There was a big car show up in townsville today and walkinshaw no. 001 was there, looked all standard but in awesome condition, i forgot to look at the klms on the clock. I went to take a photo but my camer was playin up so i cant post any pics sorry. Anyone know where the owner of this fine piece of machinery lives?. Anyway overall it wasnt a bad car show, was suppose to be the biggest car show ever in north australia or somethin. Problem being about 75% of the cars were fords, My dad had his torana up there and it looked shmick as :). Apparently they are going to make this an annual event, it goes for 3 days, first night a concert, second day a street cruise on the strand then 3rd day all the cars parked down the strand, so next year all you southerners might come up cause its a good weekend.

Wheels magazine gave Walkinshaw number 1 away back in 88. :D

gave it away ?? that thing would be worth a heap!

this is true I think I have a few mags with the compatition in it

wow thats insane giving away number 1. but i suppose they probably made more money outa the stunt then the walky will ever be worth. Whoever got it has kept it in immaculate condition, its definetly the nicest fully original walky ive ever seen

Man, I would love to own that baby 8O :D

Yeah, I went to check out the car show at The Strand on Sunday. There was definitely plenty to look at, and I'm not just talking about the cars!!

I saw Walky number 1 there on display, and the owner had a few "Wheels" magazines from '88 on display with the car. The magazines were turned open at the pages giving details about the competition to win the car. I would have liked to have talked to the owner because I live in Townsville and I have Walky number 700. I saw this car 2 years ago at the Townsville Early Holden Club's car show also, so if it's not a local Townsville car then I'm guessing it's from nearby. So if the owner reads this, post a reply and give us some details about the car's history...

This car definitely was in great original condition, but I've seen another one at a shopping centre here that was the opposite. It was a genuine Walky with the paint very sun-damaged, a baby seat in the back, upholstery damaged, and junk all over the floor. Very sad.

It was a genuine Walky with the paint very sun-damaged, a baby seat in the back, upholstery damaged, and junk all over the floor. Very sad.

Makes me wanna cry... :(

It's a shame when people let classic cars get so run down...

You'd be suprised how many pristine Walkinshaw's there still are in circulation. One I know of is my cousin's one that has been sitting on stand's for many, many year's. He himself hasn't even had time to look at the car for about that long.

yeah my mate has a friend who hasnt driven his for like 4yrs, only drove it a few times when he bought it then garaged it...

Steve

Ther is a guy that lives local to me with a genuine walky, he has set it up entirely for drags......shame it isnt original, but is a bloody nice car, and quick........he also sells the best donor kebabs i have ever eaten in his shop which happens to be called WALK-IN-4-SHAW.....great shop, great car, and is a very friendly and approachable bloke........for all i know he could be reading this thread...

Wheels (or was it Motor?) also gave away 2 black VN group A's in the Tooheys One for You, One for Your Mate Competition. Someone's got a lucky friend...

A guy that live's around the block from me just purchased a Walkinshaw with, get this, 1500km's on the clock! The price that was payed we won't go into.......

There was a big car show up in townsville today and walkinshaw no. 001 was there, looked all standard but in awesome condition, i forgot to look at the klms on the clock. I went to take a photo but my camer was playin up so i cant post any pics sorry. Anyone know where the owner of this fine piece of machinery lives?. Anyway overall it wasnt a bad car show, was suppose to be the biggest car show ever in north australia or somethin. Problem being about 75% of the cars were fords, My dad had his torana up there and it looked shmick as :). Apparently they are going to make this an annual event, it goes for 3 days, first night a concert, second day a street cruise on the strand then 3rd day all the cars parked down the strand, so next year all you southerners might come up cause its a good weekend.
i'm not a 100% sure but 99% sure they wernt badged in the odear they were made, so walkie 1 may not be the first one.

nah, thats the vn group A. They were going to make 500 of them, but the homologation rules changed in the middle of production, and they only had to make 300, but they had just numbered some in any order, so some will have build no's higher than 302. They only ended up making 302, and 2 of them were the black bathurst ones. HSV tried to contact all the people who had bought cars with bulld nos higher than 302 and ask that they bring them in to get changed to a number within 302, but some wouldn't.

