Hey Guys I have always been a big fan of the Holden VL and my goal was one day to own one. As i saved up for this my first car a 1988 VL Calais in Imperial Blue. Its had a fresh paint job but the pics don't do it justice as it just sits in the garage collecting dust as i sit there restoring her to her formal glory . The Calais has 138*** on the clock and a fresh paint job. She did of course have small problems and that lil bit of vl rust on her but i've cleaned that up . Went all the way to melbourne to pick her up . a picture of her when she was on ebay and this one of her at the servo on the way home. we had no plate on the car and didnt see one cop lol. and this was an 11 hour drive home very surprised. She didn't even miss a beat Dirty Interior and ugly Steering wheel soon got rid of that cleaned it up :P Now there is a cleaner pic still working on the interior. Just need to get the head unit tuned for the sub and amp. engine bay when i first got home needs a lil clean up here is a picture after a little clean and replacing the dirty old washer bottle I'm going to replace the brake booster drum as it is dirty and rusty :P Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

cleaning up the tail end :P new tail lights and boot rubber :P tarred the floor after a few coats of rust kill got the little rust that was in the boot cut out and welded it up then painted it in rust kill paint and a few coats of tar and the back was clean so i thought "no" i don't want to strip it back to paint that so kept it original and i don't know weather to clean the original boot carpet and put it back in or get rid of it. i had plenty of tar left over and rust kill paint so i thought i would do the floor inside the car came up pretty clean very happy with it round the windows why not make it look like new Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

i thought i would clean up the front a bit replace the headlights as they weren't in the best condition thats just a rust guard primer just to prevent future chances of ever getting rust there :P cleaned it up fresh coat of paint got to take some more pics tommorow when i put the new front calais grille on and my front wheel arches i thought i would tar these up aswell before taking my car to the mechanic to get the brakes all overhauled and done. came up pretty clean aswell most happy. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

So you went all the way to Melbourne, picked up this car and risked dricing it unregistered all the way back to NSW? All that for an N/A calais!? lol, i do have to say your doing a good job with it though! Good luck man.

Quote: Originally Posted by obsesv So you went all the way to Melbourne, picked up this car and risked dricing it unregistered all the way back to NSW? All that for an N/A calais!? lol, i do have to say your doing a good job with it though! Good luck man. hehe I'm only on my l's man one day it will be boosted i love VL's and i loved this one and its colour and at the end of the day it was worth all the trouble thanks man Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

you've done a fair bit of time consuming work on it, good onya, not many people realise how long it takes until you do it yourself. Good to see your restoring it to an orignal condition, I will keep an eye on this thread for updates.

Quote: Originally Posted by obsesv So you went all the way to Melbourne, picked up this car and risked dricing it unregistered all the way back to NSW? All that for an N/A calais!? lol, i do have to say your doing a good job with it though! Good luck man. transfer papers man 60 bucks drive it where ever you want for 2 weeks (suppose to be mechanics but meh) that looks like a very clean calais i didn't see amoungst all the writing what did you pick it up for?

Quote: Originally Posted by vltrb-0 transfer papers man 60 bucks drive it where ever you want for 2 weeks (suppose to be mechanics but meh) that looks like a very clean calais i didn't see amoungst all the writing what did you pick it up for? it was registerged when i bought it but for legality reasons the owner had to keep the plates and dropped the price he got a permit to be driven for 24 hours only. Cost me $4200 thanks alot for the input man much appreciated Quote: Originally Posted by BlackVL you've done a fair bit of time consuming work on it, good onya, not many people realise how long it takes until you do it yourself. Good to see your restoring it to an orignal condition, I will keep an eye on this thread for updates. Its a big job. Your spot on about the time it takes to do until you have done it yourself. I have to say i haven't done it all by myself my dad has a big hand in all of this. Back in the day he owned his own calais so he knows alot about them. thanks alot man Admin? can i ask why my thread was moved here? and also i was wondering if i can put it back in the non turbo vl discussion area please? thanks alot. i want non members to also be able to reply thanks. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

nice work there TrickyMuzza, its always good when your young you have more time to work on it and not have to worry about not having a car for work etc... thats my biggest issue,

What once weighted 1400kg now weights 2000kg thanks to all that tar Nice progress mate, restoration before major modification Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Yeah, I wondered about all the tar. Not something I'd personally do, but good to see you're going OG over another cut spring shitter.

Quote: Originally Posted by K3GGY nice work there TrickyMuzza, its always good when your young you have more time to work on it and not have to worry about not having a car for work etc... thats my biggest issue, thanks man . its good having the spare time to work on the calais. Quote: Originally Posted by Weezy What once weighted 1400kg now weights 2000kg thanks to all that tar Nice progress mate, restoration before major modification yeap thats how it goes if your going to have a nice fast car it better look good Quote: Originally Posted by 5spdvl Yeah, I wondered about all the tar. Not something I'd personally do, but good to see you're going OG over another cut spring shitter. "suss face" its rolling on cut springs atm. I didnt know they were cut because it wasnt overly lowered but when i got the mechanic to go over the car while he was doing the brakes he noticed them so atm im saving up for a good set of pedders or king spings in lows. The tar is also to make the car a lil more cleaner. and it doesnt hurt. I heard its also a good insulator for the car from the guy at the checkout but i have a shifty he was smoking something lol Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

excellent job of the rust kill and tarring! you will definately not regret being overly pedantic about the rust.

Quote: Originally Posted by SIroller excellent job of the rust kill and tarring! you will definately not regret being overly pedantic about the rust. honestly nevver want to see the stuff ever again (talking bout rust) :P it ruins such a beautiful car. i would say its well worth the trouble to do. thanks man Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

imperial blue ftw keep tidying her up, shes coming along nicely Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by patch imperial blue ftw keep tidying her up, shes coming along nicely Repesent! :P i love it thanks man Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

coming allong well.. didnt realise u done that much work to her.. fair effort driving to melb to get a car.. then again i drove 1 hr away from nowra to pick up my car.. hahah

car looks tops.. you should have taken the plugs out of the floor before filling it with tar.. anyways keep up the good work..

Quote: Originally Posted by PSI-EFI coming allong well.. didnt realise u done that much work to her.. fair effort driving to melb to get a car.. then again i drove 1 hr away from nowra to pick up my car.. hahah thanks man. im having fun with it. Everypeice in that car has a history. and im making history haha. if you understand that. Quote: Originally Posted by freEze_dK car looks tops.. you should have taken the plugs out of the floor before filling it with tar.. anyways keep up the good work.. in the boot or in the cabin floor? i pullled the boot ones out before i tarred it. the cabin ones are under that hard plastic underlay.

Me and my mate jordans car. Best Crusiers Some original photos have not been recovered yet.