(first posted 7/31/2011) A new entry to the eventual CC Complete Guide to the Great Brougham Epoch: the 1968 Holden Brougham. I didn’t realize that Brougham fever spread so rapidly and so far; 1968 is still the early years. But Holden had a new philosophy of luxury: not just a higher trim line, vinyl roof and the ubiquitous Brougham emblems, but a full-on boot-augmentation. Eight inches of delectable rear overhang were grafted onto the Holden HK Premier, to create the genuine article. And unforgettable proportions. As the Brougham brochure (here) makes very clear: “You can’t have too much of a good thing”.
Yes, although too much of a good thing might have been an integrated A/C system, instead of the dash mounted unit in the Brougham.
The Holden philosophers were hard at work in 1968. Maybe they were chatting a bit with their GM cohorts back in Detroit a bit too. Which is where the Brougham’s Chevy 307 V8 and Powerglide originated. Although that was replaced by Holden’s own 308 V8 a year or two later.
The Great Brougham Epoch; a global phenomenon. Now I just need to find me one of those NSU Ro80 Broughams.
BTW, the Holden Brougham wasn’t the first with these kinds of proportions:
If you squint it looks like a ’65 Olds left in the dryer too long.
Integrated AC would have to wait until the HQ series was launched.
AFIK these were rather unsuccessful competition to the the ZB & ZC
Ford Fairlanes.
Having said that, both of those cars were early Australian attempts at supplanting the Canadian sourced CKD full sized Chevys, Pontiacs and Ford Galaxies, along with Chrysler’s Plymouth-bodied Dodge Phoenix.All three had long been available in this market, positioned as top-line cars.
By the mid-70s, the transition was complete, and Big Bertha Detroit iron
had been run out of town by the local Kingswoods, Fairlanes and long wheelbase CH Valiants.
They seem more tasteful than mass market Detroit Broughams, I have to say (and agree) there seems to be a lot of 1965-66 Olds Ninety Eight Luxury Sedan influence, inside and out.
Does anyone besides me see a hint of first-generation Seville in that rear end?
Strikes me more like the 1969 AMC Ambassador, from stem to stern ~
Correction, the 1972…but, coming four years after the Holden, maybe AMC was the copycat? – or was this merely parallel evolution?
There oughta be a law
Get the sherrif on the phone
Lord have mercy
How’d they even get the tail lights on
That Aussie car’s badonkadonk!
For all the country music challenged… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNVguvNE7qc&ob=av3e
FWIW Trace Adkins maintains this was intended to be a spoof of hip hop, I maintain it was merely a good excuse to make another video with a few of these girls.
I forced myself to watch that …twice.
Wonder if this car would have done well in the contemporary US market. It certainly looks like it would have made a decent smaller Buick in the late 60’s – minus that ridiculous rear overhang, of course.
I think it is accentuated in that photo, it does not appear that dramatic in real life. Certainly much smaller than US cars of the era.
I don’t mind that overhang although I can think of a few parking lots around here where it would have been an issue. I find myself wondering where the gas tank is located on this car, aft of the axle – under the rear seat?
Thanks for the engine specs too, now I wonder what the relative hp ratings were for those engines that were so close in displacement.
308 Holden 240HP, Holden 327 250hp The 253 cube V8 took over the lower performance range while the 308 cube was the power model the 327&307 were dropped but the 350 was optional in later model HT & HG series, Finally Holdens could perform with Vauxhalls Holden had ditched Vauxhall by now to prevent competition within GM showrooms but NZ kept both brands
Not quite, Bryce. Vauxhalls priced themselves out of the market here. I remember when the Victor 101 came on sale in ’65, it cost about the same as an HD Holden. Needless to say, they were hardly ever seen. And Vauxhalls had such a bad reputation for body rust after the PA models, even worse than Holdens, that they were a hard sell at any price.
