BLUE BULLET

A CHANCE ENCOUNTER LED THIS OWNER DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE OF BUILDING A LATTER-DAY HDT LEGEND

-  GUY ALLEN

Tongue in cheek, we asked owner Ambrose Luzza who was to blame for the stunning VE HDT Blue Meanie entering his life. Without hesitation, the answer came: “Who am I blaming for this? Phil Germantsis! He turned up at my workshop with his VF Blue Meanie – that planted the seed and it took off from there. Just some blokes having a laugh.”

Let’s walk this back a little. The whole Blue Meanie theme of course refers to the Formula Blue VK series SS Group A cars developed by HDT across 1984-85 - the Brock heydays. An homologation special, some 502 were built through the second half of 1985.

It was one of those cars that hit you between the eyes and left an impression on anyone fortunate to get up close to one. And, of course, they're much sought-after in collector land.

Roll on to 2012 and the concept has re-emerged, albeit with a modern twist.

This time around the HDT enterprise, owned by enthusiast Peter Champion, was offering the means to create a modern take on the classic using what was then the current Commodore, the VE series.

It was an idea with enormous appeal. You got a dynamically far superior car with much of the style or the original and with similar levels of customisation available. Surprisingly, the idea has lasted a decade or more and you can still build a VE or VF Blue Meanie, with the guidance of HDT.