. "Sorry sir but it is the wheels....and so on. I never drove at the shudder range. Then, when we towed our trailer, the car got hot and it would change into second gear at highway speeds. Mr Holden told us that there was nothing to see here. I drove slower but one day she shifted to second when I was overtaking a truck. Instant loss of power as she was running on 5. Oh, broken valve springs. Sorry, but not covered as you must have been exceeding rev limits. I wrote to Mr Holden's head office, several times. Never a reply. The last time I suggested that I would never buy a Holden again. I never have. Am I sorry they closed down? Yes but I can see why.
I later put her on VN wheels and a gearbox repairer explained that the actuator on Trimatics was faulty and was later changed to one not affected by the heat. The Harrison A/C was meant for V8s and I lost count of the number of Harmonic balancers it ate. I carried one in the car with a puller and recall fitting quite a few on the roadside. Memo to service department...cut down the puller and carry a bit of ply and you can do it with a hot radiator and not have to remove it. I still have one in the garage,
We kept it for a long time as we had no money for another car as growing family had stopped all that. I still love the look of the VB and VC wagons, even te Vh but not too keen on the VK. The VL was a looker, especially the few SL/Es they made.
Modifications
Aluminium bull bar and (later) VN wheels and hubcaps.
