10 facts you may not have known about the VB
The VB Commodore, the first Holden Commodore produced. It was first produced on the 26th of October 1978. Production began in October 1978 and ended in March 1980.
Originally designed in response to the fuel crisis of the early 1970’s, brought in to replace the Holden Kingswood models. The Kingswood was a full size car, the Commodore was a mid size car. Despite technically being classed as a mid size car, the Commodore was bigger than it looked.
The VB Commodore was the result of a $110 million investment by General Motors Holden (GMH).
It was based on the German made Opel but featured a large number of adjustments to suit Australian conditions. Australian roads, especially the ones further away from the city are more rugged and uneven in comparison to roads in Europe of America. The main revisions featured reworking the suspension as well as the ride and handling characteristics of the car.
The car was assembled in 3 different locations throughout Australia and New Zealand. Dandenong Victoria, Pagewood New South Wales and Trentham New Zealand.
The idea was that a smaller car would be more fuel efficient, however the ‘red’ inline 6 used in the VB Commodore had a fuel efficiency of about 16L/100km. This was due in part to the fact that the inline 6 engines used in the VB were originally introduced with the EH Holden, which came onto the market in 1963, 15 years before the release of the first VB.
The V8 was not much newer as it had been originally introduced in the HT Kingswood, first produced in 1968, still a whole decade before the VB.
The VB was available both as a sedan and a station wagon. No utility variants were available. The VB Commodore was available in three different specification levels: The base model, simply called the ‘Commodore’. The mid spec, called the ‘Commodore SL’ and the high end VB Commodore, called the ‘Commodore SL/E’.
In 1978, when the car was released the base model Commodore was priced from $6 513. The SL and the SL/E variants were more expensive.
A total of 5 different engines on offer with the VB Commodore, 2 inline (also known as ‘straight’) 6’s and 3 V8’s. Known simply as the ‘red’ engine simply because the colour paint on the engines. All engines had a carburettor and ran on leaded fuel. Below are the 5 engines available in the VB Commodore:
2.85L i6 64kW (86hp) Red engine
3.3L i6 66kW (89hp) Red Engine
4.2L V8 87kW (117hp) Red Engine
4.2L V8 96kW (129hp) Red Engine (dual exhaust)
5.0L V8 114kW (153hp) Red Engine
There were two different types of transmissions available in the VB Commodore, one was a 3 speed automatic, the other was a 4 speed manual.
Production of the VB Commodore began in October 1978 and ended in March 1980. It was in production for a total of 17 months, which is currently the shortest production period for any Holden Commodore to date. The total number of VB Commodores manufactured is 95 606. It was the best selling car of 1978, and it also won Wheels Car of the Year in 1978.