Has anyone else seen the factory fitted L31 WB Ute for sale on Australian Muscle cars?
https://www.australianmu...ingswood-ute-0l-v8.html
It’s also Malachite. Wasn’t this a Statesman only colour?
Very unusual Holden, possibly one of the rarest I would think.

Not sure the thread was “is this the right price?”.
I thought people might appreciate a 5 litre WB Ute is actually out there with photo proof, not just hear say.
Perhaps not.

I have a wrecked WB Statesman that is also Malachite green.
Interesting that you have other tags. Are any of them from very late in the production run HK?
WT stamped block is also very rare.

Edited by user Tuesday, 13 February 2018 6:22:02 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

One of them that I have tags for is a 1983 model. The one I don't have tags for (a yellow cab chassis) was a later car, a 1984 model IIRC but I can't remember if it was 1983 or 1984 complianced. I haven't seen a 1985 model WB commercial with 5.0L yet.

The L in the VIN tag is probably because the VIN tag was prepared prior to the SVO being applied OR the VIN number on the broadcast sheet wasn't changed so it was made straight off the broadcast sheet. The other WB Kingswood ute I have tag photos for (L31 M40) actually has a broadcast sheet, and it has been manually changed for the SVO - it was printed as a 6cyl manual car. Broadcast sheets were prepared some time in advance of the start of body production for the car. I will check it's VIN tag and see if the VIN was changed on the sheet. The yellow cab-chassis I mentioned above definitely had a T in the VIN though. You can see by the fact that these are SVO cars, that someone with influence ordered it either as a retail order or internal. A normal public customer had no chance, the order processing centre would have rejected it unless the dealer made a phone call to someone up high and that dealer had influence. Dr Terry tried to buy an L31 WB cab-chassis after his HZ L31 cab-chassis got stolen but got nowhere with it. This is why there aren't too many around, but clearly a relatively large number were made or there would not be at least 4 surviving today. The amount could be 50 or more. What would be rare or even non-existent is an L31 M21 WB ute or van. All L31 cab chassis would be auto but if you had the clout to get GMH to make you an L31 WB ute or van you would easily have been able to get a 4spd one as nothing is different to a normal 4.2L 4spd except for 3 components in the inside of the gearbox. I doubt many were made though, as 99% of people who wanted an L31 WB commercial would want it for towing and would want an auto.

WT stamped blocks would actually have been very common - every WB Statesman had one. The 11 or 12 prefix was added in the Elizabeth Assembly Plant, but the engines all started out as WTxxxxxx. If someone wanted a "current production" engine bought for fitment into a HX or HZ they could have bought a WB L31 and it may well have had a WT prefix as it would not have gone via an Assembly Plant. I have a feeling at this time Nasco sourced spare part block/piston, shorts and long spare part engines were N5T prefixed, but you could also access production engines via another GMH division, just not 100% certain (ie written proof) of this yet.

Probably the same reasons they restricted the 5L in Commodores to SL/Es - the market(ing) influences at the time.

And when the blue motors came out, the 253 gained the 4 barrel & HEI, a significant improvement over a red 253 - it was seen as the way to have a V8 whilst recovering from the oil price shocks. Same way the 253 was dropped when the EFI 6 was released in the VK - it was deemed not needed with the improved performance (and economy) of the smaller engine

Another example of Holden presuming they knew the market better than the market knew itself. Just like today with the replacement Commodore not offering rear wheel drive or a V8.
I get the fuel crisis thing of the late 70’s. My brother chose a brand new XD S pac ute and picked the 4.1 because someone convinced him the oil crisis was really the future. He even turned down a new in stock 5 litre HZ Ute. He forever regretted not buying the V8 and really regretted not buying the HZ.
Holden must use the wrong market sample every time.
As for the fuel injected 6 replacing the 4.2, that was only true in VK, the 4.2 continued in the WB for 84.
Sandman dropped the 6 as standard altogether in HZ and only offered two V8’s. They can’t have sold too badly, there seems to be about a thousand of them turning up restored. Maybe it was the stickers being seen as outdated and not the V8 option? No one wanted the Sandman from the early 80’s till about 10 years ago. But if you were in rural Australia during the late 80’s, early 90’s all you that was about was V8 utes. In fact if you went to a B&S anyone who tried to circle eork in a 6 got bottles thrown at them. They were the days, WB V8 ruled supreme and all the earlier series were poor mans choice. How times change.

Edited by user Tuesday, 13 February 2018 8:03:14 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

The 5.0L had a 10 month haitus at the start of VL production, and repeated this again with VN - but only 8-9 months that time around (released in March '89).

