Calling Ricksa (the vn lover)

[fairBA]

Someone needs ricksa passion.....
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum....cfm?t=1882642

[TC200six]

I think we should take our hats off to Ricksa for being able to admit loving such a vehicle on a forum like this

[Falcman0o7]

VNs.........

[Riksta]

I have a Whirlpool account.

I'm on the case.

[Riksta]

OK; here's EXACTLY what I just put up:
---

There is nothing bad about VN Commodores whatsoever.

The VN Commodore, and its twin, the Toyota Lexcen, are miracles of modern engineering, homage to the decade that was the 80's.

No other car was quite as refined as the VN, its ability to chuck one wheeled skids whilst going around corners sideways fascinated people of all ages, especially the young, who purchased VNs in droves. At one stage, the wait list from a Holden dealer for a base model VN was 3.5 years, there was that much demand for the vehicle.

The exact number of VN Commodores produced remains unknown, and Holden were working 24/7 to push more VNs out of the Factory. Toyota even shut down production at their own factory to make the Lexcen – many people think Holden made the Lexcen and badged it as a Toyota, this is in fact incorrect, Toyota had to make them themselves to keep up with demand. It is estimated that several hundred thousand million VN Commodores and Lexcens were produced between 1988 and 1991.

No other vehicle on the road had a list of features as impressive as the VN. From the electrical gremlins causing all sorts of fun and games with the tail lights when you stepped on the brake, to the strange attraction to trees on highways, the VN had it all. Ford Australia were only able to engineer an inordinate amount of rust into their "all new" E-Series, which everyone knew was just an XF Falcon trying to copy the greatness that was the VN. Ford did step up a notch and set some of the E-series vehicles alight before shipping them to dealers, but it was too little too late, unfortunately Holden had the market cornered for rear wheel drive, single pegger diff skid machines.

It was a horrible time to be working in a Holden dealership in 1991 when it was announced the VN was being replaced by the VP. The masses disapproved, and there were riots Australia wide as the people who had ordered a VN as far back as 1988 were being told that Holden (or indeed Toyota) could no longer produce the vehicle that they wanted, and they would have to take a vastly improved vehicle, the VP. Nobody wanted the VP Commodore, which is why they are so cheap compared to VNs. In the end it was decided that the VP (which was orginally going to look exactly like a VR Commodore did) would be essentially a VN with a few cosmetic upgrades, and that since so many VN owners would get the VN home and weld the diff, they would weld the diff at the factory. They did consider doing this halfway through the run of VN production, however it was decided the delay in production would not appease the Australian public who already had a VN on order.

HDT ("Holden Drifting Team") also got a hand in on the VN rage and created a beast known as the "Aero". The HDT VN Aero was a V8 beast originally designed to be shipped to Japan to compete in various drifting competitions, however Japanese regulations stated that the vehicle drifting must only have two doors, and so HDT released them onto a public not quite ready for this type of vehicle. It is suspected that 3 Aeros have survived to this day, with all the rest suffering the same attraction to trees & telegraph poles that all other VNs suffered. There are many VN Aero "fakers" out there today, most of them using genuine bodykit parts sourced from various Holden wreckers & U Pull It. Depending on which side of the vehicle hit the tree, only half of these "fakers" may be using genuine HDT kit parts.

Unfortunately, like all good things, the VN came to an end. But will always be fondly remembered. They gathered a cult following like no other, and will ALWAYS be a pivotal, and most important moment, in Australian motoring history.

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Sharing the love on WPF:

"OATH MAAATE!!!

I mean, who needs $150,000 Merc C63 Coupe when you have this visual buffet with an orchestra of 3.8L – 5.0L goodness.



GSF6"

[robbyj]

i reckon if i went all over the country, and bought every VN i came accross, i could come back home and triple my money.

[MethodX]

Better car than the EA...

[greenfoam]

As rough machines as they were, there's one thing you have to give the VN massive credit for. That is, the vast majority of them drove themselves to the wrecking yard, still perfectly drivable but unwanted due to an upgrade. You can't say that about many cars.

[duaned]

I never did see the list, but I reckon flannos would have been there as the most popular option with the VN!

[FPV-HSV]

I love the vn's and they drive better than the old falcons even dad said that and he has had genuine gt's. They go hard. Cheap on petrol. Bad brakes man up there good. Poor handling what everl. Its just that some ********* buy them and ruin them they get a bad rep...

[jrfttf]

and moccasins for footwear

[Lukeyson]

Originally Posted by Riksta

to the strange attraction to trees on highways, the VN had it all.

Lol'd very hard at that for some childish reason