1985 to 1990 - the lost years

[mauser]

WBRange.jpg

Here is the range!

Mauser

[commodorenut]

The 308 was not available in basic commodores (apart from the SS & Police/govt specials) in VB-VH. SL/E & SS was the only way to get a 308.
Apart from those models, the 253 was your only V8 option and this was also mirrored across the WB commercials.

When the 253 was dropped, the 308 became available across the VK range - from the SL, right to the Calais.
I would suggest they would have made the black 308 available for the commercials as well.

The VK EFI 202 was initially only available on sedans. It was later added to the wagon option list - late '84.
The only real difference was in the creation of new components within the fuel tank - so this wouldn't have been a huge expense to put across onto a WB.

Considering the 202 powered WB utes have acceptable performance, and that engine is well & truly outclassed by the 3.0L Nissan (when comparing a VL to a VK) a WB with a 3.0L wouldn't have been all that bad - you've got to remember a Partol has a much heavier body/chassis, and the driveline also saps a lot of power from the engine. Anything that people did to a WB 202 commercial (in regards to towing heavy loads etc) would have been more than easily matched (or bettered) by the Nissan 6.

6cyl version of WB successor would have been the hardest option for GMH to build as the 3.0L Nissan and the old Jatco auto would have been of no use in a commercial vehicle (ever driven a 3.0L GQ patrol?). This may well have been why the W series ended in early 1985, as they knew the Nissan engine was coming, and at that stage the Holden V8 was to be dead at the end of VK (remember Street machine's "Save the V8" campaign) and the "big" engine was to be the turbo Nissan engine. The V6 Buick engine came after the Yen went ballistic and made the Nissan engine too expensive

The Buick V6 was always planned as being a VP introduction. The early VN V6 (thermostat at the rear) is the result of the rush job to get the V6 into the start of the VN to prevent the profit landslide that was going on with the Nissan 6 - Holden were losing money on base model VLs because of it.

Had the yen not skyyrocketed, then the Nissan 6 would have stayed until 1991, and been replaced by the properly refined version that we saw released in late 1990 VNs, often referred to as the VP motor in a VN.

[HK1837]

I disagree Mick. A 3.0L Nissan engine in a WB 1-tonner would have been an abortion. Unless they used the turbo engine's gearboxes I doubt they would have survived carrying 1-tonne. The only ones worth having would have been those with the VL's ULP 304 and trimatic.

I knew the V6 was due later, my point was at the time of the W series canning the future was bleak for an engine to suit a commercial vehicle ie Nissan 6cyl and no V8 planned past VK.