The Holden 308 had a different bore/stroke relationship than the 307. The 307 had a bore of 3 7/8 in (98.4 mm) and a stroke of 3 1/4 in (82.6 mm), 5025 cc. The 308 was 4 in (101.6 mm) x 3 1/16 in (77.8 mm), 5,045cc, with slightly higher compression (9.00, compared to 8.75). The 308 initially had a four-barrel carburetor, and the 307 was 2V only. The figures for the 1969 HT Holden were 210 hp and 300 lb-ft for the 307-2V, 240 hp and 315 lb-ft for the 308-4V. (The 350-4V was rated at only 300 hp, but 380 lb-ft of torque.)
The 253 shared the 308’s stroke, but it had a smaller, 3 5/8 inch (92.1 mm) bore, giving 4144 cc; it had a two-throat carburetor, 185 hp, and 262 lb-ft. (All figures are gross.)
The 253 motor used 202/186 6 cylinder pistons to cut costs and the 308 inlet manifold bolts on for 4 barrell power
Overall I see alot of equal vintage AMC ambassador
I was thinking the same thing- thought it was an Ambassador til I read the title. If this is a shruken Oldsmobile would that make it a 68 68?(OK lame joke)
Pleased that I am not the only one who noticed this resemblance.
Only snag with the Brougham was interior space was the same as the Premier/Kingswood and these didnt sell that well the Later HQ Statesman was far more popular, Dan the fuel tank was under the boot/trunk floor The Fairlane had a longer wheelbase Holden did it cheap this car was essentially a widened Opel This model HK introduced the Monaro which was a widened 64 Opel Commodore.A true blue Aussie car.
Yep they were seen as what they were – a quick & cheap response to the 1966 ZA Fairlane.
Yep, something they cleverly tried to disguise in the brochure with the artfully placed, clothed and accessorised Managing Director in the rear seat – He’s sitting at an angle, wearing dark pants that dissolve against the carpet, and sports a strategically placed newspaper!
As others have noted, if it had rear fender skirts it would pass for an 8/10ths scale Olds Ninety-Eight.
Reading the specs, it appears these were close to the size of the U.S. A-platform, leaving one to wonder why GM didn’t use more platform sharing at the time. Perhaps it was a need for additional toughness that was required for Australian roads (as Ford learned with the original Falcon)…however, it seems that the A-platform was pretty tough.
Holden next series the HQ of 71 was on the Camaro platform that was used thru till 1980 for full size Holdens with a long wheelbase version for Statesmans and Stationwagons but using local engines. In NZ a kit was produced to turn a HQ back into a Camaro and it was very accurate and hard to tell real from fake.. But in OZ nobody wanted to know the Aussie Holden was made from Chev parts.
No as pointed out in this article the HQ is defintely not based on the F/X body. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cohort-outtake-holden-hqs-the-ozzie-nova-and-camaro-close-not-quite-close-enough/ Yes they are similar in that they use a stub-frame set up but the suspension is clearly different and the shape of the stub-frame is also clearly different. If anything the HQ is more like an A body the way the stub-frame flares behind the front suspension but again the front suspension is clearly a different design since the A front suspension is similar to, and shares some parts with the F/X suspension. The A/F/X all have upper control arms with wider mounting points oriented for anti-dive properties.
Yes the Aussie engineers clearly were aware of the basic methodology of the construction of the F/X body cars but apparently had the typical engineer’s NIH syndrome and started with their own sheet of paper when designing the HQ.
Buzz Dog, another interesting thing is when Holden were developing the Commodore, the Opel-built prototypes suffered structural failures on test. The cars were instrumented, and the Opel engineers could not believe the shock loadings they were subjected to on outback roads. Back then (mid-70’s) there were a good proportion of ‘unformed’ roads, and there still are. Holden thought about doing ‘city’ and ‘country’ versions of the body shell, but realized that when a city car moved out into the country it would be bad for the image.
