Background help required for HSV Dyno day write up.
Discussion
Morning everyone.
The dyno day at WRC in Silverstone will be in the November issue of Total Vauxhall magazine. I'm currently writing the feature up but I could do with a couple of pointers regarding the pre Vauxhall Monaros, HSV UK and personal imports, as I'd like to go a little more in depth with these cars than we otherwise would on a regular dyno article. I think that there are quite a lot of people who are unaware that there is such a large variety of V8 Holdens out there.
HSV UK: How long were they in the UK, what did they import and did they offer modifications to the cars?
Personal imports: Has this been a common way of getting cars into the country? I assume people are still importing HSV's now?
Pre-Vauxhall Monaros: How many of these roughly made it to the UK and when did they first arrive?
Sorry if I appear a bit dense asking these questions but I hope it'll be worth it in the end. :beer:
The dyno day at WRC in Silverstone will be in the November issue of Total Vauxhall magazine. I'm currently writing the feature up but I could do with a couple of pointers regarding the pre Vauxhall Monaros, HSV UK and personal imports, as I'd like to go a little more in depth with these cars than we otherwise would on a regular dyno article. I think that there are quite a lot of people who are unaware that there is such a large variety of V8 Holdens out there.
HSV UK: How long were they in the UK, what did they import and did they offer modifications to the cars?
Personal imports: Has this been a common way of getting cars into the country? I assume people are still importing HSV's now?
Pre-Vauxhall Monaros: How many of these roughly made it to the UK and when did they first arrive?
Sorry if I appear a bit dense asking these questions but I hope it'll be worth it in the end. :beer:
Hi Dougie,
I'm a relative new comer to the Holden/HSV world so there are better people here to answer you question. However, I'll get the ball rolling and allow others to add, edit, or correct what I'm about to say.
The best place to look for the answer is www.hsvdriversclub.co.uk/home/ as it contains a list of all known vehicles within the UK along with a little HSV/TWR History.
>> HSV UK: How long were they in the UK, what did they import and did they offer modifications to the cars?
Below is a breif rundown of the officially imported vehicles into the UK.
(VT1)-GTS 1997-1998 5.0LTR OR 5.7LTR (320hp LS1 engine) 3-5 sold
(VT11)-GTS 1999-2001 (approx) 5.7ltr (340hp ls1 engine) 31 sold
(VT 11) GTS-R 1999-2001 (approx) 5.7ltr (410hp C4B engine) 13 sold
(VX1)-GTS 2001-2002 (approx) 5.7ltr (350hp ls1 engine) 5 sold
(VX1)-GTS-R 2001-2002 (approx) 5.7ltr (410hp C4B engine) 3 sold
I don't think much in the way of modifications was offered. Most seem to have modified their cars themselves or have used one of the 3 main tuners in the UK; Namely LSV, WRC, Wortec.
LSV were the original and official UK HSV maintainer and have been importing VT-VZ's under the 'Capa' badge since 2002 when HSV UK stopped. Capa is slightly different to the UK HSV official imports and they come with similar modifications. Check out their company profile www.lindenspecialvehicles.com/company-profile.htm. I'm sure Mark or Tim at LSV can provide a better history lesson if you ask them nicely.
>> Personal imports: Has this been a common way of getting cars into the country? I assume people are still importing HSV's now?
Due to the hassle & cost in getting the cars from Oz to the UK on a personal import process there are even fewer cars in the UK in this class. The personal imports tend to be of the non-HSV variety or Ute's. Off the top of my head we have:
1960 FB
1964 EH Holden (Handle: EHROB) - Sadly the car has moved on to another owner now.
1964 EH Station Wagon
1967 HR WAGON
1970 Torana
1972 HQ Ute
Holden Commodore VTII SS 5.7LTR (Handle: comm_SS_V8) - Imported 2000
Holden Commodore VX Executive 3.6LTR AUTO with SS styling pack (Handle: Raggyman) - Imported 2005
2003 Holden HSV Club Sport (Handle: KIWIHSV) - Imported 2003/04
Holden GTS Coupe 5.7LTR - (Handle: HSVGTSCoupe) - Imported 2005
Several Vu/VY Utes
Couple of R8 Maloo Utes (Essentially a HSV modified Ute)
I'm sure there's lots more that I've missed (apologies to the owner).
