1986 Holden Calais
Work Carried Out
This VL Calais came into Finest Restorations with the main brief of detailing and restoring the engine bay back to its former glory. The final stage was to brush touch, clay wash and wax the full vehicle and giving it a flawless finish leaving Finest Restorations headquarters just as it would have looked leaving Holden when new.
Vehicle Specs
Make – Holden Calais
Year – 1986
Colour – Venetian Red
Engine – RB30DE 3L 6cyl
Gearbox – 4 Speed Automatic
History of the VL Calais
The VL Holden Commodore is a mid-size car that was produced by Holden from 1986 to 1988. It was the final iteration of the first generation of the Holden Commodore and included the luxury variant VL Holden Calais. Between February 1986 and August 1988, 151,801 VL model Commodores were built.
For the top-of-the-range Calais model, the design incorporated the use of semi-retracting headlight covers, the first for a production Holden. The Calais covered headlights were the same as the regular VL Commodore headlights.
Major changes were made to the dashboard with new instruments, touch switches mounted either side controlling wipers, rear window demister, electric antenna (Berlina/Calais), and the headlight switch moved from the right-hand dash side to the indicator stalk. Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning control graphics changed slightly, the center console offered more storage with new transmission shifter and surround.