The VN was supposed to get the Nissan 6, and what we saw as the updated VN, with the properly adapted for RWD 3800 (which was more than just a manifold & thermostat housing change) was supposed to be the first incarnation of the V6 in the Commodore. If it weren't for the skyrocketing Yen, we wouldn't have seen the early V6 with the rear thermostat & stainless radiator pipe running around the back.

Some paperwork that Terry got hold of and showed me suggested a VL V8 with a 4 speed auto (4L60/TH700R4), and 5 speed manual (which was only used by Holden in the HDT & HSV Group As).
Had that come to fruition, it would have pre-dated the first local use of the GM 4-speed auto behind the VN V6. Instead it made do with the Trimatic, and the Nissan auto showed just how badly the V8 needed the overdrive.

They did have V8 WB commercials, and the 4.2L V8 offered was far closer to the 5.0L in performance than the old red 4.2L. Remember on a commercial they were single exhaust only. Single exhaust figures for them are:

HZ 4.2L - 87kW@4000, 271Nm@2000
WB 4.2L - 100kW@4200, 269Nm@2000
WB 5.0L - 117kW@4000, 336Nm@3000

Plus the XT5 3.3L in a WB was a far better performing engine than the red 3.3 in a HZ. I drove both, my dad had a WB 3.3 4spd 3.36 van new, I used to drive it all the time. Plus I bought a 12/84 WB 4.2 4spd 3.55 cab-chassis when it was about 4 years old and still stock as a rock. The van probably had almost as much more go as the tonner which was lighter and lower geared.

Sure 1 in 100 buyers might have wanted to order a 308 in a WB, but most would be happy with the 3.3L, and the remainder with the 4.2L. Just look at it today, there is a market for a decent engine in today's equivalent of the WB ute - the dual cab 4x4. But it is a small market. Everyone wants the "173-202" version (the tiny little turbo diesels). There was a "253" version available but only those without blinkers on bought V6 petrol Hiluxes and Navaras, so even Toyota eventually stopped making them. In comparative terms I'd be the one knocking on the caryard's door asking for the good engine in the ute, just like i'd have been trying to buy a 308 WB ute or 350 HQ ute. I asked the same question of Nissan when they released the 5.6L V8 Patrol, I wanted to buy the Patrol ute with that engine and auto transmission rather than the awful 3.0LTD in them. I'd also put up with the awful comfort in a '79 Series if Toyota put the "308" version of the petrol V8 in it (5.7L V8 is the big "308" version of the 4.6L "253" V8 as found in 200 Series). But it isn't worth it for them as only a few % of people would buy it, most are happy with the tractor engines. I don't think the logic today is any different to WB era. GMH could have offered the 5.0L as auto only in WB commercials with no major cost impact to their profitability, but having a manual one available would have meant another engine to build and a very low volume one at that. Remember GMH were treading water to keep afloat at the time and anything decision wise that wasn't a show-stopper return probably got knocked on the head. Looking back GMH could easily have offered the 350 on HQ commercials, and built a few SVO examples of those too, however then the same decision was made as for WB - not worth the hassle as the single exhaust HQ 308 wasn't far off the single exhaust HQ 350 in performance, probably as close as the blue 4.2L was to the blue 5.0L.

The other L31 WB Kingwood ute I mentioned is a 1983 model, built 9/82. It is Alabaster White. It has a T in its VIN plate. The VIN on the broadcast sheet has the L crossed out too with a T written over it when the SVO was applied. I don't have a VIN plate for the Manifest Orange cab-chassis, but it is an earlier car as it has an M38 transmission (I thought this was M40 but it isn't meaning the Malachite one is probably the 2nd column shift TH350 Holden I've seen, as I assume this cab-chassis would be column shift not console shift (don't have an ADR plate for it)), it is earlier than the Malachite ute probably 6/81.

Edited by user Wednesday, 14 February 2018 7:53:07 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Griffo, I heard an urban tale that there was a run-out of the last WB utes. They all had 5.0 litres and might have been silver. Selected dealers might have got them and I heard two went to Dubbo by mistake. Could be just a furphy, but sounds plausible judging by this thread.

I remember when I used to buy them in the 90's to wreck. I'd offer half what i'd normally pay when they all that B&S cr@p on them. The few I got I think I got about $50 in scrap for those big alloy bullbars! Back then a decent high kM WB ute was worth about $1500, you'd get most of that back selling the front pieces off.