General Motors will close its Australian Holden division this year, killing the car the Chevrolet SS is based on in the process. Yes, America's best value performance sedan is no more than a Holden Commodore wearing a bow tie, and to make sure we never forget that, Holden Special Vehicles came up with a Corvette-powered version as their tribute to Aussie tire smoke. The GTSR W1 really is the last of the V8 Interceptors.

Before we'd get into the numbers, I believe you should listen to this thing, because it's everything you want it to be. For that, we turn to our Australian friend Dave Zalstein from CarAdvice, who managed to get behind the wheel of a pre-production prototype at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit:

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Okay. Since kW numbers are literally smaller, here are the figures you actually want to know:

636 horsepower at 6500rpm, with 601 ft.-lb. of torque available from 3900 revs. The engine is an LS9 featuring a gen-6 supercharger with twin four-lobe rotors. It also has an integrated dual-element air-to-liquid intercooler, a carbon fiber airbox, direct-mount ignition coils, high-flow rotocast cylinder heads, an E67 control module and ceramic coated, stainless steel headers.

HSV

Connected to that is a Tremec TR-6060 close-ratio 6-speed manual gearbox. The suspension under the car is what the Australians call SupaShock. At the front, you get a coil over monotube strut with double acting dual-bush lateral support combined with multilink suspension and steering, plus a direct acting stabilizer bar. At the back, multilink independent suspension controlled via coil over damper with built in lateral support for the ultimate drifting experience.

Note the sticker. HSV

To make it stop, HSV fitted it with AP Racing's beefiest steel brakes. What isn't the supercharger's whining comes from a hi-flow exhaust with x-pipe intermediate, bi-modal mufflers and quad tailpipes, and there are such great color options on the list as Spitfire Green, Light My Fire Orange, Son of a Gun Grey, Phantom Black or Sting Red.

Cheers to Holden and HSV, everybody!

Speaking of the last Interceptors, 1985's Mad Max 3: Thunderdome is set somewhere between 2014 and 2018...

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