WB and from the VB Commodore are in DIN KW and this is the way people can truly see what they are getting, SAE Gross figures are nonsense and are just backward old out dated rubbish.

Look here a 308 HT-G-Q with single exhaust, Joh Blow would have no idea that if he went the twin exhaust he would have more power.
I have talked about this for years with old blokes that reject that going bigger exhaust will give more power and how many have claimed that all it will do is make more noise, that's total BS, going twin does not have to make more noise at all.

I remember my mate had a stock 308 GTS auto Monaro with option twin exhaust and it went real well, but any 308 with the stock single exhaust was gutless as in reality and even a 253 could not be hosed off as such.

How many people ran about saying how gutless the 308 was in the 70' and 80's they were all just fools, a stock twin exhaust 308 easy out perform any stock 302 Falcon and 318 Valiant and 307 chev in reality and make even HQ 350 XB GT351 go run and hide.

The Net or DIN are truly respected power figures of reality, that HT GTS308 with 204HP Net shows it's true worth, a XC 5.8L has 217HP Net and the XB GT has 215HP Net and XB 351 2V has 183HP Net.

Sure you can compare old chevy engines that way with some relativity.

Take a Holden Colorado KW if it were in SAE Gross you could be fooled into believing that the Auto and manual are the same tune, but the manual has been de tuned in torque to save the weak box not to mention it has a cut out to save the box when changing up gears, so the torque does not hit so hard directly.
A Gross figure could hide that, but a Net would find that.

A F100 302V8 is a good case against SAE Gross as how would anyone know that the 302 had be tampered with like it had been, the aussie 302 2 BBL in no way had the SAE Gross figures they claimed, hell the Holden 308 had a 4 BBL on it and Ford with the Falcon were claiming 240 250 HP it's just total nonsense not to mention early ones had a 2BBL Stromberg like the Holden 253 and then later on they get a bigger Carter 2BBL and then with the F100 you can have restrictor intake manifold that kills power even more so.

So without knowing what engine is what Joh Blow would not have a clue by looking at the SAE Gross figures and it's a fact that most even staunch ford men still don't have a clue that the pre ADR27A 302 V8's were in fact different in power, they are convinced that it's the same engine, but it's not, even the heads are different and bearings or valves.

HDT Secondary manufacturing status was granted in January 1985, but there was interim approved in October 1984. So VK's were the first SMS plated HDT.
I am not sure anyone knows what was the first plated VK but around build #1632 (Feb 1985) would not be too far off the mark. Filtering through GM/GMH/HMC and the sales positioning ethos, badged /non badged and the evolution of VIN/Tags to Guess was it a "Holden" is just as interesting as the original question. If not open to interpretation. Perhaps a chapter in your next book Terry.

Exactly, hence why the actual car net figures are useless! You cannot make a meaningful comparison between engines which is what you want Gross figures for. In the end all we are interested in is the actual engine's potential, not what it gives you with a pissy pea shooter exhaust. I don't give a rats how choked up a single exhaust HJ 308 or tiny tailpipe dual exhaust LH 308 outputs. I want to know what makes the engine better or worse that what came before or after it.

I get DIN today if you want to compare a V6 and V8 Commodore to a Camry or Falcon.