TOYBOX

ADDICTIVE SS HOLDENS

TAKE A Group A/Group 3, ‘Blue Meanie’ of which 48 were made, and add the last hot Commodore, the VF Series II SS-V Redline.

One is already a bona fide classic and the other… Only time will tell, but given it’s the last Aussie-built Holden muscle car, surely it’s very likely.

Vanessa Williams hit song Save The Best

For Last sums up the locally-made Holden Commodore after its 39 years in production.

In this trim it’s the most powerful and fastest factory-built Commodore ever.

The SS-V Redline is a fitting tribute to the Commodore’s many Bathurst wins, Car of the Year awards and utter domination of the Repco Reliability Trial, when it conquered the country like no other in 1979.

We gave our resident ace steerer John Bowe both to go and play with.

“The SS-V Redline is a very likeable car. I love the low-down grunt and the way the 6.2-litre V8 delivers its power in such a linear fashion, although it is not as breathtakingly fast as I expected, probably due to its weight.

“When you give it a boot full, as you are inclined to do because that’s what these cars are for, it has a good deep growl through the bimodal exhaust. The car delivers a rich mix of induction and exhaust noise.

“With a gentle clutch and relatively soft-shifting action I couldn’t help swapping cogs more often than necessary in the six-speed