The Internet Of Old 3

Once upon a time Australia had its own car industry. 

But that time has since past, so why bring it up? Well I want to talk about a specific Aussie car, and maybe bang on about our cultural identity.

Low resolution imagery of a Holden VL Commodore (Calais) with the notable RAC15T plates are the topic of talk. You see whatever your perception is of the Australian people, make sure it's a multi-cultural one.

Overtime our immigration laws changed, we imported all kinds of people and slowly as the make up of Australia changed, our identity began to evolve. Yes it's Aboriginal land, but it's inhabited by Australian people. Just as you are the sum of your actions, Australia is its people. Australia is millions of years old, but as a nation it's very young.

So when the aussie people needed mobility, they built cars. And cars built in Australia are Australian. No matter how shit some of them are - they are a part of our story.

A quarter acre, Hills Hoist & aussie car - all ingredients in the early Australian dream.

And that dream obviously changed as new cultures were introduced and intertwined. But that idea of having an aussie car is what I want to zero in on. Cars made here - now that's news (or it was in 1986).

The VL Commodore ended up being a great car for a number of reasons but it's cultural significance trumps its performance.

(Note* the knock-off Hills Hoist)

By the end of the 90's and into the early naughties the value of these cars dropped significantly. Their performance made them attractive to enthusiasts, and enthusiasts made them attractive to everyone. This VL in particular is a very important example. 

The images included in this post are about all I could find of its existence. While they may be low res photos of a sex-spec era sedan there's alot more going on that has only become significant with age. Firstly they are a glimpse at an iteration of aussie suburbia.

Even the notion of having cars parked in the front yard is fast disappearing. But context aside this VL is timestamped simply by its styling.

This way of modifying cars is dead. It realistically died around the same time as the global financial crisis hit Australia. While people build sex-spec cars today they are more done to honour the scene than demand the attention & respect of the modified car community. 

Journalist Mahmood Fazal wrote a piece for Vice Magazine - a sort of love letter to the Vl Commodore in which he recalled 'around 2005, I remember spotting VLs in suburban back streets where they were the pride and joy of young hoodlums smoking darts and popping monos on their mongooses.'

The write up is good and does a better job of touching on why the VL was our (Australia's) car, and how it transcended race and culture. I think in retrospect this applies to any of the Holden and Ford cars built here, even the Mitsubishi Magna really. It was an attainable means of national assimilation, and as pathetic as it is, a really simple way of broadcasting we have more in common then we don't. 

Mahmood captured this, illustrating whether it be 'Melbourne, Sydney, Perth or Brisbane, the colloquial VL narrative united a wide range of personalities and cultures. There were Asians adding blow-off valves to their VLs, Aussies organising cruises, Greeks adjusting the rear window venetian blinds, and Middle-Easterners posing with their bonnets popped as the flash from their disposable camera lit up their custom interiors.' 

It's the idea that the VL was a common way of being connected to the Australian identity and more, that really makes it important. Of course it was also great looking with performance to match. Yet, while it's grand to think the VL stood for so much that doesn't mean it solved the division and racism going on in Aus. After all half the reason the pictured example is so significant is those New South Wales custom plates.

RAC15T

Why would someone want to depict the word RACIST on their VL Commodore?

Well like I teased earlier the VL might look cool and sound sick but it sure as hell didn't solve racism in Australia. A notable boiling point being the 2005 Cronulla Riots. The riots - motivated by racism saw a variety of violence and crime which primarily targeted Lebanese Arabs. The imagery captured from the riots is astounding.

Now without the photos of the red VL being dated I'm definitely jumping to conclusions but the Lebanese flag on the bonnet seems like an act of national/ethnic pride. At the least the plates are a statement.

The Cronulla Riots will remain an embarrassing part of Australia's history but the VL certainly won't.

As for RAC15T, well outside of this blog, a reddit post, and the occasional sex-spec Instagram reel, it will probably be lost to time.

So to wrap up The Internet of old 3 I leave you with the trailer for the movie 'Down Under'