Finding long-lost, rare and quirky NOS (new old stock) parts is like catnip to us car folk, and this morning, something truly remarkable for the Holden faithful came across our desk, found on Facebook Marketplace.

Nevermind NOS HQ GTS badges or a Torana bonnet – no, we’ve gone a hell of a lot better than that, discovering a listing for what is likely the last brand-new, unused, original Holden V8 engine.

The box states it to be a VT-spec Holden 5.0-litre, the last and arguably greatest version of the engine, thanks mostly to the additions of a roller camshaft and sequential fuel injection.

The seller, Richard, says he purchased the engine to use for a VT he was fixing up. “I got the engine around four to five years ago with a bunch of Holden stuff, and the original plan was to use it in a VT restoration I was doing,” he says. “But we determined that car would lose value if we changed the engine, so we rebuilt its original engine instead.”

That means Richard is more than experienced enough to know that his $10,000 asking price is more than reasonable, given it costs about the same to properly rebuild a used engine to as-new spec like this one.

“People have also said to me that having the original [shipping] box probably adds value to it as well, and I’d have to agree,” he says.

Richard and the engine were located in Serpentine, Victoria. Less than 24 hours after we posted this story, it has already found a home.

“I’ve easily had 100 calls about the engine, but the second person was more than happy to purchase it,” says Richard. “I’ll have some more Holden bits coming up for sale soon, so I’ll keep you posted.”