The ability to cruise at the speed limit on gravel is a requirement for an Aussie car they build em tough for a reason and the early Commodores were great back road cars but they were much strengthened to cope, remember being airborne at 110kmh is not unusual and bottoming out thru floodways and dips is normal at speed. Cars suffer this sort of treatment day in day out The early Falcon wasnt even strong enough for city roads never mind bush use.Few if any US vehicles survive long in the outback,Jeep? dont make me laugh.
“remember being airborne at 110kmh is not unusual and bottoming out thru floodways and dips is normal at speed”
Have done that myself! The getting airborne out of a floodway part, the suspension is heavy/stiff enough that it didn’t bottom out.
I drove a Corolla down a back road I’ve taken a few Falcons through, and at nearly half the speed it heavily bottomed out a wheel and shook the toll transponder off the windscreen clip.
Yeah I ran old Valiants, Falcons and Holdens for years easy to fix parts everywhere and they cope with bad roads without shedding parts.
I remember becoming airborne coming out of a floodway once in the old Cortina. Landed with one wheel in a pothole and speared off through the bush to collide with a farmer’s fence. Every time I go back along that stretch of road and look at the trees I missed…… angels watching over me, I reckon!
If only our American cars were built that way. While it’s important to be able to ride comfortably at over 60 mph (97 km/h) on smooth pavement, it doesn’t do any good if the car breaks in half once it hits the first hole in the road.
Different conditions result in different priorities. The US has smooth pavement; back in 1968 we didn’t, once you got off the main interstate highways – and you couldn’t always take them for granted either. Still can’t…..
Freeways were almost unheard of, and there were still a lot of those old-style low-geared British trucks on the road, so you needed good passing power in the 30-60 range for when there was a gap in the oncoming traffic. A high cruising speed wasn’t really an issue, Dad would sit on 50 with the old Morris Oxford and 60 once he got the Falcon. Road conditions really weren’t conducive to going much faster, though of course there were those who did.
People would go into the bush camping on holidays and farmers though nothing of taking their new car across the paddock, often at speed, to collect firewood or round up the sheep. If a car couldn’t take that kind of usage Aussies dished out back then, well you could always go back to a Holden. It mightn’t have had all the mod cons but it was tough, you were guaranteed that. Parts were never a problem. And anyone could fix it.
Many town folk wouldn’t have used their cars like that, but there was a certain pride in knowing that if you wanted to, the car could take it. Nowadays people would ‘need’ an SUV for the sort of stuff we expected an ordinary family sedan to cope with back then.
It’s too bad our American General Motors cars weren’t built the same way as Australia’s Holden cars. I’ve always appreciated a car that’s rugged enough to withstand Australia’s hostile environment.
The base to this had been the Opel Rekord-C. Holden widened and lengthened the original body, add some american style to the enterior and exterior, put a V8 under the hood and got this genuine Aussie high class luxury car. This kind of tradition still lives there…
It’s actually a unique body design for the oz market. The original HK (1968) sedan which had its boot lengthened to create the Brougham was based stylistically on the 65/66 Olds, but shared no panel with any Opel. Bryce has opened my eyes to the amount of Opel influence under the skin. I don’t want to dump on Aussie cars, but they really weren’t sophisticated vehicles, see Roderick’s comments below.
I’m sure I saw one with diplomatic plates in London in the early 70s,an Australian embassy car?
That is very likely. I once saw an Australian LTD in New Delhi and later found out it did belong to the Australian High Commissioner. Speaking with a mate who is in foreign affairs, he told me that they ave pretty much given up on using Australian cars at overseas posts due to pats and servicing issues in many locations. Of course, now that there basically is no Australian car industry anymore they dont even have the option!
I’m sure we all see what we want to see. The car from my COAL list would be the 67 Chevelle. At first that’s what I thought it was.
