Production of W427 commences

How many prospective buyers will feel discouraged from buying HSV's W427 by the high cost of fuel? Not many, according to the low-volume builder.

The company already has 1500 expressions of interest in the highly collectible car and if just ten per cent of those convert to solid purchases, that will account for the car's entire production this year and the first few months of 2009. Of those expressions of interest, the prospective buyers are as disparate as miners from Mount Isa in Queensland to doctors from South Australia and the average age of current HSV buyers lies somewhere between 35 and 45 years of age.

HSV will only build 90 units of the car this year -- with a potential ceiling of 427 units over the course of a 2½-year production run -- for which buyers will be stumping up $150,000 or $156,000, depending on what happens with the luxury car tax (more here).

Whatever happens, HSV will build no more than the 427 cars (the number decided by the engine's displacement in cubic inches) and they may build fewer if the interest dries up.

The company can guarantee that whether Holden facelifts or upgrades the Commodore donor car in the near future, HSV has a window of up to six years building the W427 on the same architecture, according to Darren Bowler, HSV's General Manager for Sales and Marketing.

Since the specialist car maker is replacing the engine, transmission and other mechanicals to build the W427 -- and indeed, is attending to that in-house -- there's no chance the company will be caught flat-footed by Holden adopting different drivetrain mechanicals in the mid-term.

On that subject, HSV is disposing of the LS3 engines fitted to the donor cars "through our normal salvage recovery processes," says Simon Frost, HSV's Group Manager - External Affairs. That basically involves identifying a prospective buyer and selling the engine for what the buyer will bear.

As outlined in our article from last month (more here), that influences the profitability of W427 production, which is already described by Tom Walkinshaw as a case of "We will not lose money, we will not make [expletive deleted] loads of money".

Walkinshaw, owner of the HSV operation, described the W427 (officially the new 'Walkinshaw' in his honour), as: "Certainly one of the best four-door performance cars I've ever driven".

For the foreseeable future, the W427 will be the most expensive car available to HSV buyers and is the most expensive vehicle the Clayton-based builder has brought to market since the VT model GTS in 2000.

The W427 is fitted with the Chevy Corvette's 7.0-litre LS7 V8, which is dry-sumped and develops 375kW of power at 6500rpm, plus 640Nm of torque at 5000rpm.

HSV has developed a hand-fabricated oil reservoir for the engine's lubrication system (specifically for RHD application) and the engine benefits from a revised induction system with a radiator-style cold-air box and high-flow air filter. Other HSV-specific changes to the engine include a 13-row oil cooler mounted at the front of the car, ceramic-coated four-into-one exhaust extractors, high-flow exhaust and catalytic converters, active bi-modal rear mufflers and exhaust back-pressure management.

The only transmission available to buyers of the W427 will be the Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual unit already fitted to high-performance Fords and soon to be adopted by HSV for other models. This transmission is also specified for the Corvette with the LS7 engine and features a GM Powertrain heavy-duty clutch. Torque is relayed to the rear wheels via a limited-slip differential.

The W427 rides on springs that are 30 per cent stiffer than those of the GTS and ride height is 20mm lower. In addition, HSV has adopted firmer rear suspension bushing for the multi-link IRS system and the MRC (Magnetic Ride Control) dampers have been recalibrated to allow for the other suspension mods.

HSV has developed a unique braking package for the W427 to cope with the performance potential of the car and fit within the confines of the 20-inch alloy wheels. Unlike the one-piece rotors fitted to the GTS and other HSV models, the massive ventilated discs of the W427 are the floating type -- employing a V8 Supercars-style strap-drive system to keep the rotor separate from the hub -- so that heat build-up will not lead to warping over a lifetime of potentially high abuse.

The rotors are grooved but not cross-drilled -- a trade-off between noise and unsprung weight, as HSV's Engineering Manager, Joel Stoddart explains it. In fact, the very unsprung weight (mass) of the rotors helps to slow heat build-up in the rotors, ensuring the brakes remain efficient for longer.

The pad area for the six-piston calipers is 50 per cent larger than the pad area of the GTS and the front rotors measure 380x35mm, versus the 365x32mm dimensions of the one-piece rotors fitted to the GTS.

Since the unveiling of the original show car at the Melbourne International Motor Show, the final specification and look of the production W427 has been finalised. The former matt black grille section is now a gloss black and some of the additional black detailing of the show car (around the front quarter panel vents, for example) will now be body colour for the production models. The wheels are the same as the show car's, but are now missing the black finish around the spokes. Pictures here show the show car, rather than production models.

Five colours will be available -- and the Panorama Silver of the show car isn't one of them. These colours will be red, white, black, silver and 'Evoke', a charcoal colour. The coordinating colour for the interior will be red only. Satellite navigation, DVD and sunroof will be the only options.

For $500, buyers can reserve a specific build number and Bowler advises that up to 40 per cent of customers do that. And for those occultists out there, build number 13 may be available, if you want it.

"We're not superstitious," says Bowler.

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