Last Holden' made in Adelaide snapped up for $750,000 at auction
One of the last Holden Commodores to be produced in Adelaide has been snapped up at auction with a top bid of $750,000.
The VF Series II SSV Redline sedan was given the final vehicle serial number and was the last to travel through the body and paint shops at the company’s Elizabeth plant, which closed in 2017.
However, parent group General Motors still owns an identical Commodore that carries the ceremonial title of the “last car” Holden produced in Australia.
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It was the final vehicle to go through the general assembly process and remains on loan to the National Motor Museum at Birdwood, north-east of Adelaide.
In the online auction, which concluded on Saturday, bids for the car up for grabs jumped from less than $300,000 to $750,000 in the final hour, well above its original retail selling price of about $65,000.
In information provided by Lloyds Auctions, the car had been bought by a former Holden employee who had spent 14 years with the company in various senior roles.
“Through a chance discussion on the last day of Holden’s manufacturing the owner was made aware that this car had been allocated to a dealer but had not been sold to the public,” Lloyds said.
“Armed with this information he made it his goal to find the dealer and buy the car to save it from obscurity and it being sold to an unsuspecting customer.
“Of course, the car ended up being interstate and as such the car was bought unseen and at the time of the deal the car had not arrived at the dealer’s yard.
“So a blind deal was done on both sides. All along the dealership was unaware of what they had and the car’s significance.”
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The price paid on Saturday dwarfs the $500,000 the auctioneers expected.
The car was sold in showroom condition with just 102km on the odometer.
“The interest in this car has been phenomenal, we have had inquiries from collectors, investors and Holden enthusiasts from all over the country, phones are ringing off the hook night and day,” Lloyds’ chief operations officer, Lee Hames, said before the hammer fell.
“There are some very passionate Holden enthusiasts and collectors looking to own this special piece of Australian history.”
Around the same time, bidding also closed on another iconic Holden with a W1 Maloo Ute, one of only four ever made, selling for a staggering $1,050,000.