Yes,well Holdens were built strong and simple and until the arrival of the Opel inspired Commodore the ride,handling,steering,seat comfort etc etc was bloody hopeless.They were not cars for anyone with experience of fine handling cars,most Australians were stuck in the family tradition of being Holden,Ford or Chrysler devotees and those odd European cars,no,no,no.People often asked me why I drove weird looking European cars,Peugeot 404s mainly,they drove Australian cars.Bored with the same questions,I told them that I preferred to drive cars designed by engineers,unlike Holdens which I suspect were designed by blacksmiths. My brother,an expert mechanic,owned a Holden Brougham in the late 1970s,and the elongated tail certainly looks disproportionate.Fords at least did have some handling finesse.Many Australians in the 1960s and 70s called Peugeots the “French Holdens”,an insult to Peugeot in my opinion.The new in 1971 Holden HQ when driven on a smooth bitumen road would rock from side to side at the front,like a boat in a swell.Suspension designed by an American.So for most of its soon to be truncated existence,Holdens were reliable,simple and extraordinarily dull and inefficient.
Ah yes, the famous HQ jelly-action front end. I’d forgotten about that.
Integrated air? dont make me laugh, unlike the UK Vauxhall Cresta of 1968 the Aussie luxury liner and its siblings didnt even have flowthru ventilation we are looking at primitive faux luxury here.
Kiwibryce, exactly what are you smoking? Seriously, most of what you have written above is pure fantasy.
1. No Holden was ever based on a Camaro.
2. All Australian Holdens, Fords, Chryslers used design and engineering concepts from their US parent companies and sometimes components (switches, handles, electrical).
3. It is absurd to suggest the Monaro was based on a widened Opel. Just rubbish.
4. Except in motorsport rally events, only idiots would bottom out on floodways and get airborne on a regular basis. My family had properties in the Australian country for decades and none ever carried on like that. I dont suspect anywone would do this often – have an accident in the outback and you tend to die.
I dont see what purpose is served by making such outlandish, inaccurate and absurd statements every time the conversation turns to an Australian vehicle and I would appreciate it if you would desist.
Ashley, to give Bryce credit, he’s eased up since he first made his comments here. A lot of it was addressed here
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cohort-outtake-holden-hqs-the-ozzie-nova-and-camaro-close-not-quite-close-enough/
To be honest, this is one of the best dissections of the HQ online outside hardcore forums and was mostly prompted by Bryce. He does sometimes take a strident tone, but brings a different perspective to things here.
Perhaps you need to actually see the Opels Holdens were based on rather than believing GMH propaganda that its offering is all Aussie, and yes I have thrashed many cars thru the Aussie out back I am not kind to cheap old bombs by any stretch of the imagination and tend to hammer them mercilessly into the ground often buying a cheap car every two or three months as need arose.
Oh and at the Aussie launch of the HQ Aussie engineers boasted of how they based it around Chevrolet components and steering designs, my father was actually there as a NZ dealer guest.
@Ashley. So true. I often chuckle at Bryce’s “stream of consciousness” writing style, irrational hatred of Falcons and general disregard for facts.
It used to bug me but after a while I simply ignored the inaccuracies and attributed his ramblings to a minor psychological flaw.
Thanks Richard.
Bryce, I have never believed or for that matter even read Holden publicity. I have never owned a Holden and only driven rented versions. There is a big difference between basing a design on something and using common parts – the two are totally different approaches.
I do think a degree of accuracy helps when discussing such topics.
Plenty of common parts HQ onwards brakes bolt into earlier chevrolets HQ onwards except Torana use Chevrolet stud patterns on wheels suspension parts are shared with Chevrolet, the HQ was a paradigm shift for GMH in parts sourcing and design. I have owned and driven many many Holdens of most models going back to FCs, favourite is the EH but thats another story but the major cut off point in the parts and design is the HG/HQ of 71.
+1 Richard . I apologize for my countryman (regularly).
