A very special opportunity to own some Australian history is now underway, with Burns & Co auctioning cars and memorabilia from the Echuca National Holden Motor Museum.
Perusing the lot, there are some very rare and unusual Holdens, including a Statesman coupe that would’ve given the Ford Landau and Chrysler VIP some rivalry. Nothing – very arguably – approaches this one, though. A brown VN Berlina in mint condition.
So what? I hear you justifiably quip. A tidy VN can be an eyebrow-raiser, but they pop up from time to time on the market and that alone doesn’t warrant a news piece. This one is different. From the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, Holden’s export program was in full swing, catering to countries with a capacity-tax penalising engines more that two litres in size. The solution? The white Camira in the background might give you a clue as to why this one is so unique.
Yes, that’s right. Holden did the unthinkable and stuffed the 2.0-litre, OHC ‘Family II’ motor from the Camira into the VN Commodore – a car hallowed locally for its power-to-weight ratio in both 3.8 V6 and 5.0-litre V8 ‘Iron Lion’ guises.
A glance over the engine bay reveals enough room between the engine and radiator to jump in and swing a cat, while twerking in a hula hoop – and just look at the size of that MAF sensor. From all accounts, the 2.0-litre model was not received well, struggling with New Zealand’s hilly terrain. A paltry 85kW and 175Nm seems pretty dismal, but it’s worth remembering the VN was very light, at 1311kg for the V6-powered model.
Interestingly, a look at the interior reveals the T-bar from the previous model VL Commodore, with a PRND21 shift pattern, suggesting this could be connected to a Trimatic gearbox.
Curiously, Berlina was the Executive equivalent in UnZud, while models exported to Thailand were Calais spec. Every now and then a Thai Calais 2.0Ei (that hasn’t been bastardised with a JDM heart transplant) pops up on Aussie Cars Overseas Facebook page.
At the time of writing, the car has 14 bids and is sitting at just $3000. If you do end up buying this car, please reach out to us at the Driving Enthusiast Facebook page, as we would very much love to feature this car on our channel. Head over to the Burns & Co auction listing for more details or to make a bid.
In the meantime, check out the video below for more on this interesting Aussie icon.
