Usually, when a car is parked up for a couple of decades, the thick layer of dust isn't even blown off before it's shipped off to the wreckers for a few hundred bucks.
To their credit, the lucky owners that stumbled across this old Commodore knew of its significance before the wreckers were called, and it's now well on its way to fetch more than $200,000 at auction.
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This poor VL has been sitting uncovered in a barn for over 20 years, and shows the sign of severe disrepair. While the original V8 engine still runs, the seller notes that the car needs a full restoration.
The VL Commodore, in all of its slabby '80s glory, is probably one of the most interesting generations of Commodore that Holden ever made.
No, it doesn't come with all the technology of the current VF or the monumental corporate investment of the VE. But it did seem to find itself in the middle of a lot of different sagas.
The most obvious of those was what happened between Holden and Peter Brock. The story of Brock, his Group A homologation-edition Commodores, and 'The Polarizer', is one for the motoring ages and one that you are probably well aware of.
There was also the fact that the VL, for the first time in Commodore history, utilized a couple of Japanese Nissan engines as its six-pack options. This was blasphemy to some. And kind of ironic, really, given the way the cookie's crumbled since.
Fast forward to now of course, and the VL is something of an everyman's (and woman's) classic. Older collectors like them because they're reliable (cheers Nissan), affordable, and comfortable. Younger enthusiasts like them because that Nissan engine is a coveted 'RB' unit that can dose until the cows come home.
Really though, the mack daddy of the VL range is the big, bad, Walkinshaw. 750 of these were built in total in order to homologate them as a Group A-spec race car to take on the dominant BMW M3s of the period (only to get annihilated by the turbocharged Ford Sierras and Nissan Skyline GT-Rs that rolled out simultaneously).
The Walkinshaw name on the bootlid? A symbol of Scot Tom Walkinshaw's influence. He, together with Holden in 1987, formed Holden Special Vehicles, or HSV. The Walkinshaw wasn't their first release, but it was the one that grabbed people's attention. Thanks almost entirely to that kit.
Every side of the 'Walky' is coated with some kind of cladding. The doors are pumped out, as are the guards. The bonnet looks like a particularly painful blister, and the rear wing looks like a helipad. But I find it very hard to hate. The ostentatious looks nail down two things; aspirational '80s styling, and Walkinshaw's bold tenacity.
If you want to get your hands on this not-so-gleaming piece of Australian automotive history, it is being sold via an online auction on grays.com. Deep pockets are a must, though, as the current bid sits at A$121,309 with the reserve yet to be met.