As perhaps the idiot you referred to on point 4, I would like to point out I did that once! I took the first floodway on a new road at the same speed as the road I had just turned off, only to find out it was much ‘steeper’ and I slowed down more after that, no damage or drama really.
On the other hand my brother-in-law went on a few product development drives through the outback with the major manufacturers as part of his job, and I remember hearing about one where another car in the convoy landed hard enough to leave marks where the wheel rims dug into the track. The wheel alignment may have needed a bit of a tweak but I don’t think the ute had any damage other than the tyres.
Spot on Ashley. Bryce has been banging on about ‘the HQ Holden was based on the Camaro/Firebird platform”, and his other chestnut that “the HK Holden was a widened Opel” myths for too long.
There is a lot of interchange between the the HQ-WB Holdens and the GM
A bodies of the late 60s/early 70s. Springs, some bushes, wheels, some shocks, and other parts. That bit he got right.
I know- I’ve interchanged those HQ parts onto my ’69 Skylark
Questions about the backseat:
• Legroom looks suspiciously good; is the front seat pulled forward all the way? This was common in a lot of brochure pics I’ve seen. I’m 6′ myself & never check the backseat until trying the front first. At least there seems to be no fender intrusion, unlike some cars of my experience.
• Did Aussie executives still employ drivers? Looks like that pipe-smoking suit won’t enjoy flooring its V8.
Aussie execs who had a driver were more likely to be driving European, or a fullsize US/Canadian such as a Chevrolet, Cheviac or Galaxie.
These Holdens were a sales disaster because while you got plenty more boot, the interior was the same size as the base model Belmont sedan. Ford had a longer wheel base on the Fairlane which trounced the Brougham.
And the base-model Belmont sedan was most often seen as a taxi, or a police car.
Don, don’t forget the Dodge Phoenix. The ’65-68 models were quite popular.
More truth, Old Pete. Forgot the very strong mopar footprint over here. I lusted after a fuselage Phoenix for a long while when they were sitting at around three grand to buy. Then prices went ridiculous and just don’t see them on the road anymore. Honestly can’t remember the last I saw.
I hadn’t seen one for years, then this turned up over the road!
My father and his cohorts were driven around in Chevrolets for the HQ launch tour not Holden Broughams the Chevrolet being the pinnacle of the GMH sloane tree at the time 1971. Soon after that apparently GMH assembly of Chevs stopped NZs stopped in 68 though new cars were available on order only showroom stock could not be had untill the HQ Chevrolet Statesman appeared for the SouthAfrican/NZ markets Aussie built them but couldnt buy them.
It looks like it. Assuming the squares in the rear seat are as deep as the front, the serious gentleman in the rear seat would be belly-up to the steering wheel in the front pic.
We had HK & HT Kingswood wagons as family cars they were roomy enough for kids in the back adults not so much. Six adults going to work on the cotton out west of Wee Waa are quite cramped in a HK,T,G Holdens, not pleasant travelling for an hour or so in 40 degree heat.
Neil
For that photo they must have pushed the front seat almost as far as the dash! As others have pointed out, there was no extra legroom over standard everyday Holden sedans – just that whale of a boot! It is for this reason that the Fairlane (which did have 4 inches more rear seat legroom than the Falcon) killed the Brougham in the market.
As for chauffeurs, there were some but they were rare and I dont think one ever slipped behind the wheel of a Holden Brougham! Back in the day you did see chauffers driving Government Ministers around in Fairlanes and Galaxies. Until 1972 the Prime Ministers official car was a big Bentley, but when Gough Whitlam became PM he created a sensation by getting a Mercedes 450 SEL. Whitlams successor, Malcolm Fraser – a rather tall guy – said there was not enough headroom in the SEL and sold it off to get….a Chrysler by Chrysler. This was a rather rare car, an extended version of the local Valiant designed to compete with Fairlanes. Then all political leaders used Australian Fairlanes and LTD’s until about 6 years ago when the John Howard got an amoured version of the Holden Caprice. Actually, he bought 8 of them – they keep an identical car in every Capital city and one in Canberra.
