Commodore Picture Archives

We all have wants... needs ... desires. Often we get frustrated when the things in life that our heart crave aren't easily accessible or available, but the yearning never ceases. In the end, we try hard to gain access to the 'elusive', or at least to find a substitute satiate the hunger.

Marco Afonso, has long had a 'thing' for HDT's illustrious Aero - or, more specifically, the inimitable VN variant. You can't blame the guy, as it's an attractive piece of Aussie 'automobilia'. Seventeen inch Starform alloys; trick Bilstein enhanced suspension; a warmed-over V6 or injected V8; that signature smooth bodywork treatment which looks like it was moulded from clay by loving hands - a sexy model, this one. Simply irresistatle for those early- 90s Commodore buffs without the most ironclad of wills.

The morass of vehicle registration papers which bear Marco's signature didn't sway or suppress the desire for an Aero, A VB and a VN Bedina sedan bookmarked a long history Nissan Pulsar 'this' and Suburu Vortex 'that' Even a period of Camira ownership didn't change his deepest craving.

The problem, it seems was threefold: money, money and money, and none of which were in plentiful supply it seemed as if the dream woutd remain exactly that, until he got lucky!

As with so many other rebuilds, Marco stumbled across a window of opportunity. A very Aero like V6 VN Calais - smoking battered down-trodden and needin' some lovin' - rolled into his life. Right price, wrong form. Without looking a gift-horse under the bonnet (hey, you know what I mean), Marco took the Aero under his wing (pardon the pun) and nurtured the VN until il was able to fly again.

With its nose so far out of joint, if looked more like an out-of-form bantamweight has-been after five rounds with Evander Holyfield, than a VN with marginal promise, It wasn't just the frontal 'king hit' either the whole vehicle tooked like it was dragged through the dumps on more than its fair share of occasions, This was one of those few cars which actually looked much better stripped to a bare chassis.

After some intensive surgery to fix the results of a rather heavy knockout, one of Marco's trusted siblings, Joao Afonso, was put in charge of resurrecting the fallen angel. The Aero-like appendages were replaced once the metallic skin healed and the door handles replaced a singular VR keyable entry on the driver's side.

Colour choice was a premium consideration and the VN wouldn't see the light of day until Marco was satisfied the VN would beam with opulence. Someone whipped out the BMW colour charts - circa 1991 - and found a fairly tasty-looking shade of blue. A touch of pearl was run through the skin, just to add that extra sparkle for when the sun finally graced its exterior once again.

The V6 wasn't quite so bad but it still required a bit of a workout through Adelaide's Awesome Automotive and LeuiTs Pitstop workshops, Marco is keeping fairly tight lipped about the work performed, but from what we can ascertain the induction and exhaust sides of the equation have been duly dealt with, incorporating some cold air Uni-filter mods at the start,and a set of SSV headers fed into a 2.5-inch exhaust at the end point of the combustion process, Marco describes the remainder of the under-bonnet work as 'top secret' which, incidentally, is the name of a reasonably famous Japanese tuning company which builds 1000hp twin-turbo Supras and the like. I'm sure the connection is purely coincedental.

The slushbox has been given a spruce-up, according to the owner, while Loui's Pitstop also treated the braking and suspension areas with selective upgraded componentry. The springs are FE2 gear (alhough the ground clearance looks a tad lower) combined with Pedders shocks and some stiffer sway bars all-round. Wrapped over the 4-wheel disc assembly are four striking Starform-style 16-inch alloys, loaded with 225mm-wide rubber.

The Calais interior is about as natural as Holden ever intended, bar the obvious steering wheel retro-fit - a MOMO item, of course. A bit of blue spraypainted detailing didn't go astray, either.

With everything up and running, it was time to get the VN registered; a task which wasn't without its own set of pitfalls, After coming up against comments like "the steering wheel is too small', "it sounds too loud" and the ever popular "the suspension's too low", Marco found three applications were necasasary to finally legitimise the blue 4-door, He celebrated, as you can see by the photos, with a set of rather apt registration plates. 'Sweet 6' indeed ...