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Another iconic name to go ...Holden
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Rootes75



Joined: 30 Apr 2013
Posts: 3788
Location: The Somerset Levels

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 2:00 pm    Post subject: Another iconic name to go ...Holden Reply with quote

I read on the BBC this morning about GM's decision to completely wind down Holden. Another name gone then?
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Peter_L



Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Posts: 2680
Location: New Brunswick. Canada.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 2:39 pm    Post subject: Re: Another iconic name to go ...Holden Reply with quote

Rootes75 wrote:
I read on the BBC this morning about GM's decision to completely wind down Holden. Another name gone then?


Inevitable ?...….. and how long before many other names are retired. There have to be millions of car owners who can't remember seeing the first Eastern imports arrive in the UK. Is there brand loyalty in the under 40 generations or as in the case of our family where the badge on the drive has a lot to do with what is available and at what price per month. There was a time when I knew what size bolt held in the bonnet release bracket, I recently saw a one page laminated handout for a new car with illustrations of various features, such as the bonnet release handle, dip stick, petrol filler cap...… many of which could vanish within the next twenty years.
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1950
Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now we have VAuxhalls, being Peugeots in disguise?
Yet the current adverts seem to be promoting the 'British' heritage of Vauxhall [now brexit is upon us?]

They'll be trying to convince me Land Rovers are the classical British make....[and not Hungarian, or is it Slovak?]

Sorry..but since I cannot [am unable to?] go out and buy any new car which is a simple, basic automobile with zero driver aids, zero connectivity, zero radio and zero electric windows or central locking....I'll keep hold of my pennies, and shop in older markets for my transport.
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Keith D



Joined: 16 Oct 2008
Posts: 1127
Location: Upper Swan, Western Australia

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 4:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The complete demise of Holden will shock and stun Aussie car enthusiasts.

Holden is Australia. It is an icon and now it will disappear. It is more than sad, it's tragic.

Since the nineteen sixties there has been intense rivalry between the Ford Falcon and the Holden. The Falcon ceased production in 2016. Holden ceased building the Commodore in Australia in 2017. Both cars were traditional front engine, rear wheel drive, with either a six or V8 engine.

A Commodore was offered afterwards, but it was a badged front wheel drive from Germny. This vehicle was not popular. I understand that all other Holden models were imported.

Keith
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Rootes75



Joined: 30 Apr 2013
Posts: 3788
Location: The Somerset Levels

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 4:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The articles said that 2900 staff were laid off in 2016 when production ceased in Aus. It mentions only 600 staff remaining in Design / Development etc and a factory closing in South Korea, I presume production was transferred to there.

It said Holden was around 160 years old and they started by making saddles. Interesting history.
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1950
Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Since the nineteen sixties there has been intense rivalry between the Ford Falcon and the Holden. The Falcon ceased production in 2016. Holden ceased building the Commodore in Australia in 2017. Both cars were traditional front engine, rear wheel drive, with either a six or V8 engine.


There's nothing I'd like more than a cheap donation of a Australian Ford Falcon inline 6 cylinder head..the one with the detachable inlet manifold!

That is the one downside to the US Ford inline 6 [200 cu in]...the integral inlet manifold!
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Fiat 126 BIS
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mikeC



Joined: 31 Jul 2009
Posts: 1771
Location: Market Warsop, Nottinghamshire

PostPosted: Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A 1925 Holden-bodied Austin Seven:


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Keith D



Joined: 16 Oct 2008
Posts: 1127
Location: Upper Swan, Western Australia

PostPosted: Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

From my visits to the UK I have seen almost every car that originated from Australia, referred to as having a Holden Body.

Between the wars there was a very hefty import tax on complete cars brought into the country, so to avoid this, local body builders made the bodies here. At this time there were around 100 car and truck body builders in Oz. Doubtless many were built by Holden, but there were plenty of others. Richards and Flood are but two of the larger ones.

Alastairq. I can't help you with the Falcon head; I was always in the Holden camp! All the Falcon sixes were in-line, the later Holdens were V6.

Rootes75. The factory closing in South Korea was, I believe, the Daewoo factory. My wife's 2011 Holden Barina is actually a Daewoo. It is a surprisingly reliable car although certainly not exciting.

Keith
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Farmer John



Joined: 18 Feb 2010
Posts: 181
Location: Manawatu NZ

PostPosted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 1:50 am    Post subject: Holden Reply with quote

We bought a '72 Statesman De Ville because it had a bench front seat and being on a stationwagon wheelbase it had tons of room but General Motors insisted it was not a Holden despite probably 80% of it being the same as an HQ the hugely popular contemporary mid-range car. There was a different nose panel and a tail section that must have been not too special because the taillights appeared on the ute. There were cloth seats, better carpet, electric windows LSD, and a few other fancy bits. Oh yes, I fitted an anti-roll bar to the rear. It was a really good car but what made it special was the Holden V8. I do not know the ancestry of the 308 (that is cubic inches, about 5 litres) but have read that Holden did a lot of development on it and it certainly was very smooth and quiet, but the torque! You would not believe without trying it. Of course there was a four barrel carb ( I think vacuum secondaries) but gosh from idle it was like unleashing a hurricane and at full power from a standing start it would lift all the family's feet off the floor. I guess it had a GM auto and it just delivered power all the way to 100kph, and more, but it always felt as though it wanted to be a limo.
So of all the Holdens before and since I am so glad we bought that one.

John
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roverdriver



Joined: 18 Oct 2008
Posts: 1210
Location: 100 miles from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

PostPosted: Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The firm of Holden and Frost in South Australia were makers of horse-drawn vehicles. With the advent of motor powered vehicles, the company started to make bodies for them. Up to 1917 a small proportion of imports came as rolling chassis, and Ford had commenced sending cars as CKD. During WW1 there was a grave shortage of shipping, and in fact many retired sailing vessels were pressed into service. In order to save shipping space, the Government imposed a very high tariff on complete cars, but low duties on chassis or CKD. The growing motor body building industry of Australia expanded as a result, Holden and Frost being one of them. The company made bodies for almost any chassis with which they were presented and many of them are interestingly different from the home-grown models.

The H & F business gradually swung to being wholly a motor body company and was very advanced with its equipment, for example, buying in large presses for the task. The American company General Motors bought Holden in order to have them build for all G.M. products, and so other makers/importers who had relied on H & F, had to go elsewhere.

Towards the end of WW2, then Australian General Manager of G.M. had been urging the Government to encourage full car construction within Australia. Ford had been producing cars with a very high local content, but G.M was appointed, with Government assistance, to set up factories here. They adopted the most Australian name that they could, and so General Motors Holden was born. The first Holden cars were actually Chevrolet's modified to better suit Australian conditions and were released in 1948. Later there were cars that were mostly Australian designed- such as the Commadore. as had Ford with the Australian Falcon. Hence the rivalry between the two.
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Mog



Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 661
Location: Sydney

PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I owned a Ford XY and XD both for over 10 years . Automatic and 6 cly. Very reliable , cheap transport . Never had work on the engines or automatics . Rust was a a later problem ....
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