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MUCH has been made of the recent sale of an HSV Maloo GTS-R W1, which fetched a princely $1.05 million at auction (see News Front, p. 10). That makes it the most expensive Aussie road car ever auctioned, and it has left some pundits a little bemused.

While I don’t necessarily believe it’s a good thing that Aussie muscle car prices are reaching such dizzying heights, I must admit that a sense of schadenfreude washed over me when I saw the result of the auction.

When the specs and pricing for the GTS-R W1 sedan were first announced, I distinctly recall social media being flooded with elitist naysayers who presumably favoured ‘more premium’ brands. “What moron would pay $170,000 for a bloody Commodore?” they collectively decried. “That’s AMG C63 S money! Stupid bogans!”

I know I would have paid it if I had the dosh, because to me it was obvious that the

W1 was peak Aussie muscle car. I love my chrome-bumper stuff, but with 474kw on tap, massive brakes, monstrously wide and sticky tyres, mega-buck suspension and so much more, I believe the W1 is the best and most comprehensively engineered factory Aussie muscle car we ever got, and sadly will ever get.

Plenty of people must’ve agreed, because no sooner than it was announced, the W1 sold out. Contrary to popular Facebook opinion, that indicates that the pricing was actually pretty sharp. Perhaps too sharp, in fact.

In no time flat, the ‘used’ W1 market went on the march, and seemed to level out around the $300,000 mark, PRE-COVID. These days, if you want to shout yourself a W1 sedan, you’ll need to drop a cool halfmillion – a figure three times the RRP when new.

Clearly those who threw shade at people ‘dumb enough’ to spend $170,000 on a ‘Commodore’ lacked an understanding of the affinity a lot of Aussies have for homegrown performance cars. A C63 S sedan of similar vintage (an awesome car, might I add) will currently fetch $100-120K on the second-hand market, so maybe the bogans who bought the HSVS were onto something.

So-called COVID tax has also drastically inflated the market for classic metal in the past 12 months, and while it’s good news for those who already have something special tucked away in the shed at home, it’s a real bummer for anyone working towards buying their dream car.

I’ve had an LC GTR Torana in my keeping for over 20 years, and while I don’t doubt it’s appreciated in value in recent times, what good is that when I have no interest in selling it, and I’d dearly love to buy an HK Monaro one day? A bloke can dream, I guess.

What this shift in pricing has brought about is a bunch of creative, left-of-centre builds

I BELIEVE THE W1 IS THE BEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVELY ENGINEERED FACTORY AUSSIE MUSCLE CAR WE EVER GOT, AND SADLY WILL EVER GET

on the street machine scene, and Colin Byrne’s Land Cruiser (p. 30) is a case in point. Rather than invest tens of thousands in a chrome-bumper Holden or Ford as the basis for his skid car build, Colin thought outside the box and started with a damaged Land Cruiser that, by the time he sold off all the parts he didn’t need, owed him a pittance by comparison. Now he’s left with a car that stands tall in the crowd, despite the fact that the sills sit on the deck!

And to address the elephant in the room, yep, I realise that running a ’Cruiser on the cover of Street Machine is a controversial move, but the thing has such incredible visual presence and created such a storm on SM’S digital channels that we figured it was a worthy departure from the norm. Take some time to read the yarn and fathom the scope of the fabrication work involved, and I’m sure you’ll agree!

Cheers,

Broads