As for walky build 001, the owner has emailed me, and hopefully we will have a feature on it soon.

I have owned #001 walky for a few years now. I sold my old one (#149) back in 2002 to buy this which I've hardly ever had the chance to drive. I have shown it in car shows a few times in Townsville and hopefully will start doing it again sometime soon. Its still all original.

In regards to the comments above on the VN Group A, there were no black ones built. 300 Red ones and two white ones only. Build numbers 123 and 161 were bought from dealers by Tooheys in order to give away and were resprayed in Sydney for the Bathurst 1000 promotion.
Corsa

Does walky 001 have the standard c-pillar mold or the 1 that cover the qtr window… Does any1 know which of the walkinshaws had the prototype c-pillar mold fitted as I remember seeing one in street commos mag once but what number walky is that?…..i got a copy of these molds at home and am interested to know.

my walky (#001) was built in december 87, and finished at the start of january 88. This car has the opened C pillar, I also have original press release articles of the cars and that enclosed c-pillar was regected before these cars were released (March 1988). I have also seen those pilot vehicles with the other c-pillar. Those cars were not production vehicles. They were used for testing and the press used them also. I actually have some pics of one of them before it had the kit and Panorama silver paint put on. It was a red SS to start with. I'm guessing maybe a few production vehicles were built and released with the closed in C-pillar.

got any pix to post up?

I have some which will go on the site soon..

Is there anyone in Nth Qld with a Walky that would like to get together for a drive one day. Mine hasn't been driven in god knows how long, and it would be great to meet some other owners.

Is this the 1 that travels in an enclosed trailer or is kept in a temp controlled container in the townsville area. Only got 7000kms on it or so. Was at the Townsville spectacular a few years ago.

I know the one your talking about. It belonged to a mate of mine who only just sold it recently. He had it in storage yrs ago, but then bought a house that had a drive way good enough to drive up. I dont remember the build number of it though. Very nice car.

A guy that live's around the block from me just purchased a Walkinshaw with, get this, 1500km's on the clock! The price that was payed we won't go into.......

thats pure insanity LOL, mad find :)

y cant someone find a vlt with 1500 on the clock lol

Because VLT's were bought as daily drivers and not as collectors Items. And that goes for the HDT and HSV versions as well. :)
Corsa

In regards to the comments above on the VN Group A, there were no black ones built. 300 Red ones and two white ones only. Build numbers 123 and 161 were bought from dealers by Tooheys in order to give away and were resprayed in Sydney for the Bathurst 1000 promotion.
Corsa


In regards to the Black VN Group A. I was looking to buy a low km SV5000 about 3 yrs ago from a person in WA. It was being sold for the Crown Prince of Juror (malaysia) but he decided to keep it. instead I was offered his Black VN Group A. It had been in A/C storage for 12years with hardly any Km on it. I instead ended up buying a GTS, but it would have been a great buy. I was told that this wasn't one of the Toohey's giveaway cars but an ordered black Group A. I know it's not documented by HSV but that doesn't mean it wasn't factory built (look at Ford with the Phase 4 parts in ordinary XA falcons).

I have heard of the Black car you refer to but the way i heard it was that it was associated with the Sultan of Brunei. But as these cars were built all the same on Holden's production line chances are it too was originaly painted Durif red and the compliance plate would show this. Keep in mind that all 4 Group A models were officially Holden vehicles and not HDT or HSV vehicles and as such were built subject to Holden's specifications. The biggest exception to this will be found with the Brock built cars as he didn't like following the rules and this resulted in HSV being created with Holden having a lot more control than they had before.
Corsa

Yeah Bill Lee in WA (WA HDT) did that car, and it was for the Saltan of Brunei.

