A dealership in Adelaide has quietly listed what may be the most original example of Australia’s most storied homologation special ever offered for sale: a 1988 HSV VL Commodore SS Group A Walkinshaw with just 20 kilometers, or about 12 miles, on its odometer. The car has spent nearly its entire 38-year life in a single garage, untouched since its original owner tucked it away not long after taking delivery. It never received a pre-delivery inspection, several exterior components were never fitted, and some parts remain in factory packaging. Now, following the death of that first and only owner, the Walkinshaw is heading to market through Richmonds, the Adelaide-based classic and prestige car specialist, with offers due by the end of September.
Homologation Special Turned Holy Grail
The VL Commodore SS Group A Walkinshaw was built by Holden Special Vehicles to satisfy Group A touring car homologation rules, and it doubled as HSV’s first project after the brand split from Peter Brock’s Holden Dealer Team in 1987, according to Richmonds’ listing history. Aerodynamic development was handled by Tom Walkinshaw Racing, whose name the car still carries, and just 750 examples were built to homologate the bodykit and flared guards for Australian touring car racing. Under the hood sits a fuel-injected 4.9-liter V8 producing 180kW and 380Nm, paired with a five-speed manual gearbox, according to Drive.com.au.
A Time Capsule From New
Chassis number 082 was completed in July 1988 and delivered new through Canowindra Motors, a rural New South Wales dealership, before its buyer transported the car to South Australia, where it remained for roughly three decades, according to the Richmonds listing. Rather than being driven, the Walkinshaw was placed into long-term storage almost from new. The dealership says the engine was periodically hand-turned rather than started, a technique used to keep internal components lubricated without adding mileage or heat-cycling the drivetrain. Documentation accompanying the sale includes the original factory release form, dealership inspection paperwork, NSW registration certificate and plates, the sales contract, and financing records — an unusually complete paper trail for a 38-year-old car, per WhichCar.
Chasing, and Possibly Beating, a Six-Figure Record
The Walkinshaw nameplate already commands serious money among Australian muscle car collectors. The current benchmark was set in 2018, when chassis number 333 sold at auction for AU$380,000, equivalent to roughly $284,000 at the time, according to Drive.com.au. Richmonds has not published a formal estimate for chassis 082, instead listing it through an expressions-of-interest process with offers due by midday on September 30, 2026. WhichCar reported that offers already exceeding AU$500,000 had been received ahead of that deadline, with the dealership suggesting a final sale price could climb toward AU$750,000 or beyond, more than double the existing benchmark.
Why Condition Like This Rarely Survives
Cars built for homologation purposes were meant to be driven hard, raced, or eventually stripped for parts, which is part of why so few Group A Walkinshaws remain in anything close to factory condition. Panels never installed, interior plastics still wrapped, and an odometer reading that would embarrass most new cars on a dealer lot make chassis 082 a genuine outlier even among a model already considered one of the most collectible cars Australia has produced. Its closest rivals for originality are typically low-mileage survivors in the 15,000 to 30,000-kilometer range, figures that already carry a premium over more well-used examples.
If bidding does push past AU$750,000, it would rank among the largest prices ever paid for a Holden-based production car, and a striking reminder of how much value collectors now place on originality over raw horsepower. For a model built explicitly to go racing, the version now poised to make history is the one that never turned a wheel in anger.