Dude, here’s my car | Rare chance to see a one-of-one Holden

The vehicle in question was the literal one and only VN Monaro Concept car.

Mr Church didn’t need much decision-making time, despite playing a daily game of Tetris to fit the smorgasbord of vehicular masterpieces on the floor of the overflowing museum in Kialla, and do their displays justice at the same time.

"I promptly told him ‘yes’ and got straight to arranging transportation of the unique car,“ he said.

Holden might have pulled up stumps on production in Australia in 2017, but there are still rarities that remain largely unseen, including this Monaro convertible based on a VN Commodore.

Holden and HSV wanted to bring the high-performance, four-seat luxury vehicle into production, so they built a concept piece for the 1989 Sydney Motor Show as a yardstick for public interest.

The Commodore convertible was intended to compete with luxury European models, such as the Mercedes-Benz SL (with its SL500 version featured a naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 with 235kW of power).

The prototype was based on a Commodore Berlina, but with the V6 drivetrain substituted for a more powerful V8 (HSV SV5000 running gear, which featured high-compression pistons, a specific camshaft, intake system, headers and a dual exhaust).

Melbourne design agency KAF Creative created an artist’s impression of the car and HSV built a business case.

The starting price was projected to be $90,000, which is around $226,029 today, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s inflation calculator.

Melbourne’s Maverick Motors got to work in August 1989 designing and engineering the conversion from a four-door sedan to a high-performance two-door convertible to meet an October deadline for the motor show.

It missed it.

January 1990 arrived and the conversion still wasn’t complete, so HSV put the project in the too-hard basket and pulled the pin.

The unique build was fated to be one of one.

Maverick Motors’ work was finally finished in March 1990.

The results saw the wheelbase shortened by 140mm, while the front doors were lengthened by 220mm.

The windshield was lowered by 50mm and the side glass was remade accordingly.

Independent rear suspension was installed in the back of a second body that was fused to the original, a feature not standard on a VN Berlina.

The engine and driveline were swapped out to work with an electric folding convertible roof created by Concept Cars and imported from Michigan.

Finally, it was painted in Maranello Red.

After handover to HSV headquarters in Notting Hill, further work was carried out.

The V6 engine was switched to the 5.0-litre V8 from an SV5000, the springs and dampers were tuned by HSV, the GM TH700 four-speed automatic was switched with a an SV5000-tune GM 400 four-speed auto, a Momo steering wheel was fitted and the interior trim was updated to include HSV-specific colours.

Once HSV had finished with it in May 1990, it was further altered cosmetically.

It was fitted with 17-inch VR Clubsport alloy wheels and the front fascia from the VN Group A, and fender extensions.

The Maranello Red was painted over with Heron White and a Holden Racing Team livery.

Then complete, it hit the V8 touring car motor racing circuit as a promotional exhibit for HRT and HSV in “the Paddock” throughout the 1993-94 seasons.

During this time, the one-off vehicle was apparently test-driven on the Calder Hwy by racing legend Peter Brock, who said: “It’s brilliant, let’s hope these go into production.”

The vehicle was retired in 1995 and stored at HSV until 2012 before being sold to a private buyer.

After the late-’80s-early-’90s fiasco of trying to bring this concept car to life, the next time Holden attempted to make a convertible was in 2004 with the Monaro-based Marilyn, which also never made it into production.

The VN Monaro Concept convertible is on display at MOVE for a limited time.