Holden

Hoons Trust Holden

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Most states in Australia have recently introduced anti-hoon laws to crack down on street racers and hoons that have a little bit too much fun with their cars. The laws generally see the hoon lose his car from anywhere from a few days to forever followed by a day in court. The police media units have been in overtime since the laws were introduced as stories of idiots getting sprung doing the stupidest things hit the papers. Some of the best stories we have seen recently include a WA lad losing his car only minutes after getting his licence, as he was doing a burnout in the testing centre and another guy losing two cars in only a mater of days. Today we stumbled across this piece on drive.com.au were Victorian police announced that of the 5000 cars taken in two years nearly half of them where made by Holden. What do you think, are Holden’s hoon cars or is there a more deserving brand for Australia’s Hoons. Hit up our comment form below.

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WB Statesman “World’s Best”

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The ad above is for the 1982 Statesman by Holden, its interesting to note that the Statesman brand was a luxury marque created by Holden but most Aussies still just refered to it as a Holden Statesman even though Holden went out of their way to drop the Holden name from marketing material. We like the WB as it shows how a company (who had very little money at the time) could take an outdated model and do some clever design changes to make it into an all new model. one example is the huge rubber strip down the side that is almost hollow in some parts in order to hide the huge bulge above the guards left over from the 1970’s Kingswood.

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National Motor Museum Australia

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Situated in the beautiful wine country of South Australia lies the National Motor Museum at Birdswood. This incredible collection of vehicles traces the importance of transportation in Australia over the last 100 years. Opening in 1965 the centre is not only a museum but a research centre, a place of preservation and an important education tool for the young. The new Holden Pavilion of Australian Motoring offers 3700 square metres of some of Australia’s most important motoring icons including a 45 metre long road train and some very impressive fire engines and commercial vehicles. The centre has traveling exhibitions and some of very interesting examples of important Australian automotive milestones including the a prototype Mitsubishi Magna, a prototype VN series Holden Monaro and the Torana GTR-X developed for the Sydney Motor Show a few years ago.

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Brocky’s Opel Monza

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Any full blooded Aussie can tell you that the Holden Commodore of the 80’s was based on an European Opel, they will also tell you how much of a legend the late Peter Brock was and how much he loved Holden’s. In about 1984 Brocky saw the potential in the Opel Monza, a two door hatch based on the same car the Aussie Commodore sedan was based on, Compared to the Aussie version it had a few good bits like a independent rear end that Brocky liked the idea of so he come up with a plan to import them down under and whack a decent V8 under the bonnet. At the time the concept got a lot of publicity, but it was never to happen. Brock did import one over for evaluation and kitted it out with an array of hot bits including his infamous Energy Polarizer, today the car is in the hands of a collector who has decided to part company with it. So if you got an endless bank balance and want a piece of Brock history check out the full story. The video above is of a Opel Monza from a similar era, if you are from down under would have you bought one back in 1984? let us know in the comments field.  

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Holden’s Coupe Concept – The next Monaro?

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The Australian arm of GM, Holden has put a stunning 2 door coupe concept on show at the Melbourne Motorshow this week. Based of the Holden Commodore or Pontiac GTO, Vauxhall VRX or even Lumina in some markets. The concept car was designed to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Holden. The vehicle features pillerless windows, a s tough body kit with Diamond Silver paint and a 6 litre LS2 V8 Engine. The car is finished with 21 inch slick wheels, LED taillights and twin side exhausts. Holden isn’t saying too much about the future of this car but if they were to make a new model Monaro, one would expect much of the DNA in this vehicle would be carried over to the new design. Like the 2 door coupe showed in 1998 which later became the Monaro, enough public interest might just be all Holden needs to take the design a bit further and invest in this project to put it in the showrooms in a few years time. Time will tell.

The Holden EFIJY

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Back in the 1950’s Holden produced the FJ Holden which has gone on to become one of Australia’s iconic classic cars. So what better car to base a show car off some 50 years later than to create a new interpretation of the vehicle using many of the classic and loved design cues. Using a Chevrolet Corvette underbody, a 5.2 metre radical custom coupe was produced boasting a thumping 480-kilowatt, supercharged six-litre V8 engine under the bonnet and every imaginable gizmo and gadget including LCD and LED technology, all packaged with magnificence retro styling. The paintwork was breathtaking with a rich dark purple called Soprano Purple highlighted by chrome badging and features. The car has since toured the world and been the toast of many auto shows and won quiet a few prestigious awards from Hot Rod magazines and other media.

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Chevy Camaro Coupe Show Car

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This year’s Melbourne Motorshow in Australia premiered the Chevrolet Camaro Coupe show car which is a glimpse of great things to come from the huge US automaker. The vehicle was actually designed in Melbourne by Holden who have the task of designing the new rear wheel drive muscle car. The final product is expected to have many of the design cues that the show car proudly possesses when it rolls of the production lines in Canada some time in 2009. The car will feature some of the underbody and mechanicals used in Australia’s Holden Commodore which is the country’s biggest selling car and exported to world markets including the Middle East, Asia and to the USA as a Pontiac GTO.