I’ve gotten pretty familiar with the second generation Holden from all the various down-under posts we’ve had over the years. But the wagon has managed to escape my closer scrutiny, until today, thanks to this 1979 HZ Kingswood station wagon posted at the Cohort by johnh875. The gen2 Monaro had a 111″ wheelbase, but the wagon had a 114″ wb. So if you’d like to imagine a mid-seventies Nova wagon, this should help you along.
The front quarter sort of looks like an oversized Opel as well. Big fan of Novas and also of Station Wagons. I like this.
I thought it looked like an FE Victor/Ventora at the front quarter.I like this too,more Aussie iron please
The rear hatch and taillight treatment is very Vega Kammback-esque.
They are just a tailgate with a roll-down window
It’s a Holden Premier wagon. Essentially a better-equipped Kingswood. I don’t think the HQ-HZ series shares much with any American GM. You could get an HZ with an Aussie 4 on the floor manual or Tri-Matic 3 speed auto. Engines were 202ci straight six, 253ci V8 or 308ci V8. All were more than powerful enough.
Rust has killed most of these cars, as it’s basically the only way to kill them.
Oops forgot to look at the badge under the tailgate handle! I will change the description when I get a chance.
It is worth noting that they aren’t a Monaro, that was originally the name for the 2-door hardtop only, but then turned into a trim level name. The 2-door Monaro body was gone by the time this car was made, but a 4-door Monaro was available.
Strictly speaking, the Monaro badge died with the HX. The sports sedan in the HZ range was called the GTS. No Monaro. And a bloody nice car they were. Radial Tuned Suspension, Halogen lights, etc.
Appears to be a 5L engine radial tuned suspension badge is on the left of tailgate engine option call out on the right, This one appears well equipped for the model, most of these were stolen amd stripped of all power options to improve utes and other lesser models it take 4 minutes to remove everything of value without numbers. Floorpan is a modified Chevrolet Camaro with tuned Camaro suspension to make it drive properly and not understeer too much.
The radial tuned suspension is a bit of a misnomer really, it had more to do with correcting the earlier total-loss understeer geometry with something that would provide decent roadholding. I have heard of the ‘gross understeer as safety feature’ you describe below, as I understand it that was a directive of a US-based chief engineer or CEO at the time. Then Peter Hanenberger came out from Germany and changed things quite a bit, including the RTS and also Commodore development.
Yes a huge improvement I drove new HQs on a regular basis radial tyres help but dont dial out the understeer completely, check out the suspension spec on HQ race cars its all factory stuff but those thing have great turn in.
Rear sway bars help Holdens immensely and HXZ ones retrofit Ive used one on a HQ sedan to good effect
Other than the center foil emblem, the wheelcovers are the same as the ones used on the ’73-’74 Buick Centuries and X-body 70’s Skylarks.
These used rear coil springs, so I don’t know how much A-F body is really in them.
I meant X-F body.
I see a lot of Monte Carlo in that Holden…
Those Aussie Kingswood wagons was also sold as the Chevrolet Constantia in South Africa http://www.productioncars.com/gallery.php?car=15747&make=Chevrolet&model=Constantia
Holdens were fitted with Chev engines and sold in SouthAfrica as Chevrolets from the 66 HR model.
Are these wider than a Nova?
The F/R track is almost exactly the same as the Nova’s.
… on 2nd thought maybe it’s more Ford Torino
Not like you to leap in with supposition Paul. Absolutely nothing in common with a Nova.
Nope, if there were a Nova involved it would look like this => => => =>
Absolutely, positively, nothing? The optional Turbo-Hydramatic?
KiwiBryce has been brainwashing me for years, telling us that there was a considerable similarity in their front floor pan and front suspension. But I can’t find any sources to verify that. So maybe he’s wrong? 🙂
The thing certainly has a Nova-like front subframe. But from there to say it’s straight from a Nova, I won’t venture to say.
Did the Nova or its offsprings ever had 4 link coil sprung rear suspension?
No. The wheelbase is exactly the same, which may (or not) be a coincidence. And the track is within a half-inch. One of these days, I’m going to have to research these Holdens a bit more in depth. It may well be that they borrowed some components, and not others.
I’d be keen to know if there’s anything to it too. None of the Aussie car magazines ever said anything about the HQ-Z/WB using Camaro or Nova floorplan. None of my family in the Kiwi motor trade have ever heard of that story either. I’m not discrediting Bryce, but CC is the only place I’ve ever heard anyone say the Kingswood and Chevs shared parts. Google hasn’t produced any evidence that I can find, but maybe the truth is out there!
The Holden track varies with which wheels are fitted, Wagons and utes had wider tyres and rims
He’s totally wrong, another half informed nit wit spreading half truths to confuse an already confusing issue
From the angle shown, the car displays many similarities to the 1970 (full-size) U.S. Chevy Kingswood wagon:
Under that Holden is a Chev Camaro front and rear suspension and floorpan not sure where the Nova fits in but the entire running gear was lifted from Chevrolet, there were many complaints about the forward mounting of the steering box ahead of the axle, these cars had the US inspired understeer at the limit alledgedly a safety feature it may well be when you have multiple lanes all going in the same direction on 2 lane blacktop it is dangerous as you will understeer into the opposing traffic lane.
No Camaro had coil springs until the ’82 model, these were launched a decade earlier.
My father was at the GMH launch of the HQ Holden they got a very in depth rundown on where the car was sourced.
