WHERE IS IT NOW?

BROTHERS IN ARMS — 1987 HOLDEN COMMODORE VK AND 1986 HOLDEN COMMODORE VL

ichard Tuthill’s VL Commodore and Mike Bari’s VK Commodore looked seriously tough when they graced the cover of our second-birthday issue. Too tough and too good to change, perhaps — yet, that’s exactly what’s happened in the decade between then and now. Even so, we’re sure that neither Richard nor Mike could have predicted at the time just how much the cars would change. A year or so after our shoot, Richard’s VL was mini-tubbed to fit a 10-inch-wide rim, then pulled off the road a year later for the engine combo to be changed. You’ve probably seen it around — that ‘ VL PSI’ plate is almost an understatement! The new motor is a sixlitre iron-block LS with a Garrett GT42 turbo strapped to the side of it and a whole lot of custom fabrication done to get it all to work together. With a Holley Dominator V2 ECU and tuning from C&M Performance, it’s good for an astonishing 604hp at the wheels on pump gas — and that’s before the installation of the fancy new billet intake manifold. Backing up the new combo is a Powerglide with an Auto Trans converter, which, all going well, will help push the car into the nine-second zone when Richard tires of driving it on the street and commits to taking it down the strip. Mike’s VK, on the other hand, has dropped the forced induction altogether in favour of a stroked 308. A man of many talents, Mike built the motor himself, using plenty of COME Racing parts. With a single 750cfm carb and singleplane manifold up top, the motor makes a healthy 520hp at the flywheel. Apart from that, the car hasn’t changed a whole lot — the biggest difference being that the boot has been trimmed in leather, as was always the plan, and the speedo now reads a whole lot higher than it did. However, as much as the cars have changed, one thing hasn’t — their man-love; that sweet, sweet, man-love …