You can find out more about the classic Holden's by going to www.holdenuk.co.uk/
>> Pre-Vauxhall Monaros: How many of these roughly made it to the UK and when did they first arrive?
If you mean 'coupe' then only 1 exists in the UK and that's HSVGTSCoupe's vehicle, personally imported in 2005. If you are referring to anything other than a Monaro or HSV then see the above none-definative list.
Holdens Heritige
================
If you want to know more about the history of Holden in general check out these links:
www.holden.com.au/images/sc18_downloads/brochures/Holden_Heritage_Part_One.pdf
www.holden.com.au/images/sc18_downloads/brochures/Holden_Heritage_Part_Two.pdf
www.holden.com.au/images/sc18_downloads/brochures/Holden_Heritage_Part_Three.pdf
The reason I purchased my Commodore was because it was the only car that would fit my specific criteria:
* Had to have 4 doors as I already owned a coupe
* Had to have pleanty of grunt - The LS1 more than ticks this box
* Fun to drive but a good motorway cruiser
* Large boot - Job requirements
* Cheap to purchase
* Had to be RHD
* Had to be manual
* Had to be rare
* Non-descript on the road, ie. it didn't look like a scooby, evo, or skyline
The Holden was the only car to tick all the boxes. Being an avid Vauxhall customer for several years, Holden was a logical progression.
Hope this gives you a good start and I'm looking forward to seeing the write up.
If you have any other questions just post and somebody will answer.
I'm a relative new comer to the Holden/HSV world so there are better people here to answer you question. However, I'll get the ball rolling and allow others to add, edit, or correct what I'm about to say.
The best place to look for the answer is www.hsvdriversclub.co.uk/home/ as it contains a list of all known vehicles within the UK along with a little HSV/TWR History.
>> HSV UK: How long were they in the UK, what did they import and did they offer modifications to the cars?
Below is a breif rundown of the officially imported vehicles into the UK.
(VT1)-GTS 1997-1998 5.0LTR OR 5.7LTR (320hp LS1 engine) 3-5 sold
(VT11)-GTS 1999-2001 (approx) 5.7ltr (340hp ls1 engine) 31 sold
(VT 11) GTS-R 1999-2001 (approx) 5.7ltr (410hp C4B engine) 13 sold
(VX1)-GTS 2001-2002 (approx) 5.7ltr (350hp ls1 engine) 5 sold
(VX1)-GTS-R 2001-2002 (approx) 5.7ltr (410hp C4B engine) 3 sold
I don't think much in the way of modifications was offered. Most seem to have modified their cars themselves or have used one of the 3 main tuners in the UK; Namely LSV, WRC, Wortec.
LSV were the original and official UK HSV maintainer and have been importing VT-VZ's under the 'Capa' badge since 2002 when HSV UK stopped. Capa is slightly different to the UK HSV official imports and they come with similar modifications. Check out their company profile www.lindenspecialvehicles.com/company-profile.htm. I'm sure Mark or Tim at LSV can provide a better history lesson if you ask them nicely.
>> Personal imports: Has this been a common way of getting cars into the country? I assume people are still importing HSV's now?
Due to the hassle & cost in getting the cars from Oz to the UK on a personal import process there are even fewer cars in the UK in this class. The personal imports tend to be of the non-HSV variety or Ute's. Off the top of my head we have:
1960 FB
1964 EH Holden (Handle: EHROB) - Sadly the car has moved on to another owner now.
1964 EH Station Wagon
1967 HR WAGON
1970 Torana
1972 HQ Ute
Holden Commodore VTII SS 5.7LTR (Handle: comm_SS_V8) - Imported 2000
Holden Commodore VX Executive 3.6LTR AUTO with SS styling pack (Handle: Raggyman) - Imported 2005
2003 Holden HSV Club Sport (Handle: KIWIHSV) - Imported 2003/04
Holden GTS Coupe 5.7LTR - (Handle: HSVGTSCoupe) - Imported 2005
Several Vu/VY Utes
Couple of R8 Maloo Utes (Essentially a HSV modified Ute)
I'm sure there's lots more that I've missed (apologies to the owner).
