Compared with the first edition we are down a few antennae this time around, but there is still the potential for some serious communication here! The car this time is a 2001 WM model Holden Statesman, and the blacked-out colour scheme and split-spoke alloy wheels signify it is a limited-edition “International LS8”, which had a run of just 350 cars.
The Statesman is based on the same generation Commodore that bore the Monaro/GTO, and is a lower trim level of the Caprice. While they were not exported to North America, plenty did go on the boat to the Middle East. The Commodore was also sent over as the Chevrolet Lumina – would this have been a better name than SS in the States? The Statesman has a 5.7-litre, 305 hp LS1 V8, 4L60E automatic transmission and semi-trailing arm IRS.
The prime focus of the International LS8 was an OnStar-type telematics system called Holden Assist, using buttons on the rear-view mirror to control access to a customer assistance centre – or emergency response centre in case of an accident. The interior featured a special colour leather and suede trim and a few other features. And special floor mats, in the fine tradition of limited edition value packs!
Thanks to the 115.7” wheelbase (6” more than the Commodore) interior space in the Statesman is fairly vast, leg room in the order of 43.2”. Note if you are comparing to a Zeta platform SS/Caprice/Commodore, they have roughly 3” more wheelbase for the same amount of legroom as the front axle is set further forward.
Getting back to the subject car, obviously the owner of this car doesn’t frequent multi-storey car parks. The main antenna on the rear is an unusual arrangement, that seems to me mainly a way of elevating the antenna above the roof of the car, yet away from it – perhaps someone with a better technical understanding of how antennae work can fill us in?
Further Reading:
CC Outtake: No Failure To Communicate
The big one appears to be an HF antenna, the lower black part probaby contains a large loading coil to make it electrically resonant at those low frequencies below 30 mhz. These frequencies are used for long distance communication where there is no cell service.
As an example, a 1/4 wave antenna at 27 mhz (the old CB frequency range)is 102 inches. We all remember those big whips, then in the 70s they invented shorter and less ugly ones with a loading coil to make it shorter. They don’t however perform as well as a big whip.
27 mhz is 11 meters. A transceiver operating at 40 meters , or 8 mhz would have to have an antenna 4 times as long, hence the use of coils to shorten them.
HF radios are reasonably common in Australia, normally on 4x4s, I posted a shot of one in the previous installment. Perhaps this one has a taller but narrower coil than usual.
The most common radio in Australia now is a UHF (477 MHz), but the old AM (27 MHz) CB’s aren’t extinct.
As-delivered in Chevrolet badging, the SS already looks enough like a Malibu (or ‘Impalibu,’ as we like to say). Lumina SS, or just plain Lumina would be a complete disconnect from what the car is, at least in my mind! I think of them as fleet cars…
Lumina instead of SS? That would really have doomed the car to failure.
It’s just my opinion, but the Statesman looks like a Buick Century from the front, but like a Honda Accord from the rear.
+1 Came here to say exactly this. Outside of very specific circles, the name Lumina in the US is very very tarnished.
The black and silver cars have different wheels and the car with the aerial lacks the international badge the aerial is angled so the bootlid can be opened, Ive seen a few setups like this but out in the bush pre cell phone days, Plenty of Commodores here wear bowties front and rear and Ive seen a few with Lumina badging in RHD though we havent had Australian built new Chevrolets since the Chev 350 sedans of the early 70s.
I am thinking the best name for the US market would have been Chevrolet Commodore. US car enthusiasts know about the Commodore and the first name Chevrolet tells them where to shop for it.
Not to mention it would have been a throwback to Chevrolet’s “(almost) everything starts with C” tendencies.
I always thought they should have at least spelled out the name as “Super Sport.” That might have driven home the point that it was the genuine article, not a mere “SS” trim level.
That is probably as good an option as any. Ed makes a pretty good point that the Lumina name didn’t have much of a reputation to follow. The other option I have heard suggested is Chevelle.
Another thing to keep in mind is that most types of vertical antenna need a ground plane to operate, and for a mobile setup the frame of a car has a lot of metal and makes for a nice ground. It’s not uncommon to transmit 100w or more in a mobile HF setup, so bolting the ground end of the antenna directly to the frame improves conductivity and can eliminate “hot spots”. When an antenna doesn’t have a good ground, RF energy can travel up the coax and back into the radio. This causes annoying buzzing at audio levels, but when you have stray high-power RF you can get a literal “hot mic”- your lips become the new ground! (Ask me how I know.)
In my Honda I had a similar antenna- the coils inside the thick black part were motorized so you could change frequency from inside the vehicle. Managed to talk to Australia from the middle of Montana on a road trip.
I’m more familiar with UHF radios, where antennae are often ground-independent to allow for mounting on the sides of cars (like those at either side of the boot/trunk above), because aren’t ground plane antennae usually mounnted in the middle of the ground field?
That hot mic thing sounds a bit painful – hope you weren’t transmitting 100W at the time!
Mounting a ground plane antennae in the centre of a car gives an unidirectional (sort of) transmit/receive pattern. Mounting at one end give it a more directional pattern. In this case better in front of the car than the omni pattern but worse to the rear. This can be handy in marginal reception areas as you can adjust your reception by point your car at the other station.
However in this case practicality probably dictates a bumper mount. A center mount raises an already very long antenna.
That makes sense and probably dictated the tow hitch mount – can’t get much lower than that.
My ute has a small antenna mounted in the centre of the roof, for ground plane, by the original owner.
In a perfect world, yes, the antenna would be in the center- but at the wavelengths we are talking for HF transmission the car is a fraction of the length it would need to be anyway, so no big.
(And I think it was 500w but who’s counting? :))
…. and to think ….. 25 years earlier, Napoleon Solo was already using his flip-phone …..
“Open Channel D.”
Hmm, interesting that Ed didn’t source a set of Lumina badges for his SS. I wonder why not ?. No, the Lumina is not recalled with fondness by most people. Most of the Lumina variants were generally considered low-lights in GM’s history.
I would guess this driver never goes to Melbourne. It would be exciting to see what happens when that aerial hits the tram wires!
I’m pretty sure he’d find himself back in 1985 if he was going exactly 88mph…
This was in the eastern part of Melbourne, but the aerial looks like it is not quite as high as the tram wires. 600 Volts DC would get your attention, but at the same time there is the chance of a lightning strike…
“Sold in the Middle East” but only in Arab states, never Israel. I have a feeling this was a deliberate tactic by GM due to political grounds rather than Israel’s GM agents deciding Impalas were better suited to the local market – if anything, the Holdens would have made much more sense, size-wise.
We did get the Opel Kadet E and the Daewoo Prince so – if someone really, really wanted –
a Holdenized replica would be possible, as would be an Aussie Falcon XR done up from a 66-67 US Falcon…
Had to jump straight to the comments after reading the ‘Lumina’ quip… that name has zero brand equity in the US and the few people who do remember it are the same people who equate the Taurus nameplate with “rental car fodder.”
Let’s see what it was applied to in all three bodystyles:
An (arguably daring) unsuccessful minivan
A cut-rate eleventh hour Camry competitor
A mediocre continuation of the Monte Carlo
So you are saying that the savings in making different badges wouldn’t make up for the lost sales? Lol