These Caprices are about to be replaced with……Armoured 7 series BMW’s! The Australian Government just bought 20 of them for the G20 Summit which will be held in Brisbane in September. After that event, I understand all of the Caprices will be replaced by these BMW’s though I dont know what they intend to do with the 12 or so extra cars – give them to State Premiers? (Note: In Australia a Premier is the same as a State Governor in the USA. Each State also has a Governor, but they are representatives of the Queen, not political leaders).
Prior to the commission of the Bentley in approx 1963,the Prime Minister,Menzies,was driven in a 1948 Buick,a car he refused to part with citing its vast rear legroom and comfortable ride on the journeys from Melbourne to Canberra.Gough Whitlam was also a very tall man and many Australians did not like the PM in a German official car.When conservative Fraser deposed Whitlam I suspect he obtained the Chrysler [a Valiant in reality] to appease his electors after his unholy role in the dismissal of Australia’s most innovative and democratic government.The Chrysler didn’t have much headroom either,I have driven one of those and it didn’t do much for me.A little known fact is that Malcolm Fraser was a Lancia enthusiast,having owned and had one of his farm employees restore an early 1960s Lancia Flaminia sedan.Fraser said “I’ve always had to travel long distances in the country,often on fairly poor roads and so I like a car which is well- sprung and safe.It is this which has attracted me to Lancias.They’ve always been way ahead of their time in suspension design and safety.” Must have been a shock to ride in the Chrysler by Chrysler.Fraser was a conservative just like Holden was a conservative manufacturer.The last Holdens,by all accounts,are really good cars but the new and despised conservative government cut the huge subsidies to Holden,Ford and Toyota and so we will soon have no auto industry and sadly many workers and their components suppliers will have no jobs.
KiwiBryce-I was wrong,HR Holdens did get front disc brakes but if memory is correct not all HRs got them.
Yes, it does seem that as soon as the subsidies ran out, all of the manufacturers pulled out. All the years they made profits you never heard any complaints, but the minute there was a dip in the market out came the hands and they were always filled by governments. Even the first Holden only got off the ground because of government incentives.
I think you are right that Holdens and Fords made in Australia are now genuinely excellent cars, but who buys them? Even the fleets have stopped. I now see police in Hyundai vans! All of the Australian manufacturers failed to develop cars that people actually wanted. That combined with the exceptionally generous pay and conditions given to the workers in those plants and the high cost of making anything in Australia has put a end to the auto industry here. GM said it cost them at least $3000 more to make a car here than anywhere else in the World, Germany included. Frankly, without subsidies the whole show would have been over in the 1990’s.
This is news to me. I did some searching & indeed, U.S. subsidiary companies have been on the dole in Australia for awhile. No surprise about the results of such “industrial policy,” then.
The ’79 Iacocca loan guarantees were only a backdoor way of doing the same thing stateside. It may have worked out all right in this case, but the die was cast for the G.M. bailout. And there were the anti-competitive voluntary import quotas as well.
The auto industry in every country get government money in some form or other, or other types of support such as the punitive Japanese inspection system that drives the cars off the road quickly and keeps the sales of new cars up.
True the locals stuck with large sedans too long, but the Camry doesn’t sell that well either so it is not just fuel economy. The market has become too fragmented and economy of scale has fallen through the floor. On the other hand if they weren’t making large cars, the Corolla was the last C-segment car built here in 1999 until the Cruze in more recent years – and I would take some convincing that they make money on those.
Neil
In Australia’s case it was not just US companies. Just two years ago Toyota took a fat cheque to guarantee local production for 5 more years and also introduce innovative products. Easily solved…..they will stop production virtually on the date required by the grant. As for innovative products, they imported hybrid power packs and shoved them in locally made Camry models. Again, these are actually good cars but the policies behind them are pretty exploitative.