You can find out more about the classic Holden's by going to www.holdenuk.co.uk/
>> Pre-Vauxhall Monaros: How many of these roughly made it to the UK and when did they first arrive?
If you mean 'coupe' then only 1 exists in the UK and that's HSVGTSCoupe's vehicle, personally imported in 2005. If you are referring to anything other than a Monaro or HSV then see the above none-definative list.
Holdens Heritige
================
If you want to know more about the history of Holden in general check out these links:
www.holden.com.au/images/sc18_downloads/brochures/Holden_Heritage_Part_One.pdf
www.holden.com.au/images/sc18_downloads/brochures/Holden_Heritage_Part_Two.pdf
www.holden.com.au/images/sc18_downloads/brochures/Holden_Heritage_Part_Three.pdf
The reason I purchased my Commodore was because it was the only car that would fit my specific criteria:
* Had to have 4 doors as I already owned a coupe
* Had to have pleanty of grunt - The LS1 more than ticks this box
* Fun to drive but a good motorway cruiser
* Large boot - Job requirements
* Cheap to purchase
* Had to be RHD
* Had to be manual
* Had to be rare
* Non-descript on the road, ie. it didn't look like a scooby, evo, or skyline
The Holden was the only car to tick all the boxes. Being an avid Vauxhall customer for several years, Holden was a logical progression.
Hope this gives you a good start and I'm looking forward to seeing the write up.
If you have any other questions just post and somebody will answer.
Dougie, Paul,
If you don't mind me answering then I can shed a bit of light on some of these questions:
How long were they in the UK, what did they import and did they offer modifications to the cars?
The initial HSV Commodores were imported in 1999 into the country by a New Zealand guy called Rod Clausen under the company name Genuine Import Vehicles (GIV) that he and Kiwi partner (a local Hamilton car dealer) had started.
He was initially importing japanese turbo's (who wasn't) and decided that the competition was a bit fierce at the time, so sat down and though of a differentiating factor he could apply,
He came up with the idea of improting HSVs instead, as the performance was the same or better than most of the jap imports, but offered luxury and exclusivity.
A short conversation with HSV resulted in a few modified 5.0 iron block HSVs being converted to 5.7 and officially imported into the country (i'll get to numbers soon).
The intial conversions were a bit expensive and margins were low, but pretty soon, end of 1999, the LS1 5.7 was fitted to HSVs as standard (Clubsport R8 and GTS 300).
The original VT2 cars were HSV Clubsport R8, but Rod had them re-badged as GTS to differentiate them from the personal imports.
GIV started to import these in larger numbers. The VT2 seen the introduction of the GTS 300 (the higher spec car from HSV), but as Rod had already used the GTS badging, he had to come up with new badging to differentiate the GTS 300. So he related back to the 1995 VR/VS GTS-R Commodores and decided that they would be badged as GTS-R.
Around that time there was an agreement made between GIV and HSV that GIV would be the official importer and the relationship was born.
At a similar time Rod had visited a garage in Northampton'ish where one of the engineers was working on a old 1994 HSV. That company formed a relationship with GIV in servicing and tuning the HSVs and we all know them as LSV now.
The total numbers of each type imported is as follows:
1st shipment was:
3 off VT1 GTS (iron block 5.7 cars (1x blue as a demo and 2 x red for stock) known in Aus and UK as VT1 GTS). They were 6spd and stroked to 5.7 from a 5.0 engine. [expensive to buy and import as they had a lot of conversions by HSV such as the engine and box].
This shipment also had:
1 off 5.0 iron block clubsport manual (red) and
1 off 5.0 auto (anniversary bronze, ltd edition)
Cars years were 1998/1999 for VT1
Next shipment and following shipments were 5.7 alloy GEN 3 (LS1 and C4B) engine cars, 6 spd box.
31 off VT2 Clubsport R8 badged as GTS-UK
(one was auto which was dark green)
(GIV had the premium 4 pot HARROP brakes fitted)
They were badged as GTS-UK to keep them the same name as the earlier model and to stop personal imports competing against GIV.
