Holden Dealer Team revival: What should the next ‘Brock Commodore’ look like?

The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) is back, this time under the custodianship of new owner Kenny Habul , who has ambitious plans to offer restoration and retro-modding services for the legendary Aussie auto brand’s iconic ‘Brock Commodore’ road cars of the 1980s.

Yet it has also said it's working on a new road-going model, which could be the brand’s most substantial in decades.

“It’s early days but we have a team. We’re working on three prototypes at the moment,” Habul told media earlier this week.

“There is a lot of work to do before we have an HDT-reimagined car to present, but there is a fundamental recipe that I think will be very impressive."

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HDT’s road car business grew from its roots as a Bathurst 1000-winning motorsport outfit, with sales of street-legal production cars intended to fund racing legend Peter Brock’s purchase of the race team at the end of 1979.

HDT Special Vehicles (HDTSV) road cars were created under the ownership of Brock, the nine-times Bathurst winner and easily Australia’s most celebrated driver, who was tragically killed in a tarmac rally in 2006 .

The last Aussie-made production hot-rod, the ‘Holy Grail’ Ford Falcon FG X , came in 2018 courtesy of Melbourne auto engineering company Premcar, members of which previously helped create FPV muscle cars for Ford.

“I’ve thought a little bit about it because I saw the press release and the news on this subject, on Kenny buying it, and I was very curious and very interested and I think, you know, I try to look at these things with a lot of optimism,” Premcar boss Bernie Quinn told CarExpert.

Being custodian of such a treasured and revered brand is a massive responsibility and a huge privilege, but also a significant burden. There’s an army of passionate fans with pitchforks waiting in what could be a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t scenario.

Based on his comments this week, new HDT owner Habul – a two-times Bathurst 12 Hour sports car race winner, successful businessman and friend of Brock – understands the enormity of the task. Quinn explains what’s required.

“One of the things that Brock was good at, and I think that anyone that’s been successful in this game has been good at, is knowing what the customer wants and putting themselves into the customer’s head," he said.

“It’s tempting to try and second guess what the car looks like and start imagining a specification, however, that is the most dangerous thing to be doing as a first step.”

That’s what we’re about to do, right here in this article – take that dangerous step into fantasy.