Future value of our LS3 Powered VF Series 11

[Angeldust]

I recall when I had a 73 Charger (265 4 speed - not the triple weber job), that I bought new, having a traffic light GP with a LH 253 Torana SLR, and there wasn't much in it. To me the Charger seemed very powerful at the time, it was my second car, the first being a 1965 Isuzu Bellet (1500cc). I remember road tests of Charger similar to mine, the 0-100 time was I think 9.3 seconds.

4.3 litres vs 4.2 litres... long stroke vs short stroke.... would have all depended on the gearing and weight of vehicle...



On the VF,
Todays cars don't seem to rust as much as old cars. When you look at 20 year old commo's now, ie VR onwards, they're in so much better shape than any of the early commodore's and holdens were. That's one reason a lot of the classics disappeared. It wont be the same with the current cars.

 

[Skydrol]

I can say that back in the 70s you can "hear and watch" a car rust; of course, just exagerating. But honestly, the exhaust will rust out within 2 years, tops, paint started to bubble from rust during the same life span, the dashboard, cracked and faded.

70s and 80s cars, on any model and make, were crappy years in the auto industry

 

[Forg]

70's & 80's weren't worse for rust than the years before; it's just that by the 70's & 80's, the drivetrain didn't disintegrate before the rust started.

 

[6LSSVE]

I think the upshot is: If you own a VF2 V8 (or any potentially collectible car), don't mess with it.
Classic cars of any genre are worth far more in original low Km condition than some half-arsed bastardised variant done in the name of "performance".
One sure fire way to make a small fortune is to start with a large one and get involved with motorsports.
I know so many people who have sold their "keeper" to finance yet another "performance" (not reliablity) engine rebuild.
If you want to modify it and thrash it's arse - well buy another one for the purpose intended, spend your hard-earned, best of luck to your engineering skills and go for it.
Note: Soz to all the aftermarket people selling their wares on here but that's the way it is.
It's kinda like the difference between a virgin and an "almost" virgin.
Not quite the same huh?

 

[6LSSVE]

I recall when I had a 73 Charger (265 4 speed - not the triple weber job), that I bought new, having a traffic light GP with a LH 253 Torana SLR, and there wasn't much in it. To me the Charger seemed very powerful at the time, it was my second car, the first being a 1965 Isuzu Bellet (1500cc). I remember road tests of Charger similar to mine, the 0-100 time was I think 9.3 seconds.

I built a 192 cu steel cranked Holden red motor (Blue printed & balanced by Gown & Hindaugh - the same people who built Brock's Torry reds back in the day) & dropped it into my '67 X2 HR.
It used to leave Bridgestone Steel Belted Radial rubber over the windcreens of 245 Pacers aka "The fastest 6 cylinder production cars ever built".
Goodies included: Yella Terra Stage 4 head with triple Chev valve springs, Holley 500 suitably jetted, Speco Bathurst spec cam (lift/duration escapes me right now), solid lifters, re-sized Chev pushrods, Yella Terra roller rockers, posi-locks, alloy timing gear (for that blower "whirrrrr" sound), 1c piece oil pump bypass block-off, WB breakerless distributor - it goes on.
Thing was still making reliable ponies at 9000 RPM.
Mid 15s at Calder with a Speco in-line slam shift 3 speed.
I used to take two spare diffs and a spare gearbox to drive it home afterwards.

I think the build cost me around $2 grand.
I sold it for $600 to help buy my 308 4 speed HQ Premier wagon.
If only I'd kept them both...
Alas - I met a woman and got car-strated for a mortgage.

 

[Towcar]

I had built 186 stroked to 204 and blueprinted that used to rev to 9,000 and smoke all that came (except well built V8's)

Those were the days!

 

[Syfrha]

Hi all, I'm curious what people think now 4 years later and after the fact of Holdens complete demise in Australia recently this year.
How do we see the VF2 V8s holding up in value now and future specifically 2017s.
I've been watching carsales and keeping track roughly of prices the past 12 months, seems that they are holding value if not going up a few grand.

Also if prices do continue to increase, will there be a point at which converting a VF2 SV6 into a LS3 becomes affordable compared to "just sell the 6 and buy a 8"

 

[Skylarking]

Well if Musk is correct, we’ll be in full self driving vehicles within a year

If that’s true, the majority of buyers will quickly tire of driving themselves in heavy city traffic. They’ll aspire to own a Tesla. What that means is that the market for old style petrol cars that can’t drive themselves will shrink. With that, any old style commodity where the pool of buyers is shrinking puts downward pressure on prices

Worse still, if such fully automated self drive vehicles actually achieve better road toll outcomes as expected, the government will consider ways to remove manually driven vehicles from our roads, either through banning them or pricing them off the road

If all this actually happens, the payday that some were hoping for with their LS3 powered commodores will never eventuate. Some may have the cash to buy such a car to put in their multi car garage for visual enjoyment but mass of potential buyers won’t exist. And even Holdens best of the last limited editions (bar the magnum or director) aren’t really limited in numbers so the won’t have the expected appeal to command large prices...

Best option is enjoy your car and don’t worry about what it may be worth in future.... With increasing cancer rates, covid19 and 5G, you may be dead before enough time has passed for your car to be worth anything, if it can ever achieve a price increase.

 

[panhead]

Hi all, I'm curious what people think now 4 years later and after the fact of Holdens complete demise in Australia recently this year.
How do we see the VF2 V8s holding up in value now and future specifically 2017s.
I've been watching carsales and keeping track roughly of prices the past 12 months, seems that they are holding value if not going up a few grand.

Also if prices do continue to increase, will there be a point at which converting a VF2 SV6 into a LS3 becomes affordable compared to "just sell the 6 and buy a 8"

If you did an engine swap it would still only be a clone and worth half of the real thing and the ease of doing swaps like in cars from the 50's, 60's 70's and 80's is over with everything talking to everything else, you'd almost need to source the whole car and not just the LS3.




.

 

[panhead]

Well if Musk is correct, we’ll be in full self driving vehicles within a year

I was watching a doco on SBS a couple of weeks ago and it said the reality of self driven vehicles is still 20 or more years away.

The list of reason is long but so far the AI that is required for the cars to make moral decisions does not exist and that is the sticking point for all manufacturers including Tesla.

Do I kill the passengers or do I kill the pedestrians type of thing.





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