Cars years were 1999/2000 for VT2
Also:
1 off Holden Commodore SS 5.7 (black)
2 off Holden Suburban RHD 4x4's.
Next Shipments:
16 off VT2 GTS 300 badged as GTS-R's were imported and numbered 1-16 (all Black).
6 off VX Clubsport R8s were imported badged as GTS-UK
2 off VX GTS 300 badged as GTS-R (both Black)
1 off HSV Grange (Green) for Tom Wilkinshaw of TWR.
1 off VU (VX derivative) Maloo R8 (pick-up or ute as the are referred to in Oz)
Cars years were 2000/2001 for VX
Some other cars were imported by TWR for testing/development but these had nothing to do with GIV.
GIV relinquished the sole rights to import HSV's when Vauxhall wanted to bring in the Monaro:
Holden CV8 = Vauxhall Monaro
HSV GTO = Vauxhall Monaro VXR
Colin (hamilton Dealer) has always stayed in NZ
Rod and his Wife returned to NZ in August 2002.
As far as modifications go, Rod couldn't remember how many were supercharged (officially), but guess's approximately 10 cars. Mark at LSV might remember?
Personal imports: Has this been a common way of getting cars into the country? I assume people are still importing HSV's now?
There are a bunch of personal import HSV Commodores/Maloos and Avalanches in the country (My car is a VX GTS 300 personally imported because Rod would only bring Black GTS 300's in and the guy who imported mine wanted Red. It took him a bit of fudging and grief to get it in as Rod and Colin (Hamilton Dealer) had sole rights to import HSVs so he struggled to find a dealer that would comply with his request).
Personal imports are fairly rare (HSV's - note: holden Utes are coming in at a fair old rate courtesy of a few companies that will get them in for you).
But nowadays it is getting more difficult to get HSV's and Holdens in via the unofficial route. SVA tightening their grip.
Pre-Vauxhall Monaros: How many of these roughly made it to the UK and when did they first arrive?
There are not a lot. As far as I know (others will be able to help) Julian's Black HSV GTS 300 Coupe is the only unofficial HSV Coupe (Monaro) in the county???
Any more info required, give me a shout via e-mail if you want.
Cheers
Eric
>> Edited by v2hsv on Saturday 10th September 10:48
If you don't mind me answering then I can shed a bit of light on some of these questions:
How long were they in the UK, what did they import and did they offer modifications to the cars?
The initial HSV Commodores were imported in 1999 into the country by a New Zealand guy called Rod Clausen under the company name Genuine Import Vehicles (GIV) that he and Kiwi partner (a local Hamilton car dealer) had started.
He was initially importing japanese turbo's (who wasn't) and decided that the competition was a bit fierce at the time, so sat down and though of a differentiating factor he could apply,
He came up with the idea of improting HSVs instead, as the performance was the same or better than most of the jap imports, but offered luxury and exclusivity.
A short conversation with HSV resulted in a few modified 5.0 iron block HSVs being converted to 5.7 and officially imported into the country (i'll get to numbers soon).
The intial conversions were a bit expensive and margins were low, but pretty soon, end of 1999, the LS1 5.7 was fitted to HSVs as standard (Clubsport R8 and GTS 300).
The original VT2 cars were HSV Clubsport R8, but Rod had them re-badged as GTS to differentiate them from the personal imports.
GIV started to import these in larger numbers. The VT2 seen the introduction of the GTS 300 (the higher spec car from HSV), but as Rod had already used the GTS badging, he had to come up with new badging to differentiate the GTS 300. So he related back to the 1995 VR/VS GTS-R Commodores and decided that they would be badged as GTS-R.
Around that time there was an agreement made between GIV and HSV that GIV would be the official importer and the relationship was born.
At a similar time Rod had visited a garage in Northampton'ish where one of the engineers was working on a old 1994 HSV. That company formed a relationship with GIV in servicing and tuning the HSVs and we all know them as LSV now.
The total numbers of each type imported is as follows:
1st shipment was:
3 off VT1 GTS (iron block 5.7 cars (1x blue as a demo and 2 x red for stock) known in Aus and UK as VT1 GTS). They were 6spd and stroked to 5.7 from a 5.0 engine. [expensive to buy and import as they had a lot of conversions by HSV such as the engine and box].
