VH COMMODORE [141,018 BUILT]

A LOWER BONNET line plus sharper-styled headlights and tail lights distinguished the VH series – SL, SL/X and the distinctive SL/E, available with an optional (and now highly collectible) burgundy, light or dark blue, or greenover-silver Shadowtone paint. Four-cylinder and 2.85-litre sixes were available with the option of a Borg Warner five-speed manual gearbox, as well as the four-speed manual and Trimatic. In early 1982, the SS badge returned to Holden dealers (there had been an HQ Holden SS sedan and LX Torana SS sedan and hatch) in a red – and later white – simple no-nonsense performance sedan with standard 4.2-litre V8, M21 performance four-speed gearbox, silver-hued alloy wheels and lower, tighter suspension. Many SSs were built to Group One, Two and Three specs by Peter Brock’s officially endorsed (and increasingly successful) Melbourne-based HDT Special Vehicles. The VH was to be the last chrome-bumper Holden.