Australian Oddities: Peter Brock’s Holden Statesman

Each of the around 100, give or take, Magnums started life as either a Statesman DeVille or Caprice. From here, Brock’s fairy dust worked over the 5.0-litre Holden V8 under the bonnet, with plenty of HDT go-fast bits – cylinder heads, inlet manifold, air cleaner, and the exhaust system all carried the Brock HDT imprimatur.

Brock loved the HDT Magnum, labelling it “a weapon”. But then, he would say that about his hot-rodded limo which, in DeVille trim, asked for around $26,500 when new in 1984, around $5000 more than the Statesman DeVille donor car. A circa-$30k when new Caprice could easily blow out to over $35,000 with the Magnum upgrade and a few HDT options added.