You won’t believe why this car sat unused for so long…
When it comes to Australian muscle cars, the “Blue Meanie” or the 1985 Holden Commodore VK Group A is an absolute legend. Nicknamed for its distinct bright blue paint, many have tried to convert their Commodore as a tribute to this homologation special made for Group A competition. A mere 500 of these were built, so it’s not often one goes up for sale. However, a reportedly genuine barn find example recently emerged on Facebook and is up for sale. With under 45,000 km on the clock (that’s under 28,000 miles) this car is all original and in fantastic condition, all things considered. As if that isn’t amazing enough, the story behind this car and how it ended up parked in a garage unused for decades is pretty crazy.
Technically, this Holden has only had one registered owner, but it’s a little more complicated than that. The guy who bought the Commodore VK Group A back in 1985 decided to store it at a friend’s house a year after buying it since he was going through a divorce. We could jump to conclusions about why, but you could as well and since we don’t have all the details, so we’ll leave it at that. Anyway, the friend agreed to take over the car payments but wanted to leave the vehicle registered to the original owner. Again, no info about why that was, but one could make some pretty interesting guesses.
But wait, the story gets a lot weirder.
The second owner drove the Holden on a regular basis all the way until somewhere around 1998. According to a report, the guy decided to keep it stashed in his shed for two reasons. First, insurance costs for the sedan were too high for him to keep paying. That’s a pretty normal reason, but the second one is where this story really gets interesting.
Supposedly, people would see this 1-of-500 car and would try to follow the guy home, or at least they attempted to figure out where he lived. The second owner, who wants to remain anonymous, said he believed many were planning to steal his beloved ride. Sometimes he had to drive to police stations and pretend he was going inside so other drivers would stop following him.
Not only did the guy just park the Holden Commodore VK Group A in a shed, he surrounded it with other things so nobody would see it or could get the car out easily. We’ve seen this before with classic muscle cars and other vehicles.
Original details abound, from the big front air dam to the prominent trunk lid spoiler. It sits on the factory-optional Momo wheels but also has the highly sought-after Aero wheels, which are apparently pristine. Also present is the Momo steering wheel and shifter knob, plus the Scheel seats.
The factory-original 4.987-litre is also apparently in good condition. Holden had to famously de-stroke the pushrod V8 or face a weight penalty since it was originally over 5.0 liters. It runs a Crane Cam designed by HDT. Output peaks at 262-horsepower and 308 lb.-ft. of torque. A four-speed manual transmission sends power to the rear, where there’s a live axle. Up front is a MacPherson strut suspension. Disc brakes are located at all four wheels.
This car is number 357 of 500 and comes with all the registration paperwork, original log books, purchase receipts, plus the rest of the paperwork from HDT. In other words, it’s a well-documented car, in case anyone has doubts about its provenance.
Muscle Car Sales, the shop selling this classic Holden, says it’s still in barn find condition. However, if you’re willing to pay for the work and wait, they’re willing to clean it up and make repairs so it’s roadworthy.
Check out the Facebook post from Muscle Car Sales, which is based in Sydney.
Source: CarAdvice
Just when you thought you'd seen the last 'Barn Find', along comes VK Group 'A' Commodore build # 357 of 500.. Purchased...
Posted by Muscle Car Sales on Wednesday, September 23, 2020