Yeah Bill Lee in WA (WA HDT) did that car, and it was for the Saltan of Brunei.
I spoke to the minder of the son of the Prince of Johor (I spelt it wrong last time) and it wasn't the sultan of brunei. Believe me, I didnt hear it from rumour or anyone else, the minder spoke to me. The car was being sold FOR the prince of Johor in Malaysia. It was a Black Group A which incidently, holden did run a few batches of due to cars being built for hearses. Holden can verify this!!!

I was reading the history of the walkinshaw. It states that 500 were made followed by a 2nd batch of 250. This is wrong. I have an article from wheels in December 1987 and it already had info that there was to be 750 units built, as 749 were left since they bought #001 (my car). I also have all advertisements for the walky and all quote 750 not 500. The only time I ever saw the 500 figure used was in October '87 when they were unsure if 500 or more were to be built. My car was completed at the very start of January, 750 was the figure before the first one left the factory.

Everything I've ever read has said that they were built in two batches (500 + 250), but when you think about it that doesn't necessarily mean the extra 250 units were an afterthought. Perhaps they always aimed for a total of 750 from the start, but built the initial 500 required for homologation of the race parts, and then later built the other 250 as planned - just a thought that could explain both versions of the story.

According to HSV innovators, it reckons 500 then a further 250. But when you actually read press releases from '87 (before production started) and in early 88 including advertisements from Holden, 750 was always the figure quoted before the cars were built and released, never 500. I have proof of this. I always thought there was a 2nd run, but this doesn't seem to be the case. I just thought some people might have wanted to know as I found it interesting.

anything about the Walkinshaw is interesting :D

i heard that the first 500 have problems with wheels scrubbing on wheel arches and they have bash marks in the boot to allow for the tyres the last 250 were built to adapt for this

can anyone confirm that?

i heard that the first 500 have problems with wheels scrubbing on wheel arches and they have bash marks in the boot to allow for the tyres the last 250 were built to adapt for this

can anyone confirm that?

Mate, mine hasn't got bash marks in it. Neither did my old one #149

kool must have just been a myth

kool must have just been a myth

no dude you are spot on actually, this is a qoute from the walky service communication book..

"inner Fenders

The rear inner fenders are revised to allow use of increased tyre sizes for racing. the inner wheelhouse area is also modified in plant to allow for increased wheel/tyre clearance. the inboard sides of both front strut tower reinforcements are modified to allow for increased spring clearance for racing application. these modifications may account for what appears to be panel damage - particularly visible on the rear wheelhouse inner when viewed from the boot opening." end quote.

btw i'm putting this book up for sale...could be usefull for any walky owners or just any collector, might put it on ebay soon so look out for it. cheers

Jamie

this is a scan from a genuine factory workshop manual, its probly the same book you've got wlk21.

http://speedgfx.net/ct/lastscan.jpg

how much are you askin for the manual wlk21 ??????

just had a look. Sorry guys.....I never noticed before. Yet again its been a long time since looking at the car.

Only 500 cars needed to be built for homologation purposes and whatever the first 500 had done allowed the same for the race cars. The following 250 cars were not required to be built at all, so these cars could have extra or missing modifications done to them without affecting the homologation process.
Corsa

Pjs83 mine is the service communication book which is different from the walky workshop manuals, but it deals with other cars aswell. I will be getting the workshop manuals 8 and 9 soon hopefully. Psi wagon pm sent…

anyone see walky #3 for sale in the trading post site? Asking $45G. It'd be interesting to see what it's like.

yeah, it would be good to see what it's like now. It looked awesome when it was featured in street commodores but that was about 6 years ago.

wonder if this will add some more controversy to the numbers argument :D

The reason they celebrated the completion of number 500 is that meant the homologation process was complete and that they could then race them in the international Group A series.
Corsa

wonder if this will add some more controversy to the numbers argument :D
Thats easy to find out.
My walky has a holden compliance built in december 87 and HSV for Jan 2nd 88. Who's was built before that!!!!!

It would be interesting to see if there's a gap in HSV plate dates between the late 400's and early 500's. Mine's too late a number to have much bearing on the discussion - number 700 with a HSV build plate of 9th Aug 1988.