Hi all , I may open up a whole can of worms here – but back in the birth of the Commodore – I worked for Holden in Dandenong as a hopeful design apprentice but my youthful temperament saw me eventually sent to the end of the line – in the final “touch up” area of the main production line and so I saw the birth of the Commodore line thru the VB and VC models...
Although not a Commodore enthusiast – I am a car enthusiast and I saw many “odd” versions of Holden’s and the Commodore that technically didn’t exist – sit around or move down the production line during my time with the General. Little information seems to exist about some of the rarer cars and a friend of mine has inspired me to open a conversation about them as someone may have them and not be able to prove they were factory made…
Things I saw, knew or was involved with at Dandenong ..
As the Kingswood wound down, GMH was basically in financial trouble with a ageing and inefficient production line, development funds were heavily restricted by the parent company GM and no money was available to make a completely new body to continue on the Kingswood model. GMH was forced to go to the “GM global parts bin” in search for a replacement to the ailing Kingswood and so the Australian Commodore became assembled from specific sections of a assortment of European models, making what we would ultimately call the VB commodore. All the main VB body parts were initially shipped from different locations in Europe – in separate CKD panel form so we could assemble the Australian version as that body style wasn’t quite being made in Europe. Using CKD parts in the initial runs reduced GM’s financial exposure to the risks of the new models failure.
GMH was terrified the Commodore wouldn’t be accepted by the public as a replacement for the Kingswood, it was around the same size inside – but it looked smaller outside. The ailing Kingswood had already been substantially smaller then the Falcon and the perception was that the public were going to want bigger cars, just as Ford was preparing to release a new actually “large” car – this basic fear drove many thoughts inside GMH at the time. Fearing a market failure - the backup plan was to use the old Statesman bodied “Kingswood” that were created to replace the final Kingswood if absolutely required – It was already complete, finished testing and parked at Dandenong back in 1978. Poor Statesman sales matched with an over production of bodies at least ensured that we had plenty of bodies available. The “old” Statesman looked ok in 1977 – the “de-garnished” Kingswood version looked more like a coal barge in a dark colour and drove like one with the 202, auto and no power steering and we were absolutely terrified the Commodore would flop and so ultimately replace the Torana - causing us to have to try to sell that one last Kingswood model. The WB Statesman prototype was also there but with money restrictions and so many of the old bodies lying around – the WB Statesman body had to wait until last of the old Statesman bodies had been used and so it officially didn’t come out until 1980 odd.
Fearing the Commodore wouldn’t replace the Kingswood is why the Kingswood remained in production to keep stocks up after the Commodore started production and the 4 cylinder test Commodore’s were hidden from view as the Kingswood was never offered in a 4cyl version and the thought was that it may grow the perception that the Commodore was little more than a Torana replacement.
Coming after the sedan - the VB Commodore wagon was being rushed thru development to be released at the same time as the new Falcon was to be. Needing to replace the Kingswood wagon – the marketing guys demanded that no spec of the Commodore could be less than the Kingswood which ultimately included the factory rood racks carrying capacity.
The European bodies had no need to carry as much weight on the roof as we expected in Australia and during late pre-release testing – secret imported Commodore wagon bodies had their roofs fail and bend in whilst on the GMH testing track when fully loaded to the same weight as the Kingswood. Furious attempts were made to find a solution in time – but ultimately the wagon failed to be ready in time to challenge the Falcons release.
The Commodore is made from a lighter gauge metal than the Kingswood and the final solution was to have new roof pressings made from thicker metal and then shipped to Australia where we cut the roofs off all the existing bodies and re-fitted new ones using the thicker metal. I believe these cars were eventually sold as “new”
Odd Commodores I can remember ..
Three VB wagons were made and tested as 4 cyls – two were red SL’s
One Factory VB SLE wagon was made for the Dandenong Factory managers personal use. This car was a challenge as the SLE option was not available in a wagon due to the rear wheel arches fouling on the SLE wheels. The inside wheel arches were hand re-worked while the body was bare in the body shop at the Dandenong factory until the SLE wheels fitted without rubbing and then the car was fitted up to V8 - SLE spec during its build. From memory the interior was red and the factory velour SLE headlining and rear interior pieces (VB only) were hand made to suit the modified wagon. The exterior was special order “Black” and when the car passed thru the touch up area for some minor body repairs – the painters mistook the special order black colour for some of the “normal” production colours and so when the car emerged from the paint drying oven – it was “mostly black” .. with a resprayed dark metallic green front guard and a dark metallic red back quarter panel.. we laughed but the manager was furious and the painters were “relocated”. Later I was to nearly write this car off whist driving a UC Torana at excessive speed around the plant area - then for a time - I was “re-located” too.
Five VC SLE Commodores were fitted with factory CHEV 350’s borrowed from the truck plant, all were high torque, two barrel versions and two were dark green with another dark red one that I remember. The Commodore was expected to replace the Torana in racing and GMH were considering a 350 powered version for both racing and public sales. The VB had already shown the bodies were not really strong enough for the weight of the V8’s and panel separation was starting to appear in early V8 cars. Spot-welding patterns were changed with the amount of welds increased to reduce panel separation problems when the car was in “hard” or heavy towing use – but race teams were already “seam” welding their cars for real strength – something that was far too expensive for GMH to consider. I was lucky enough to be in a group of five people that managed to “borrow” a green 350 SLE and take it up to the rail yards at the back of the Dandenong complex for some more “aggressive” testing. From new - after 40 mins of serious hard work while fully loaded with people – the rear doors would not open and the front doors were jamming. Distortion was apparent in the roof and rear quarter panels. We quietly returned the car back to its secret hiding place and later the project was outrightly abandoned. The special built Brock – HDT road cars did benefit from yet another change to the spot welding pattern that basically doubled the amount of spot welds per panel to increase their strength and reduce GMH’s warranty costs.
With acceptance as a Kingswood replacement was gained in the VB model - the 4 cyl VC Commodore was still a concern but it was created to fill the gap of the departing Torana and to “run out” the excessive amount of Torana 4cyl components that were going to be left behind.
At least 10 4cyl (Starfire 4) - VC SLE Commodores (fully loaded) - were shipped to New Zealand .. how they ever got up any of those NZ hills I will never know…
If I remember more – I will post it , enjoy