One-off HDT VF ‘VL’ Group A SS Plus tribute revealed

HDT’s retro-inspired creations always become talking points among fans of classic Aussie Commodores, especially with the promise of modern driving abilities.

The latest creation from the former race team is this, a VFII Redline built to resemble a VL Commodore Group A SS Plus Pack.

It’s sporting its original engine and a manual gearbox with a few modifications that allow it to now produce 650kW and a massive 1000Nm of torque.

As a customer commission, which was undertaken at great expense, the car is a one-off and will probably stay that way.

The man now in charge of HDT – since 2007, in fact – is Peter Champion, a well-known HDT die-hard and friend to the late Peter Brock.

“This customer wanted me to build him a VL Group A on a brand new VF SS Redline, the last of the Australian made Commodores,” Champion tells MOTOR.

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“It’s been in the making near on a year. The customer wanted a massive supercharged engine in it so we pulled it out from the car and while the engine was out we sent it to the paint shop. We stripped it out and painted it in the old HDT Permanent Red just like the VL Group A from 1986 and ’87.

“The engine was also stripped down and had the pistons, crank, rod… everything changed out. It was a 6.2, but it’s now a 6.8-litre with a twin-throttle body Edelbrock supercharger.”

There’s probably one question on your mind right now, if you’re familiar with the VL Group A Plus and a particular controversial feature of that car. The answer, dear MOTOR reader, is yes. It does have one.

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“We couldn’t have a Group A Plus Pack without fitting a polariser! We had some polarisers from when we were doing the VE cars, so we fitted that, plus it’s got our adjustable coilovers with Bilstein shocks and eight-piston brakes at the fronts, with colour-coded MOMOs.

“We think we’ve done pretty well with it, and judging by the reactions after a photo of it went up on Monday, we’ve had the phone ringing off the hook seeing if we want to build [more of] them.”

It’s also got a properly-molded hood with a vent, rather than a ‘bolt-on’ scoop.

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Champion also says he had to use a rather cheeky tactic to get the right fit for the rear wing.

“I could probably say I hired a car, brought it down [to Yepoon, HDT HQ] and wrapped the boot so we couldn’t damage it, then used it to build a mould of the rear wing for the retro series.

“We didn’t damage the car, but I’d better not say which hire company it was. The Holden dealer in Rocky was kind enough to loan us a car to finish up the fit.”

But Champion says building more isn’t out of the question, it’s just not likely there’ll be another quite like this.

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“I was originally going to build five, and it’s been so hard that if I had the orders for a heap, I’d look at doing them in-house.”

“But let’s see where we go. If there’s enough interest and enough people who want one, we’d probably do the other four. Probably not to the specification of this one, something more like 400kW.”

Champion’s final comment regarding the car is that, despite its power, it’s very easy to drive… as long as you know what you’re doing.