R.I.P locally made Holdens

[Adam the Akrodude]

A sad day indeed for this country. I know there are some sad and most likely pissed off A/CAM'ers out there today - this being the Black Friday for Holden. Today marks the end of a era, the end of locally built Aussie sedans and utes in particular. Going to be rather difficult trying to source a new 4-door, manual, V-8 sedan folks. Like I've been saying for some time, the 21st Century sux ass!

[tor lives]

I am gutted, absolutely gutted, (thought I was ready for this but I am not ).
RIP Aussie-built Holdens and the Australian automotive manufacturing industry as a whole. What an absolute bloody tragedy and disgrace!!!
My tribute to Holden in the form of my own personal Holden history:

VC


VK (HDT-enhanced)


VN (less said about this nightmare on wheels the better )


VP SS (what a great car she was!!!....just loved those outrageous factory-fitted turbine mags)


VR SS (HSV-enhanced)


The stunningly beautiful CV8R Monaro.....sex on wheels!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZI3YCsIZz8



The mighty VE SSV SE (Pontiac G8)....6.0lts of pure V8, hulking, bad-arse, awesome, road-dominating, grunt!!!



.......and me with the last ever Holden Monaro


This folks is what this country was once capable of.....but alas no more
TOR

[tor lives]

And these timeless, iconic, and immortal badges:











LONG LIVE THE MIGHTY AUSSIE HOLDEN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Ic3RqPIJo


TOR

[oz rb fan]

i've had a few holdens my self(still drive one now though an import)...i started with an EK panel van.......nearly brough a 4cylinder LJ torana,but instead got the first of 8 Gemini's(only 7 were holden built i for a short while owned a fully imported Isuzu Gemini).....also had a 4.2 litre manual VH commodore....cam, Brock exhaust it made around 160 rear wheel horse power,but most of all saved my young family in an accident and i'm forever grateful.
and now the Barina RS...a real surprise package.....not a balltearer of a V8,but quicker than i though.....and high 5 litres per 100k's around town a brilliant little car.

i thought that i'd be a little non plussed about the end of local production.....how wrong i was....we have lost more than car builders....we have lost places to train the next generation of local engineer's.....designer's and skilled workers of all kinds....we exported the talent that holden produced....let alone the cars........governments of both side dating back as far as Gough Whitlam should hang their heads in shame...worst birthday present EVER.

BTW ray you forgot one name attached to the legend of holden motorsport(yes the guy that owned it was a prick...to say the least)
Pauls Black CDT Coupe017 by paul sabin, on Flickr

CDT....in many ways a trail blazer of performance small car and like HDT in the early days just trying to improve the general product to win on the track..........proud owner of # 60.....20th outright at bathurst in 1981...3rd in 4cylinder class and 1st under 1600 home...also class winner at sandown 500 in 1982(used in advertising by holden) and shell assembled at the Acacia ridge plant in QLD

[F-27pax]

I once had a Holden, now drive a Ford. What does this make me? I suppose they're more or less the same thing now that they all come from overseas.
Leigh

[Wedgetail]

I honestly think as an ordinary Australian citizen we will never be told ALL the facts regarding the Australian car makers demise.
But, the You Tube article listed below certainly explains many things a whole lot better than the usual dross from the MSM or the Politicians.

The lingering death of Holden: Why the factory really closed,
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uFYW5tMoeg

I realize that there will be many others who don't agree with the author above but that's just human nature and I've found this presenter
has many detractors, but he does have and has had the inside goss on many previous kerfuffles in the motoring world.

I'm not interested in a bun fight about who did what as I've owned both Holden's and Fords and presently am quite happy with my Colorado.
I've lost count of how many Holden's I've owned and can only recall having a single Ford, an XD 4.1 with a four speed which was a great car.
Another great little car was an old Datsun 1600 done to rally specs, a fun drive especially on dirt tracks/courses.

It's just a sad day when Australia closed their car making facilities, every overseas manufacturers appear to subsidies their own car making factories,
the stench of politics is very insidious surrounding the subject, just my 2 bobs worth, so don't shoot the messenger.

Cheers
Wayne, now up and walking.....sort of !

[hrtpaul]

My only comment is "No f*&^ing comment"

[BradG]

My VP just clicked over 250,000km. A friend had a VP that went to 650,000km before he upgraded. My old man had a company VP wagon that did 450k before he left the company. They were/are an excellent car.

[Adam the Akrodude]

Whilst not a Holden fan per say, I did drive Commodores for around 9 years for work way back when. I clocked up many kms in this work and only got let down a couple of times with fuel pump and ignitor coil issues - VL, VN & VP all good work vehicles. The whole chest banging Holden versus Ford thing really is a thing of the past as far as I'm concerned. Both companies produced pretty good family sedans, utes and performance vehicles - each taking turns bettering the other. The whole car industry was inter-twined with all the "subies" feeding all the manufacturers - a house of cards when the masses turned towards European and Asian makes/models in particular. Sedans replaced by SUVs and smaller compact 4-cyl sedans and Hatches. With consumers turning their backs on the classic Aussie sedan, no amount of money any government could pour in could stop what happened - consumers simply were not buying enough locally made cars to sustain the industry. As I understand it, Ford Australia did lobby to manufacture smaller 4-cyl sedans here, but was denied by Ford USA. I was told by a dealer at Ford that Everests were being made in Thailand for 1/3 the price of Territories here. Now given the issues this little black duck had with our Territory, it really tests one's faith in the local product!
Still, we have lost something precious I think - the great Aussie sedans and utes - gone for good. This really is a tragedy I think. Australia has dumbed down a little more. Try looking for a RWD manual V8 sedan or ute now - does not exist I don't think. However much I'd love a Mustang, it's only a 4 seater - and I bloody see them everywhere now - common as mud. Not good in my situation having to lug a family/friends around as I need 5 seats. So, what's a ol' rev head to do? Looks like I'll be sticking with the ol' XR8 for some time. Maybe the go is re-furbing it. Goodbye Aussie car industry - you served our nation well.

[hrtpaul]

The whole chest banging Holden versus Ford thing really is a thing of the past as far as I'm concerned.

You call yourself a rev head? I'm calling bullshit on that. No self respecting revhead would ever say such a dumb thing. Pount A to point B revhead more like it. As for your XR8, it'll fall apart before you get anywhere near to re-furbing it with it's AWESOME build quality