A rare Clubsport R8 Tourer built by Holden Specialty Vehicles (HSV) in Australia in 2011 is heading to auction but it is no longer located Down Under. Instead, this HSV is being auctioned off through Mecum’s sales event in Chattanooga being held over the coming two days.
The auction reveals that this is 1 of 100 examples of the Holden Commodore-based Clubsport R8 Tourer that was built by HSV and asserts that it is one of just 13 built with Black paint and an automatic transmission. We’re not sure where Mecum got the 100-unit figure from as anyone who lived in Australia in the early 2010s will tell you these cars were a common sight on local roads and many thousands were produced across the car’s entire production run.
Nevertheless, there’s no denying that the Clubsport R8 Tourer is a very rare car on U.S. soil. The auction house hasn’t mentioned when or how the car was imported into the United States nor why the seller has decided to keep it in right-hand drive, rather than converting it to left-hand drive. Whatever the case may be, few would deny that this is one of the coolest V8-powered station wagons you’ll find in the U.S., right up there with the Cadillac CTS-V Wagon but perhaps even more desirable given its forbidden fruit status in the States.
Read: Rare Left-Hand Drive HSV Maloo R8 LSA Is America’s Coolest Ute
The listing notes the car is powered by a 6.2-liter LS3 V8 engine with a custom tune and is emissions-compliant in all 50 states. When new, this HSV creation delivered 425 hp (317 kW) and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque but the tune, long tube headers, high-flow cats, and stainless steel exhaust of this car probably means it has more grunt than that.
The car has 118,419 miles (190,576 km) under its belt and while there’s quite a lot, it has been resprayed since landing in the U.S.