This shipment also had:
1 off 5.0 iron block clubsport manual (red) and
1 off 5.0 auto (anniversary bronze, ltd edition)
Cars years were 1998/1999 for VT1
Next shipment and following shipments were 5.7 alloy GEN 3 (LS1 and C4B) engine cars, 6 spd box.
31 off VT2 Clubsport R8 badged as GTS-UK
(one was auto which was dark green)
(GIV had the premium 4 pot HARROP brakes fitted)
They were badged as GTS-UK to keep them the same name as the earlier model and to stop personal imports competing against GIV.
Cars years were 1999/2000 for VT2
Also:
1 off Holden Commodore SS 5.7 (black)
2 off Holden Suburban RHD 4x4's.
Next Shipments:
16 off VT2 GTS 300 badged as GTS-R's were imported and numbered 1-16 (all Black).
6 off VX Clubsport R8s were imported badged as GTS-UK
2 off VX GTS 300 badged as GTS-R (both Black)
1 off HSV Grange (Green) for Tom Wilkinshaw of TWR.
1 off VU (VX derivative) Maloo R8 (pick-up or ute as the are referred to in Oz)
Cars years were 2000/2001 for VX
Some other cars were imported by TWR for testing/development but these had nothing to do with GIV.
GIV relinquished the sole rights to import HSV's when Vauxhall wanted to bring in the Monaro:
Holden CV8 = Vauxhall Monaro
HSV GTO = Vauxhall Monaro VXR
Colin (hamilton Dealer) has always stayed in NZ
Rod and his Wife returned to NZ in August 2002.
As far as modifications go, Rod couldn't remember how many were supercharged (officially), but guess's approximately 10 cars. Mark at LSV might remember?
Personal imports: Has this been a common way of getting cars into the country? I assume people are still importing HSV's now?
There are a bunch of personal import HSV Commodores/Maloos and Avalanches in the country (My car is a VX GTS 300 personally imported because Rod would only bring Black GTS 300's in and the guy who imported mine wanted Red. It took him a bit of fudging and grief to get it in as Rod and Colin (Hamilton Dealer) had sole rights to import HSVs so he struggled to find a dealer that would comply with his request).
Personal imports are fairly rare (HSV's - note: holden Utes are coming in at a fair old rate courtesy of a few companies that will get them in for you).
But nowadays it is getting more difficult to get HSV's and Holdens in via the unofficial route. SVA tightening their grip.
Pre-Vauxhall Monaros: How many of these roughly made it to the UK and when did they first arrive?
There are not a lot. As far as I know (others will be able to help) Julian's Black HSV GTS 300 Coupe is the only unofficial HSV Coupe (Monaro) in the county???
Any more info required, give me a shout via e-mail if you want.
Cheers
Eric
>> Edited by v2hsv on Saturday 10th September 10:48
Hello Dougie
I can't add a lot to the posts above, which are absolutely excellent. Fantastic record-keeping guys! I can only usefully shed a little more light on LSV's involvement.
I met Rod Clausen fairly early on in GIV/HSV-UK's trading, and Linden Special Vehicles became the service support provider for that company, having already had experience with these Australian cars, as well as similarly-engined American cars. We were a tuning/servicing company for enthusiasts' exotica, that is, cars bought by people who wanted something different, but had to stretch to pay for it.
The process was quite simple. Mark Frisby (our engineer) took me to see a car that could potentially match my 500+ bhp Sierra Cosworth. An HSV GTS, which Rod demonstrated gleefully. He gave it 100% down the back roads, and I said it was great, if rather sluggish. Mortally wounded, he said, 'And what would you do with it?'. And there it was. I said 'I'll buy it', and he said 'You can look after all of them, and if you can make them quicker, we'll talk'.
Monday, I'd never heard of HSV, Tuesday I'd fallen in love with one, Wednesday I collected it. My 29 former cars (including the Cossie) had cost me less than this one. In total.
