The Commodore Community
From Mod Mania
THE COMMODORE COMMUNITY
Cruising down the long winding road on a hot summers day, the wind blowing through your hair and listening to some feel good tunes. Spending time with your friends and loved ones at the beach while relaxing and enjoying the tasty food you have just prepared on the barbie. It’s no doubt that this is a great Australian tradition and much of these times have been shared with the iconic Holden Commodore. From the early beginnings of the original VB Commodore that was released in 1978, it was clear that this car was going to support many Australians in one way or another. Still to this day, the amazing flexibility of this car ranges from models such as Sedans, Sports Wagons and Utes; and is still strongly supporting people from families, businessmen and tradies respectively. However, even though all these people use this car in their everyday operations the strongest following has been from the everyday ‘P platers.’ By being able to afford older models at much cheaper second-hand prices, P Platers or Hoons as they are more commonly known as, have access to all the power of the Chevrolet V6 engine. With all these young, charismatic minds, many apply modifications to their car to help express themselves and their personalities.
With such rising popularity, in the early 90’s the support of the commodore was being recognised and the magazine Street Commodores was released. Unlike no other car magazine before, this one was solely dedicated to everything commodore. Today, this magazine has transformed into a ‘somewhat cult’ where many hoons worship it to a holy extent, as they learn how to customize their cars to the best of their ability or more so their budget. Every month the new edition is released showcasing a number of individual’s prides and glories, currently the 181st issue is on sale.
With The following of the magazine being so successful, Street Commodores decided to go digital and start there own Website and online forum. This webpage then sparked the creations of other commodore websites such as Just Commodores, V6 Supercharged and Extreme Holdens. Together, all of these pages allow fans to discuss topics such as Do It Your Self modifications on the range of different model commodores from distinct eras, post up there cars into galleries, have the chance to receive and give feedback about different mods, sell and buy various components from both new and used sellers and just to provide a forum that allow enthusiasts to talk about Holden in general. The main modifications that drivers do to their commodores are solely determined to their budgets. Although, the modifications that are more commonly seen are
Enhancing the wheel sizes by adding much bigger rims, lowering the car by exceeding intense levels that redefine the term low, replacing the pipe and adding a much louder exhaust that can be heard from distances up to a kilometre away and painting certain components either in the interior or exterior. However as enthusiasts find this to become their passion, many decide to spend more money and really begin customising their cars.
This normally involves the total redevelopment of the cars interior. By modifying and experimenting with different colours on the console, steering wheel, seats, floors, door panels and windows; the owner puts their own ‘flavour’ or ‘feel’ to the car. The sound system is also a major factor in modifying the car as people go to extreme lengths to impress and receive respect. This normally involves adding a new head with touch screen capabilities, new speaker restoration, DVD screens with the additions of a PlayStation or XBOX and most importantly the boot layout. This arguably makes or breaks the overall custom commodore. Here the owners add their unique layouts with the inclusion of TV screens, speakers, fibreglass and the ever-crucial subwoofers.
The exterior on the other hand is made up of restoring the body by adding body kits, putting on new badges, custom number plates, enhancing certain areas of the car and totally respraying the body with a custom paint job; these range from any colour imaginable in a series of different paints. Other components that are painted are brake callipers, rims, front and rear headlights, side mirrors, handles etc.
The other option is making an already powerful car much more power by adding-
Extractors- Many owners decide to replace their existing extractors with high performance parts with tuned lengths. These help "extract" the exhaust gases out of the engine: the faster the extractors can do this the more fuel/air mix you can suck in and therefore the more power the engine can produce. (Q & A Forum Page 28-03-11 http://oldholden.com/ node/55391)
Cold Air Induction- By introducing this device, it allows lower temperatures of air into the cars engine. With this modification it increases the amount of power the engines produces and increases the overall efficiency of the car.
Engine Chipping- By owners chipping their car’s engine it changes the fuel mapping, which provides the engine with different levels of fuel/air mixture to increase the power across all driving ranges. T he outcome of this alternative is that a chip will provide most engines with a peak horsepower increase of about ten percent. (Make it fast, make it faster article,-28-3-11, http:/www.epinions.com/content_2639503492)
Other popular options that owners decide to do are to put either a turbo or supercharger on their commodore. Both turbo and superchargers work on the same principle; mechanically force more air into the engine and more power will be the result. Turbochargers use the exhaust gases to power a propeller that sucks in more air. Where as Superchargers are driven by a belt or chain directly from the engine that end up providing the same desired result. With some turbos running on 20 PSI, these allow the cars to exceed power readings of 300 plus kilowatts. (Make it fast, make it faster article, 28-3-11, http://www.epinions.com/content_2639503492)
Some even go to the extent of using Nitrous Oxide. Nitrous Oxide provides more power not by combusting itself in the cylinder, but by providing more oxygen for combustion. With the addition of extra oxygen, extra fuel can be added to dramatically increase power. Nitrous oxide kits generally provide a specific amount of additional power, ranging from 25 kilowatts to perhaps 200 or more. (Make it fast, make it faster article, 28-3-11, http://www.epinions.com/content_2639503492) (All images are from www.streetcommodores.com.au)
Modifying commodores is not only about having your car produce the most power it can or making the biggest burnouts. It’s a passion that many people fall in love with and continue doing their whole life, to this day there are still many older drivers that can proudly say that the only car they have ever owned is a commodore. As many events and car meets are arranged across Australia, people just love being with in a community by sharing their passions, and the iconic Australian Commodore helps them do that.
By Matthew Mejak s3330283
