Thread: Holden axed in Aussie.

I have only ever owned 1 Holden.
It was a Torana. It was a 2 door with a 186 motor, 3 on the tree.
As I am not a Holden person I have no idea what model it was but looked a bit like a shark, SWMBO called it The Shark.
I must admit I thought it was a pretty good car, mainly because our previous car was a Fiat 128 1100.
So the Shark seemed very powerful!
The first time I drove it up the Toowoomba range I was shocked, reckon it did it better than my old XT 302 ute!
That was the last "Car" we ever owned, after that it's been all 4WD's.
Jonesfam

We had a canary yellow Kingswood wagon which was a crude old beast, but could carry an enormous amount of kid's junk in the back.
Later we had a blue Commodore wagon which was quite a good car.
One of my bosses had a V8 Calais whose fuel gauge moved faster than the speedo!

Originally Posted by BradC

If I had a garage where I could lock it up and keep it under cover I'd love one. Yes, it's a POS, but it's a POS that my grandfather hand-beat curves into, lead wiped and painted up damaged panels from the journey from East to West before they hit the showroom floor. And one towed the caravan that I still hook up behind my much nicer but just as unreliable D3.

Nostalgia. Oh and he'd probably wet his pants if he saw the van hooked up to a nicely restored EH as the cupboard doors inisde the van are painted with a left over special limited blue that Holden tried out at about that time.

I've never been a Holden fan, but just like I go nuts for a fastidiously restored E-type (or my old mans TR4A), a really well done old Holden gets my attention, respect and tip of the hat.

I have no problem with any of that. I agree largely with Tombie, but I'd give a heck of a lot to get back the MGB my dad bought in 1963, first boat load, white with red seats, 3 bearing crank engine, from Lane's Motors. I got it when I was 19. I paid him for it. It had 29,000 mile on it in 10 years. I drove it into the ground. The old man has been dead for 21 years so I can't even tell him how sorry I am.

It was an awful car, but it looked great and had a cracking exhaust note.

I had an EH. It was bog standard. One morning I was driving my then wife to work. It was a little damp, and I lost it on a bend. It kissed a tree on the passenger door. Car could have been driven away, but the armrest shattered her hip. There were 12 months of hell that ensued. This was in 1980. Not the cars fault, obviously, but a modern car would have protected her at the cost of itself.

I get that you like restored old Holdens. I follow a guy who does old Falcons. I admire the dedication. But a restored EH or XP is still a POS. I much prefer a modernised version, one that looks the goods but is a real world driver.

Something like this:

Yeah, $$$$$$, but how much does a full resto on a Holden cost?

Unsure, however using a mates 67 XR Fairmont as reference.

That build is at $110k and climbing.

The guy across the road has one of the last Monaro's off the production line , I see he has a big at the moment . He only drives it about half a dozen times a year to coffee & cars so will have low K's

Most Holden dealers saw this coming and added other brands to their businesses. Today I saw one Holden dealer who also has Nissan, Renault and Honda, for example.

Multi branding has been with the industry for decades. Manufacturers do not like it and put many hurdles in the way however were not able to stop it. Even if there is only one franchise on the site they will own others elsewhere. Some times they will have the same name on all sites other times will use different names. This was done so the dealers could protect themselves a little from the manufacturers.

Theory is that they can jettison one brand and their business should be able to carry on. Also brands profitability varies across a models life cycle. One brand that is profitable carries the other brands in the dealer group.

Dealers like to build their own brand while manufacturers want the dealer to build their brand. They see the dealer building their brand as challenging the manufacturer.

Often they will target brands with a similar customer base so marketing spend is maximised. You see Kia, Hyundai, Citroen, Peugeot. Fiat and Renault in the one dealer group as these brands all target the budget market. For the same reason you see Ford, Vauxhall, Volvo, Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes, BMW and VW together as they target the mid and volume markets

Many of the new car dealerships, in the greater Brisbane area, are owned by either Austral or Eagers.