Australians do not even realise the car is styled after an Opel never mind just how UnAustralian Holdens really are. The rear suspension is a enlarged version on the Vauxhall trailing arm system used on the Viva/Torana/Opel Even the advertising material made a big deal of the US sourced front suspension and forward mounted steering box and the safety aspect of pronounced understeer,
The entire front suspension is Chevrolet, The one tonner used Impala ball joints for increased strength, GMH mixed and matched parts from the GM bin for decades ask any Aussie whos tried to source Chevy parts you get them from Holden, HQ front discs retrofit all the way back to the 55 shoebox,
In NZ replica Camaro bodies were made to fit HQ Holdens because the car is identical underneath. Because the ignoramusses who write in magazines dont know it cant be true can it.
I think it looks Japanese.
It looks awfully like a Mazda Roadpacer 😉
It is the same car but with a rotary.
Mazda Roadpacer was a HJ Holden Premier with Rotary”power”
Yes, the little rotary looked totally lost in that engine bay. The fan shroud is ridiculous.
The brocade trim in the Roadpacer would make a GM designer blush.
Not sure about the wagon, but AFAIK the sedans had coil spring rear suspensions.
That Premier badge tells me that it has a quad headlamp front end (I guess :S). I’ve seen a similar to this one (in red) in my neck of the woods.
They usually look cool, sort of mini-Chevelle. The interiors I’ve seen have a very modern looking/sporty black 3-spoke steering wheel.
Is it a V8?
It has my favorite VIC plate slogan, heaps better than the weak sauce/lame duck one they are releasing this year.
I like the (bit tired) E34 in front of it.
The wagon had coils too, my mate had to search hard for a new leaf-sprung axle for his ute when he broke an axle. We changed that in the gravel car park, then a few months later his brother broke another axle so I can only conclude they weren’t very strong in 6-cyl form.
The banjo diffs had weak axles sedan ute or whateva 6 or V8 but its an easy fix and the parts are in every fish and chip shop only the utes and vans had leaf springs and prehistoric BOF construction a Holden first,
Dual exhausts would indicate a V8, which could be a 253 or more likely 308.
Victoria – Garden State was the slogan from 1978-1994. I think all of the states have changed from their original slogans now, and I don’t know that the new ones have been popular anywhere.
I thought the slogan was “Victoria On the move”. I guess I didn’t see the green numbers.
The garden one is still better than Ted’s idea.
It’s strange that being a V8 it isn’t running on LPG.
That was the next one. For a while it seemed like “on the move to Queensland” referring to the emigration when Victoria was in the doldrums. The following slogan was “Victoria – the place to be” which I saw at least once appended with “fined”, referring to the brutal speed enforcement regime here.
“referring to the brutal speed enforcement regime here”
Ditto, now (legally) allowed to hide the cameras in the bushes… you know… for the $ake of officer$ $afety.
I had QLD candlelight state due to the power worker strikes on my Kombi and W.A. X home of the Americas cup on my rustbucket Sigma I bought in Bunburry.
Dual exhausts are not factory all Holden V8s had single tailpipe from new twin systems are all after market.
Don’t know about the HZ Premier wagon but my fathers’s 308 HQ Monaro definitely had factory twin pipes.
twin system not factory kiwi baaahahaha
Here is a shot of another wagon, it doesn’t have the original panels on the front end as they are a bolt-on proposition (quite a bonus as my mate found when his brother crashed his ute – just bolt the front sheet metal on from another vehicle and you’re good to go). This wagon has the later 1980-84 Statesman Caprice grille, headlights and bumper which has long been a popular option to dress up a Holden from this era. It also has Monaro fluted front guards (aka fenders), which have a vent and painted accents.
And rear – please excuse window reflections…
One clue to the ancestry of this car Camaro front panels bolt on the swage lines dont match but the pieces fit.
Bryce, ddo you know if a camaro fuel tank will fit a hz Kingswood sedan? They look identical and no one reproduces the hz ones,
Kiwi Bryce is at least part right. I don’t know if the floorpans and subframes were the same as the F body but the principle is the same. And parts such as suspension ball joints are common to Chevrolet – which helps Antipodean Camaro drivers.
Its almost certainly a 308 – not many HZs seem to have sported the 253, or maybe nobody noticed them. The sedan was on a 111 inch wheelbase, but the wagon shared the 114 inch with the luxo Statesman. The extra 3 inches was behind the rear doors – the door shut line goes to the wheel arch on the sedan, but is just forward of it on the wagon. The wagon and the Statesman also shared rear doors. The wagon taillights were shared by the ute and also the first HQ Statesman – later Statesmans (Statesmen?) had a tonier rear light arrangement – although I personally like the original look. This Holden body went through 3 facelifts – the original and cleanest HQ, which some people thought it wasn’t quite man enough in the looks department. The HJ but on a brasher nose (and a retro strip speedometer), the HX introduced smog controls and was both a waffly handler and weak in the go department, and the HZ tidied up the handling. The HZ GTS was the sporty one, sedan only and wasn’t called a Monaro, although it was in all but name.
HX was from memory the last 2door Monaro they had those rubber coated wheels quite rare cars very few sold as 2 door cars not popular in OZ Ford created their Cobra Falcon coupes to clear leftover body shells and created instant classics by numbering them though they were bog standard V8 coupes under the paint.
I saw a Monaro LE on the weekend, they had gold Pontiac sourced honeycomb wheels to match the burgundy/maroon paint with gold pinstriping. Certainly a different approach from the Falcon Cobra to finish off the line!
here a few more shot 1979 Hz prem this ones mine running a 308 14 in Indy dray ways and the person that said rust was a killer was dead right these were pretty tough cars
This is a better shot
A limited number of 4x4s came out called the Overlander. I’m Aussie btw so any questions I can hopefully answer for you.