Quite a few of these cars were modified from 'the off', particularly press cars and those supplied to some of the more wealthy customers. Because they were very 'different' vehicles from the run-of-the-mill, quite a few were bought by well-heeled individuals, and for private collections. Most of these owners are not part of the 'scene', though in cases where they have since sold their cars, new owners turn up who might be.
We built a number of 500+ bhp cars, and in response to demand Rod commissioned us to build a number of 'official' supercharged cars, including GTS-Rs. This was rather more than either HSV or Tom Walkinshaw could stand and Rod took some heat as a result of this.
HSV-UK closed in 2002 when Rod and Lisa moved back to New Zealand, informally turning over the business to us. We continued to deal with TWR after the flap had died down as they had no one in house who could/would/wanted to deal with HSVs. We handled all the warranty issues (a thankless, and costly task as it turned out) and became involved in the 'Arrows Racing' HSV project, but the demise of TWR and other factors killed that (and any warranty payments we might have hoped for).
From that point we have continued to look after the majority of HSV owners either directly or indirectly through parts supply to their local garages. We are the distributor of HSV parts in the UK.
We have imported a number of vehicles since, both two door, four door and ute, and I probably have the first UK registed Monaro, from early 2003. A mildly-tuned 440 bhp, it's also an auto, which is unique. If anyone has an earlier one, or another auto, I'd like to hear from them. Most of these cars were built to order and are highly modified (up to 675 bhp), and we still import and sell four-door Holdens.
Personal imports are very difficult to accomplish these days, as new restrictions aimed at preventing 'grey' imports have taken effect over time. As LSV was importing/modifying these cars prior to the changes, we're registered as a small manufacturer and are allowed some flexibility here. In reality, we have to do so much work to the cars we can't compete with Vauxhall's product on price. We'll look at it again more carefully once Vauxhall stop importing next year, but it will probably continue to be a bespoke vehicle build, with a price to match.
LSV continues to service, tune and modify cars, almost exclusively V8s, with a tendency to cater for the more 'extreme' customer, but we are finding more and more Monaro owners looking for mild tunes. This might be on the basis that Vauxhall appears to be turning a blind eye to main dealers doing this also. Our once universal advice to owners to think very carefully before carrying out a mild tune may have been somewhat overtaken by events! We now offer tunes as mild as you like, fully mapped on our dyno, with before and after, so you know what you've got.
However, I would continue to impart the recommendation, which you may wish to repeat in your magazine, that owners with tuned cars advise their insurance companies. Those insurance companies are not so niaive that they don't check the ECU program after a big smack-up, as well as the car's visuals, and not so generous that they won't refuse settlement if they don't like what they see. A quick phonecall might save a lot of grief.
Regards, Tim @ Linden Special Vehicles
I can't add a lot to the posts above, which are absolutely excellent. Fantastic record-keeping guys! I can only usefully shed a little more light on LSV's involvement.
I met Rod Clausen fairly early on in GIV/HSV-UK's trading, and Linden Special Vehicles became the service support provider for that company, having already had experience with these Australian cars, as well as similarly-engined American cars. We were a tuning/servicing company for enthusiasts' exotica, that is, cars bought by people who wanted something different, but had to stretch to pay for it.
The process was quite simple. Mark Frisby (our engineer) took me to see a car that could potentially match my 500+ bhp Sierra Cosworth. An HSV GTS, which Rod demonstrated gleefully. He gave it 100% down the back roads, and I said it was great, if rather sluggish. Mortally wounded, he said, 'And what would you do with it?'. And there it was. I said 'I'll buy it', and he said 'You can look after all of them, and if you can make them quicker, we'll talk'.
Monday, I'd never heard of HSV, Tuesday I'd fallen in love with one, Wednesday I collected it. My 29 former cars (including the Cossie) had cost me less than this one. In total.
Quite a few of these cars were modified from 'the off', particularly press cars and those supplied to some of the more wealthy customers. Because they were very 'different' vehicles from the run-of-the-mill, quite a few were bought by well-heeled individuals, and for private collections. Most of these owners are not part of the 'scene', though in cases where they have since sold their cars, new owners turn up who might be.
We built a number of 500+ bhp cars, and in response to demand Rod commissioned us to build a number of 'official' supercharged cars, including GTS-Rs. This was rather more than either HSV or Tom Walkinshaw could stand and Rod took some heat as a result of this.
