Holden out of Oz in 2017

Haakon

Keeps on digging
only some early 505, some Citroen CX and Reno Fuego had metric rims, 99% of them were imperial. Slow off the line but would sit on illegal speeds all day.

Late Saab 900 Turbo was one of the "wish I'd bought it"...
 

born-again-biker

Is looking for a 16" bar
Some rose coloured glasses going on I think. I was driving when those things p76 etc were on the road. Mates had:
P76 Targa Florio, comfortable, felt huge, handled like a barge, wasn't particularly quick, drank fuel
Pug 504 or 505, they looked the same to me, rode ok, was slower than a snail and handled ok but had lots of body roll and it was fitted with those metric (trx?) wheels that were around at the time, average one flat per week
Holden gemini, with headers and exhaust, nothing positive to say at all
Holden Commodore, VB, 308 manual SLE, fairly rare beast. Was ok but later fitted an exhaust and it droned worse than his missus, drove with him from Bilo to Townsville. I hitched home
Chrysler sedan, incredibly comfortable but had no brakes and the handling was worse than a prawn trawler in a cyclone
Triumph Dolomite Sprint, almost a great car but suspension was woeful, broke down a lot, wiring was scary
Various Fords and Holdens, enough said
Ovlov 242 GT, ok? Good parts but just not coordinated
Saab turbo, I lusted after this
And me?
BMW 320i, 2nd owner of a private import, Recaro or Scheel interior (forget) and billies all round. Was easily the best car for hammering through the mountains or a road trip with the Saab. Not quick and underpowered but it worked. Was all good until I put it in a ditch.

The sprint was easily the fastest, P76 best for disposing dead bodies, Commodore for burnouts, gemini for dump runs but it kept coming back. The only car I would have swapped for was the Saab.
ok boomer
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Until it warped a head because holden didnt know how to make the cooling system work...
I've worked on heaps of them over the years with big mileage on them without a problem.

They had a problem with the radiators where the baffling came loose and it would circulate the coolant in half of the radiator, if you didn't regularly service the car or know what to look for, you might come unstuck. The other problem was people over boosting them and not knowing how to bleed the cooling systems. The exhaust stud breakage was a PITA on that model nissan motor though.

The old Gemi's out handled the Escorts by a long shot, I'd owned both in modified forms, the Gemi coupe was actually an Opel with a face lift, they even had the cable operated window regs that you'd seen on the same era BMWs.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
I've worked on heaps of them over the years with big mileage on them without a problem.

They had a big problem with the radiators where the baffling came loose and it would circulate the coolant in half of the radiator, if you didn't regularly service the car or know what to look for, you might come unstuck. The other problem was people over boosting them and not knowing how to bleed the cooling systems. The exhaust stud breakage was a PITA on that model nissan motor though.

The old Gemi's out handled the Escorts by a long shot, I'd owned both in modified forms, the Gemi coupe was actually an Opel with a face lift, they even had the cable operated window regs that you'd seen on the same era BMWs.
Ive avoided aus and jap stuff as a rule, but I was told they had problems with air locks from the thermostat being higher than the radiator.

Holden experience is EH for an engine rebuild and brakes (using the term brake loosely here...), HQ Belmont (173, 3 on the tree and all wheel drums!), head replacement on a VH and an engine install on a VK.

All of them horrified me at how archaic and sloppy the engineering was.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Ive avoided aus and jap stuff as a rule, but I was told they had problems with air locks from the thermostat being higher than the radiator.

Holden experience is EH for an engine rebuild and brakes (using the term brake loosely here...), HQ Belmont (173, 3 on the tree and all wheel drums!), head replacement on a VH and an engine install on a VK.

All of them horrified me at how archaic and sloppy the engineering was.
They weren't the easiest to bleed but it was achievable, you can pressure bleed them or jack the front of the car up.

The Nissan motor was far better than anything Holden had prior in the six cylinder line up, smoother running engine ,more power and more economical.


I worked in a shop for about 8 years that prepared cars for racing, back then Eh's raced in an Appendix j class and done heaps of 4 wheel drum brake overhauls, we used to fit the Taxi finned brake drums and get custom brake linings made up for them. At the time we also had 90% of the QLD HQ race series cars and also some of the Gemi series race cars.

.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Driving back from Armidale on Saturday I passed an FJ ute on a trailer. Looked like a classic barn find, covered in dirt and dust but looked complete. Hate to think what its worth, but a cool find.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Driving back from Armidale on Saturday I passed an FJ ute on a trailer. Looked like a classic barn find, covered in dirt and dust but looked complete. Hate to think what its worth, but a cool find.
Old Holdens sold for some ridiculous prices before, hate to see what they're going to ask now.

I was told that most of the old Holdens were retracted from auction on the Gold Coast when Holden announced they were leaving Australia.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
We would, but they're smaller again. Nice looking car.

We've had that discussion. And you just flew to buy a car when there had to be something just as practical locally, even if it was a different body shape
No, not buying that as analogous... Besides, never claimed the alfa was a practical purchase (although it is far more fit for purpose than an SUV) - but people do claim an SUV purchase because they need the room.

An SUV is a poor choice if passenger/luggage space is your primary criteria, so therefore its not the primary criteria if they're being honest. The real reason is often revealed when a people mover is suggested they go "ew they look gay" (quoting the last idiot SUV buyer i questioned).

Which is fine as a reason I guess, just be honest about it and dotn try to make excuses about it being a rational or practical choice.
 

moorey

call me Mia
Some rose coloured glasses going on I think. I was driving when those things p76 etc were on the road. Mates had:
P76 Targa Florio, comfortable, felt huge, handled like a barge, wasn't particularly quick, drank fuel

Chrysler sedan, incredibly comfortable but had no brakes and the handling was worse than a prawn trawler in a cyclone
You leave the P76 out of this!

Also, in his defence, Forrest Gump was a little retarded.
 
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