2002 HOLDEN

The Australian car market is perhaps unique, with more contradictions than nearly anywhere else. On paper, it would seem to make sense that, with the average antipodean highway closer resembling Route 66 than the M6, it would have more in common with the US market, however, Australians were generally contemptuous of the flamboyance, excess chrome and poor build quality of the larger US cars preferring a more conventional look and rugged reliability. Cheap maintenance was expected to be provided by a dealer network often hundreds of miles apart, and all in right-hand drive. The natural supplier should have been British, yet the limitations of post-war austerity limited production to either small, fuel efficient saloons, sportscars or cars too luxurious for the average Aussie.

The preference for workday large V8 engine saloons later helped shape the self-contained and fiercely loyal Australian performance market, as evidenced by the longevity of Holden, a General Motors subsidiary, that had no real export market, yet saw off competition from Chevrolet, Buick and Vauxhall. One of Australia’s oldest businesses, it was founded in Adelaide in 1856 as a saddlery, transitioned to manufacturing car bodies in 1917 and merged with General Motors in 1931. Their FX 48-215 was launched in 1948 and celebrated as the first mass-produced car built in Australia, for Australia.

Holden's primary products were its own models developed in-house, such as the Commodore, Caprice, and the Ute, however, Holden had also offered badge-engineered models under sharing arrangements with Nissan, Suzuki, Toyota, Isuzu, and then GM subsidiaries Opel, Vauxhall and Chevrolet. The vehicle line-up had included models from GM Korea, GM Thailand, and GM North America and they had also distributed GM's German Opel marque in Australia briefly from 2012 to 2013. It took Ford a few decades to finally nail what the average Aussie wanted, a dedicated range of cars suitable for their needs, yet the Holden, and its long running Commodore model, still holds a near mythical status in Australia, more so since its demise in 2020.

The Holden Commodore, particularly the later cars, had a strong connection with 'the Brabus of Australia', CAPA Performance, who entered the forced-induction industry some years ago, quickly becoming known as an industry leader in the supply of quality and well designed and manufactured product. This fabulous 2002 Holden by CAPA features an LS1 V8 engine producing 400bhp, offering 0-60 in 5 seconds and a top speed of 170mph, CAPA-tuned suspension with six-link independent rear set up, AP Racing six-piston front brakes (360mm discs), sports exhaust, a bespoke one-off interior and is fully undersealed.

Identified as car #04, evidenced by the badge on the speedometer, of only ten individual CAPA cars imported to the UK and is understood to be the only R300 in this exact specification, and likely to the only one in the world. It was registered to our enthusiast collector in 2021, joining his stable of mainly Alpina BMWs, and he generously includes the cherished registration number, R300 CPA, in the sale. At the time of cataloguing, it had covered just 4,659km (2,894 miles) and, within that mileage, it was road tested by EVO magazine (copy included) and achieved a four-star rating.

The Holden CAPA has been compared to a latter day Lotus Carlton, and is perhaps one of the few V8 saloon cars from the turn of the 21st century that could be considered a contemporary of the BMW M5 and Mercedes’s E-Class AMG. This car, however, presents without doubt, one of the rarest opportunities to buy a low mileage 400bhp, right-hand drive only, V8 saloon in a unique specification at an estimate comparable to the equivalent M5 with ten times the mileage and none of the rarity.