In my state, Queensland, the local GM plant closed in the mid 1980’s. The local Premier – you would call him a Governor in the US (who had by then already been in the job 15 years or so) was furious and mandated that henceforth all government cars would be Fords, as they still had a plant here. So it was for the next 20 years. All police cars were Falcons; all senior bureaucrats had Fairlanes and all Ministers were chauffeured in LTD’s. Except the Premier himself – he had a Jag XJ6 followed by Mercedes 420 SEL’s.
Cops just don’t look right in these parts in anything but a Falcon!
Even the fleets have stopped. I now see police in Hyundai vans!
I can see it now. Some troublemaker gets hauled out of a footy match by the police and the crowd chants….YOU’RE GOIN’ HOME IN THE BACK OF A HYUNDAI VAN! (clap clap clap…..)
The Aussie contingent here will get the joke!
Re police vans, German protestors/troublemakers have a slang term for them: Grün und Weiss Partyvan. I think there’s even a pop song about them.
I consider it unforgivable that car makers are no longer building their cars in Australia, the USA, Germany, letting other countries build their cars for them. Unfortunately, it seems to be happening in most countries you expect cars to be built. Here in the USA, for example, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, now seem to have cars built in China, Mexico, the Middle East, and Canada! I’m not against Canada building our cars, but Mexico? The Middle East? Hell no! American cars need to be built in the United States and in Canada. Australian cars need to be built in Australia. German cars need to be built in Germany.
No discs were an optional extra in Aussie but standard equipment on NZ assembly we had carpet as standard too and a few other differences to spec the cars nearer the competition Ford did the same their in house competition was UK Zephyrs and Zodiacs which in 66 aquired 4wheel discs and all independent suspension but of course Falcons got a V8 motor and finally didnt fall apart so easily, Valiants just continued on as Valiants well reguarded in NZ in OZ not so much.
There may be some more room in the rear due to a more upright seating position from some alterations that came with the long tail, something similar was done with the WB series Statesman.
Don’t quote me on that, though, it could be a bit of BS as I’ve never compared them!
The front seat looks to be in the same position in both the ‘yellow’ and ‘blue’ photos judging by the B pillar. So maybe legroom is ok, although in front the wheel looks pretty low.
Australian executives did not have chauffeurs,media moguls [mongrels] and other very wealthy people did,but they were usually driven in Jaguar/Daimler,Mercedes Benz 600,even Monteverdi sedan,Buicks,Cadillacs,Bentleys,Rolls Royces,many drove themselves,but no-one of wealth and substance would be seen in a tarted up,elongated Holden with brocade upholstery similar to a French brothel,unless it was a taxi cab.A good friend of my father,was a mining magnate and an old bushie/hillbilly,he drove a battered old Holden ute and his American wife drove a MB 280SL,pagoda top.Now many of our mining magnates are corpulent in the extreme and I am not sure they would fit into any long wheelbase vehicle apart from a cattle truck! The 1st generation VW Golf/Rabbit had more front interior room than a much larger 1971 HQ Holden.Europeans knew how to design cars with good aerodynamics and space efficiency,alien concepts to Australian manufacturers.Holden cars did not get rear coil springs until 1971 and don’t even think about rack and pinion steering or MacPherson struts or disc brake front ends etc.Many Australian people have invented world changing designs,sadly our vehicle manufacturers are not in that group.
Funny you mention no disc brakes on Holdens, New Zealand Holdens got Discs as standard equipment from the HR onwards our challenging roads may have had something to do with it also nothing else here had 6 cylinder engines and drum front brakes by 1966 so it may have only been to keep pace with the competition.
I think this is what Buick did to the Limited in 1958.
In an aside Helmut Newton did a lot of Holden promotional photography around this time.The iconic Monaro photo….https://www.flickr.com/photos/coconv/7559510898/
Thanks so much for this! I always wondered how come some of those Monaro PR shots were so vastly superior to most of the other stuff of that era. I mean, just look at the composition and sharpness. Now I know…..Helmut Newton!!!!
