Price doubled for Walkinshaw Batmobile

A 'Walkinshaw' VL Commodore SS Group A has sold at Shannons' Sydney Auction for $87,000. The car is one of 750 built under a contract between Holden and the fledgling Holden Special Vehicles Operation, back in 1987.

Holden and HSV built an initial batch of 500 and then a second batch of 250. Cars built for the latter batch -- such as this one (number 594 of the total production build) -- were hard to sell at the time, presumably for the combination of its relatively high price and the confronting looks of the car with its aerodynamic package homologated for local and international Group A touring car competition.

Overshadowed by the 'other' VL Commodore Group A SS, built by Peter Brock's HDT organisation, the Walkinshaw appears to be developing its own following from disaffected buyers finding Brock cars too expensive since the famous touring car driver's death in 2006.

The Walkinshaw VL sold at auction had travelled just 16,637 kilometres and had spent many years in storage.

Chances are strong that the original owner purchased this particular example for a significantly reduced new car price, so the car's current selling price at auction may actually surpass 200 per cent of the selling price when new.

According to used values guide, the Red Book, the new car price for the Walkinshaw VL Commodore was $47,000 and even a high-kilometre example should fetch up to $81,000 from a private buyer -- so the auction result doesn't appear to be an aberration.

With HSV celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, expect early cars such as the Walkinshaw to start rising rapidly in value.

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