VE and other Australian auto pics: rear-wheel drive cars rule

[soup070]

In 2005, I moved to Australia to work on my Masters Degree and for two years while I lived in Brisbane I enjoyed every minute there. While I was there, Holden developed there VE generation Commodores and started selling them the next year. During my time there I enjoyed seeing the VT (GTO) and VE (G8) series cars on the road, and couldn’t wait to get my hand on a VE. In the October 2006 issue of WHEELS magazine, they showed the development from Commodore SSV to G8 under way in Adelaide, I knew I had to save my pennies for my own. While on a flight to Cairns I told a Holden dealer Rep I sat next to that they should bring the VE to the States, he said “why, you got the GTO.” Then started breaking off that we’re going to steal their jobs and make them over here (sort of right Camaro is made in Canada), but I knew the VE was something great. Four doors, international architecture, OZ car of the year, and those looks – the GTO was out of the picture. Recently I received Peter Robinson’s book AUTOBIOGRAPHY: The Inside Story of Holden’s All-new VE Commodore, from OZ last month and understood that the VE was developed from the ground up. It was a good find, cost me $20 AU but $50 to ship, better than $200 on Amazon. It should be on the shelves of diehard G8 owners, from history to development to HSV input to the future (Camaro) of Holden architecture.

Well here are some pictures of my time in Australia, some may be pictures of Ford’s Falcons or FPV (their performance division) within these. But you got to love it, if its rear-wheel drive they should belong to our G8 family [even though we can take them]. Some of these pictures came from dealer lots, drive-bys, or when I attended the 2007 Brisbane Auto Show.

[soup070]

Additional photos include Peter Robinson's book and G8 assembly I found.

[mi04se1]

GXP in front of a GT....I wonder if somebody got a suprise.

[BigV8]

soup070 thanks for the pics, and i'll have to get that book!

[bowtiefan]

It's a great book. I picked it up on eBay.au a few months ago. Would love to visit Australia someday!

[pokey]

Thanks for posting!

[BigV8]

It's a great book. I picked it up on eBay.au a few months ago. Would love to visit Australia someday!

I searched ebay au and could not find the book anywhere. Did find it on amazon but it was used for $200 :(

[soup070]

I searched ebay au and could not find the book anywhere. Did find it on amazon but it was used for $200 :(

I found it on ebay.com.au
It was a hard find, I found one in the US but that seller on ebay tried screwing me over. So had to get it from overseas, its a great one to have around. Its funny hear that they thought about the CTS/STS platform but Holden designers thought it was too small and not suited for OZ roads (basiclly they thought the US cars were too soft). If your really into the G8 or VE series then look for the two Aus magazines WHEELS and MOTOR, they have pretty good backdated articles that have great insight into our G8 developement. I have several dozen from when I was there, such as both mags in Oct 06 have articles that talk about the G8 coming to the US and how the VE platform will provide the new Camaro's suspension.