I never knew he did such work. Thanks again!
No worries,I think he did ones for Boag’s beer shortly before he died as well.
I traded a slab of Boags draught for a Mazda 323 wagon once repowered it went for 3 years best slab of beer I ever bought.
Well, Boag’s is a quality drop!
As others have said, a lot of Oldsmobile in the exterior. ’66 Cutlass Supreme sedan in particular.
The power window looks like it might be the same one used on U.S. cars from the ’60s to the ’80s.
The shoulder belt mounting is very surprising. That looks very modern and much more integrated than most U.S. GM designs until about ’73. Strange, I’ve long been under the impression that U.S. safety regs were usually in the lead on a global basis. I actually used the early separate shoulder belt in my ’72 Pontiac, and it was definitely a compromised design as far as comfort and convenience, but the shoulder strap sure was easy to tuck away in the ceiling pocket and forget about it.
Fun fact: the HK Holden Kingswood and Premier (and HB Torana) were offered, on paper at least, in Japan. A friend in Japan owned the brochure – he sold it recently (for AU$220!), but here’s a scan of it:
I like the HK Holden Premier and Brougham. The only thing I would’ve done is replace the warning lights with proper gauges as used on the Monaro. I’d also order mine with a sun visor over the windscreen. Everything else on the car is perfect. 🙂
I’ve never seen one in person. Was the Holden HK ever sold in the USA?
No it wasn’t.
Could it hold a 55-gallon drum in the trunk like the Leyland P76?
A lot of articles about Aussie versions talk about overhang in the other direction. Supposedly the Falcon wagon had too much rear for Aussie driveways, so it had to be shortened. This didn’t make much sense; admittedly I haven’t been there, but most pics of Melbourne and Sydney show flat driveways similar to US, not extreme rollercoasters. If overhang was a serious problem, Holden wouldn’t have been adding more.
I suspect the situation was different outside the cities. The Argentine Falcon Rural wagon was shortened for the same reason:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-cohort/cohort-classicsautomotive-history-the-near-immortal-ford-falcon-of-argentina/
Reporting from the scene of the crimes in Australia, I’m not sure how much is myth and how much isn’t.
The drawings from the local designer here had the 1960 US Falc wagon shortened, but that may be because it also shared most panelling with the (US-non-existent) ute and delivery van: both bodystyles were crucial to be a competitor in Aus. The shorter ass was sold, true or not, as a solution to the long-assed US wagon body dragging on the ground not on driveways – yes, they’re pretty much US-style – but on outback roads, still very common then. Call it departure angle on a 4wd and you’re about right, I guess.
The ridiculous-assed Holden Brougham featured here wasn’t ever going to be a ute, or a wagon, or probably ever go on bad dirt roads, as it was a pricey item here back in the day.
It is, btw, hopefully, a positive comment upon the taste of Australians that the horrible bloody thing sold poorly!
Bought an HK 68 Brougham second hand in immaculate condition about 1970 and purchased it specifically for it’s long back end. As a bass player in bands it was the perfect car to transport the family, plus a huge Bass Amp speaker box in the large boot. She went on band trips all over South Australia and Victoria pulling the band trailer..quite a vehicle.
By the time I traded her in she had gone through 3 dashboards and accumulated approx 300,000 Miles. That’s more than the distance from Earth to the moon lol. I traded her in for an 1978 HZ Statesman Caprice which was also a great car.
That Chevy 307 motor just kept on going, although she was blowing a bit of blue smoke before I sold her. Heads had never been off and the only things I kept replacing were water pumps, mufflers and radiators. Adelaide hard water lol.
From memory it was originally a silver paint job that was resprayed white by my mate for my wedding. Looked great with the black vinyl roof.
She was a magnificent car for the 15 years approx. that I owned her and I wish I still had her.