THE MORE YOU LOOK THE MORE YOU FIND
GLENN TORRENS GIVES HIS BEIGE COMMODORE WAGON A BODY SCRUB
MY NEW-TO-ME 1982 Holden Commodore SL/X wagon had good paint highlighted by sparkling chrome roof racks and bumpers. In fact, most people would have been happy to cruise it exactly as it was. But while gazing at it during the first oil change since I’d bought it, I noticed a few things that I was keen to fix.
Firstly, there were some stone chips in the paint… The blokes at my favourite car parts shop, Edgeworth Auto Parts, mixed up a small bottle of touch-up paint so I could carefully but easily brush-touch the damage.
Like many other cars, these early Commodores are notorious for the plastic chrome windscreen trim degrading to brown and crinkly. My car club Prez, Aaron, knew of a windscreen installer who had the right stuff in stock so for $150 I had the front and rear windscreen trims looking brand-new again.
The engine bay looked a bit tired, too,
“A NON-HOLEY BAR WAS A FINISHING TOUCH TO MY TIME-WARP WAGON’S EXTERIOR APPEARANCE”
especially after my pressurewasher blasted-off some of the engine’s bright blue paint! By carefully masking the driver’s-side engine mount and removing, stripping and priming the rocker cover, I managed to give the engine a smarten-up using a couple of rattle-cans. I also installed a brand-new under-bonnet sound insulation pad (it was missing from my car) and reattached the wayward firewall sound-proofing. The screen washer/coolant tank was replaced, too, as it was cracked.
Thirty-seven Aussie summers had left the doors’ bailey channels and beltline rubber seals brittle and cracked, allowing the glass to rattle in the door frames and causing wind noise – both annoying! For a few hundred bucks and a few hours’ work, I installed new weather seals to banish the breeze.
When bought, my VH wagon also featured an extra-special bonus: holes for the two earlier series’ Commodore SL/E headlight squirters in the front bumper. My guess is the prior driver – a little old lady – did some touch-parking prior to surrendering her licence and a replacement VB or VC Commodore SL/E bumper had been fitted in error. Swapping to the correct non-holey bar was a finishing touch for my 1982 time-warp wagon’s exterior appearance. It also saved me a search and maybe $400 as now I don’t have to chase a bumper-with-holes for my 1980 Commodore SL/E restoration!