Two Holdens of interest...

[mcflux]

Hmm... lately I have come across two interesting Holdens.

Case #1:

A mate who I haven't seen for years contacted me thru MSN. He's not a car nut, but noted that he has a VS stato with a gen 3 in it. I continuously corrected him on this, saying it's either a 5.0, or he has a WH stato, but he said it was the very last of the series 3s that wouldn't sell, and his was either a 99 or an 00 model, and that a few of them has LS1s put in them. I have no photographic evidence from him about this, as he was more interested in its wheels & duco, but I highly doubt this is the case.

Could he have meant a limited edition 5.7L Aussie V8 stroker model, like a 355 stato?

Case #2:

At work, one of the managers has a VZ Calais. It had a "SUPERCHARGED" badge on it which I found rather interesting & felt the need to see whether it was stick-on rice or was telling the truth. I got to drive it last week, and it had very impressive low-end torque and a distinctive whine when under WOT ;) ;) It's got a 4 speed auto (instead of the 5 speed that VZ Calais' should come with), and when I popped the bonnet, it had a 3.8 V6 with the blower on top! It looked like I was staring into the engine bay of a VS-VY. WTF? Is it a VZ with VY running gear or something? I can take some photos of this in the near future.

Can anyone shed any light on either of these cases? Did holden in fact offer VZs with the blown 3.8/4 speed as an option, and did holden offer a 5.7 (LS1/aussie 5.0 stroker) VS stato?

-Dave-