IRON MAIDEN
STORY CARLY DALE PHOTOS GREG FORSTERC
HRISTY McGill is a Holden devotee
from way back, having owned a raft
of GM-H models before settling on
this ’84 VK Berlina. Her chosen ride
will be put to a particularly sweet use in a few
months when she marries her fiancé Matt in
true Holden style.Where’d the Holden love start?
I grew up around cars, as my dad is a mechanic.
He had so many cars – he was always buying
them, doing them up and then selling them.
During my early teens he had a white VK and
my uncle had a copper one very similar to mine;
that’s when I knew I wanted a Commodore.
Tell us about some of your other Lion-
badged rides.
I bought an LX Torana when I was 16 years old.
I sold it about a year later, due to rust, which
made room for my first VK. After that I bought
an HSV-enhanced VS Statesman, before finally
buying my ’84 VK Berlina.How long have you had this VK?
A decade in July. It belonged to Aaron, a friend
of mine, and was stolen from him only to be
recovered a few months later. He gave me the
opportunity to buy it, as he knew I’d always
liked it. So I brought it back to life, fixing the
broken window, damaged passenger door and
damaged boot lock. It’s since been used as
Aaron’s wedding car. It was his first car, so
it was an honour to let him use the car on his
big day.
What’s it running?
I bought it with a stock injected five-litre, then
added a manualised TH700 and 4200rpm
converter with a B&M shifter. And behind that
is a BorgWarner diff with 3.9 gears.
So have you done any other mods?
About four years ago my fiancé Matt rebuilt
the motor, adding a bigger cam; I just wanted
something that sounded fat. So he added a
Clive cam – 236/236, 0.526 lift, 108° LSA- and ported heads, and it’s now good for
202rwkW. He also cleaned up the engine
bay, adding the catch can, and my best
mate Scott helped by tidying the wiring and
moving the fuse box under the dash. I’ve
also added the bonnet scoop, lowered it and
bolted on the 19-inch HDT Aeros. My goal
was a nice cruiser with a factory look. We use
Matt’s car FSTGMH for drag racing and most
events – it’s a blown LS-powered VK (SM
LSX Tuner #1).
Matt’s a good influence, then?
Yeah, I met Matt 14 years ago when I was 17
years old, and he’s probably the most car-
obsessed person you could ever meet. We
get married in August and both of our VKs are
the wedding cars; I’ll arrive in mine and Matt
in his. I had a good look through the Street
Machine Facebook wedding photos article
and I got some great ideas of photos that
we can set up. Thanks to Matt (Slim), Scott,
Brent, Fatty, and Errol from EFI Dynamics for
their help. sCHRISTY MCGILL
CRANBOURNE NORTH, VICTORIA