HSV-UK closed in 2002 when Rod and Lisa moved back to New Zealand, informally turning over the business to us. We continued to deal with TWR after the flap had died down as they had no one in house who could/would/wanted to deal with HSVs. We handled all the warranty issues (a thankless, and costly task as it turned out) and became involved in the 'Arrows Racing' HSV project, but the demise of TWR and other factors killed that (and any warranty payments we might have hoped for).
From that point we have continued to look after the majority of HSV owners either directly or indirectly through parts supply to their local garages. We are the distributor of HSV parts in the UK.
We have imported a number of vehicles since, both two door, four door and ute, and I probably have the first UK registed Monaro, from early 2003. A mildly-tuned 440 bhp, it's also an auto, which is unique. If anyone has an earlier one, or another auto, I'd like to hear from them. Most of these cars were built to order and are highly modified (up to 675 bhp), and we still import and sell four-door Holdens.
Personal imports are very difficult to accomplish these days, as new restrictions aimed at preventing 'grey' imports have taken effect over time. As LSV was importing/modifying these cars prior to the changes, we're registered as a small manufacturer and are allowed some flexibility here. In reality, we have to do so much work to the cars we can't compete with Vauxhall's product on price. We'll look at it again more carefully once Vauxhall stop importing next year, but it will probably continue to be a bespoke vehicle build, with a price to match.
LSV continues to service, tune and modify cars, almost exclusively V8s, with a tendency to cater for the more 'extreme' customer, but we are finding more and more Monaro owners looking for mild tunes. This might be on the basis that Vauxhall appears to be turning a blind eye to main dealers doing this also. Our once universal advice to owners to think very carefully before carrying out a mild tune may have been somewhat overtaken by events! We now offer tunes as mild as you like, fully mapped on our dyno, with before and after, so you know what you've got.
However, I would continue to impart the recommendation, which you may wish to repeat in your magazine, that owners with tuned cars advise their insurance companies. Those insurance companies are not so niaive that they don't check the ECU program after a big smack-up, as well as the car's visuals, and not so generous that they won't refuse settlement if they don't like what they see. A quick phonecall might save a lot of grief.
Regards, Tim @ Linden Special Vehicles
Tim I am slightly confused by your post. I had a steering rack replaced under the warrantee that came with my car last year. The warrantee was with a run of the mill car mechanical warrantee company and not LSV. Looking through the records that came with my car the warrantee was taken out by HSV UK when the previous owner took delivery of the car.
Hi
We had great difficulty getting any communication out of one of the warranty companies HSV-UK used. We had even more difficulty getting any money out them once the work had been done. We then refused to do any more warranty work for this company, which led a number of HSV owners to threaten TWR and/or HSV Australia with a lot of bad press. TWR stepped in and 'underwrote' certain work.
The warranty company thereafter went bust, as did TWR, leaving us rather in the lurch, and bereft of funds. We helped out the affected customers (who were our customers too by this stage) insofar as we could by discounting our work, allowing time to pay and so forth, but ended up being owed a lot of money by people, some of whom in the event refused to pay as they felt we should honour their warranties if no one else was going to!
Well, you live and learn.
You've been quite fortunate to have one of the warranties that was worth more than the paper it was printed on!
Regards, Tim @ Linden Special Vehicles
We had great difficulty getting any communication out of one of the warranty companies HSV-UK used. We had even more difficulty getting any money out them once the work had been done. We then refused to do any more warranty work for this company, which led a number of HSV owners to threaten TWR and/or HSV Australia with a lot of bad press. TWR stepped in and 'underwrote' certain work.
The warranty company thereafter went bust, as did TWR, leaving us rather in the lurch, and bereft of funds. We helped out the affected customers (who were our customers too by this stage) insofar as we could by discounting our work, allowing time to pay and so forth, but ended up being owed a lot of money by people, some of whom in the event refused to pay as they felt we should honour their warranties if no one else was going to!
Well, you live and learn.
You've been quite fortunate to have one of the warranties that was worth more than the paper it was printed on!
Regards, Tim @ Linden Special Vehicles
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