“Million Dollar Holden“, “Holden to set record at Auction” – these are the kind of headlines that are attracting attention these days as Holden disappears from Australia and some well kept models are finding their way to Auction houses. But what about this story of a Holden Commodore suspended in time, likely never driven and still sitting inside a dealership showroom after over 25 years.
The Showroom is in Peak Hill NSW, a good 5 hour drive from Sydney. But this isn’t a Holden dealer that closed up shop in the last two years once General Motors turned their back on the brand in Australia. This dealership looks like it closed decades ago.
One sign of the age of the closure is a very curious looking green Holden Commodore inside the window. Covered in dust this is a VS Commodore. Mistaken on Facebook for a VR, but keen eyed Holden lovers point to the details of the car such as the Ecotech badge for the engine, the shape of the side indicator which combine to tell us it’s most likely a Series I VS Acclaim.
It looks like a Barn Find from Forza Horizon.
Given the state of the car, and the building, It’s almost certain the car was in the showroom when the doors were closed to the public. That makes that car one hell of a special vehicle. Perhaps not a Million Dollar car, but while you can snap up a Series II VS commodore online for a few grand, just imagine what one that has next to zero kilometers on it would fetch?
There’s also some much older cars in there, an EJ Special, a stack of classic Holdens inside just collecting dust.
It doesn’t take much searching online to find out that the owner of this place isn’t keen to sell, in fact it seems there might be a sad story about the demise of the dealership, and the relationship between the original Dealer owner and Holden HQ. The family still owns the place, and when you live in a remote town like Peak Hill, everyone knows everyone, so it would only be “city folk” who go around asking about buying the classic Holdens.
At the other end of town is a corner paddock full of old cars, some heritage Holdens just turning to rust.
Word is, you’ll never buy a thing, not a part, not a car, nothing. And you’ve got to respect that, some people are quite happy owning what they own and aren’t seeking to make a quick dollar.
That said, it would be fascinating to get more detail about that Series I VS Acclaim Holden Commodore wouldn’t it?
