Originally Posted by: commodorenut That particular forum has been the source of so much rubbish over the years I'm not surprised at yet another one. Think about the age of someone in 1980 working at Holden, in a position to know what the Engineering and Costing departments were doing. They'd have to be at least 23-25 years old then, but being the boy's club it was back then, you'll find the ages much higher. Any such person would be at least 65 now, and unless you're like Terry (a very rare person) many people that age rarely visit online forums.....
There have been numerous other reasons quoted by people who were there at the time (like Norm Darwin). Most involved the additional cost of outsourcing the low volume interior trim, and difficulties in getting it right on the assembly line. Whilst the brochure notes only red or blue, 2 nutmeg ones have turned up - one of these with a broadcast to confirm it, and the other one is pretty much almost guaranteed, as it sports the same unique trim, but in a different colour.
First I've heard of the 15" wheels being an issue. Hell, my Brock wagon is running 16x7 Momo Stars & wider rubber.....
And Warren makes a good point - they were offered as an option on the SL (and VH SL/X) wagons too.
I find this story about the wheel-arches a bit far fetched. Even more so when there's MORE space in a wagon because the shocks are layed over. In the 80s a way to fit wider rubber to a sedan was to put a wagon diff under it, and angle the shocks in using the wagon mounts.
Cheers guys. yes you may well be right. Who knows..? Whats that saying, 'theres my version, and theres your version, and somewhere in the middle, is the truth..'
I just dug out his post again and had another read, and it appears he was talking more about the tyres than the wheels. More to do with the availability of load rated tyres. So I may have misquoted him a bit.
Anyway heres his post, in case youre interested to see if it makes any sense.
there was NO program.. simply, all VC SL/E wagosn were never approved by the
GMH Product Committee or the GMH board of directors
I was there at the time as part of the Forward Models group (who had to approve
ALL GMH new models before they were sent to the Product Approval Committee)
and
when news that Manufacturing had made them... the S H I T REALLY hit the fan inside
GMH (the talk even got to junking ALL of them.. but ouch $ wise) Sales were also
hung out to dry for ask the VAP guys to make them..
Officially there is NO VC SL/E.. all were tagged 8VL35 deliberately (and not 8VX35)
my recollection was.. tyres (NOT wheel size as some say)
All Holden wagons are assumed to be load carriers (from way back to VF) and so have different rear suspensions
and different tyres (higher load ratings*, 6 ply versus 4 ply etc)
Back then, no tyre supplier made a 15" low profile tyre (like fitted to the SL/e sedans) that had a higher load rating as well
as being a 'stronger' tyre... so no 15" wheel/tyre combo for 8VK35 styles = no SL/e version
Hence the big POO fight internally with GMH, as Manufacturing made a car that did not pass Engineering
min specs. The cars really should not have been given an 'approved' GMH build plate.... because
they were not 'approved'
Edited by user Friday, 6 September 2019 1:14:37 PM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified