The Holden was a full-sized car produced by the company of the same name across 5 generations from 1948 until 1984. The Holden is also commonly referred to by their model designation (e.g., HQ) and also the H Series. The Holden was introduced to be Australia's car, being the first full scale produced automobile exclusive to the country. Prior to which, General Motors Holden's Ltd. assembled imported CKD kits from overseas General Motors subsidiaries such as Chevrolet, Buick, Vauxhall and more. And the only other cars built in the country being Ford and Chrysler vehicle bodies fitted to imported chassis. The Holden was an instant success among Australians, being the first production car built solely for Australia's unique, rough roads.
The Holden Ute was derived from the Holden. Until 1971, the Ute retained the rear floorpan of the sedan, although it was beneath the Ute's tray floor.
The Holden was produced in all states (excluding territories and Tasmania) of Australia at varying stages of its lifetime.
Between 1960 and 1968 Holden vehicles were able to be modified to left-hand drive for markets such as Hawaii. Right-hand drive Holdens were exported all throughout its lifetime to countries such as South Africa where they were rebadged as Chevrolets.[1]
Upon its introduction the Holden was available in a single trim level, however it soon adopted the naming of Holden Standard, Holden Business and Holden Special. The Holden Business was soon phased out due to being unpopular due to its awkward mid-range position. In 1963, the Holden Premier was introduced, placed significantly higher than the Special, with many more luxury focused components. In 1968 with the launch of the HK series, the Standard and Special were replaced by the Holden Belmont and Holden Kingswood respectively, along with Holden's first coupe model, the Holden Monaro,[2] and also the first Long-wheelbase model, the Holden Brougham, to compete with the wildly successful Ford Fairlane. In 1971, the Brougham was replaced by the Statesman upon the launch of the fully redesigned HQ series, this model was now devoid of the Holden name, however remained essentially the same car. Also along with the HQ came the cab chassisHolden One Tonner. The Holden remained essentially unchanged throughout the 1970s, with only minor style changes, and the coupe model ceasing production after the HX series, until 1980 with the introduction of the WB series when the sedan and station wagon models were both also dropped, leaving only the ute and panelvan in the range, which gained the Statesman WB front clip. The Holden was discontinued as a whole in 1984, as Holden turned its focus entirely to the Holden Commodore.
By the time production of the Holden ceased in 1984, total production of the Holden reached 3,330,401.
The First Generation of the Holden was heavily influenced by a pre-World War II Chevrolet design and is shown clearly by its similarities to the Chevrolet Fleetline, the design was axed in the US due to it being deemed likely to small too succeed in their local market.[3]
Production: 120,402 examples
The Holden 48-215 was the first Australian made and designed vehicle on the market, based on a stillborn Chevrolet design. Powered by a 132 cubic inch Inline 6, built by Holden, but like the car itself, based on an American design. This first model was built exclusively in Port Melbourne at the Holden Headquarters
The initial Second Generation Holdens were a lot more European than its predecessor, showing similarities to Vauxhalls of the era. The later Second Generation Holdens took a hard turn towards a significantly more American styling, and is very similar to, and to those unaware could be confused with a '57 Chevy.[4]
During the FBs model run, what would become Holden's biggest local competitor for the next over 40 years, the Ford Falcon was introduced. Holden however retained a 49.6 percent market share in 1961, still outselling the Aussie Falcon by an impressive margin
The Third Generation Holden introduced a new styling with a unique angular grille, and the introduction of the new flagship Premier specification, finally bringing bucket seats to the Holden, alongside many other luxury options.[5] The Latter half of the Third Generation Holden was highly inspired by the 1963 Vauxhall FC Victor. With this half came advanced safety features such as front end disk brakes in the HD, and seatbelts in the HR. Holden also started experimenting with coupés during the HR era, however never came to a decision, few prototypes were created, and thus the location of such are unknown. It is a possibility these cars were crushed however GMH never commented on the fate of these vehicles.[6][7][8]
The EH was only a minor redesign over the EJ, however the groundbreaking change with the EH was the introduction of the much more modern red motor, finally moving away from the outdated grey motor used in earlier models. The EH also introduced the first homologation special holden, the 'S4 special', of which 126 were produced.[9]
The HD was a massive redo of the look of the Holden, with a more refined grille, and the extended front fenders that were fought over at GM's design headquarters in Detroit.
The HR was a mild but much more successful refinement over the HD, with shortened front guards, grille mounted indicators, giving the illusion of quad-headlights, giving a much more luxury design over its predecessor. Also alongside the HR came the 186 cubic-inch variant of the red motor. Along with the first mass produced sport oriented Holden engine, the 186X2 available as part of the X2 option on Holden Special and Holden Premier models.
The Fourth Generation holden was a big evolution for the Holden, with the introduction of the long awaited Monarocoupe, official use of V8 engines, and Holdens stab at the Ford Fairlane's market share, the Long-wheelbase Holden Brougham[12]
The HK introduced the new Monaro, and with that came the wildly popular GTS trim level, however the model was the all new 327 cub-inch small block chevrolet V8 powered Monaro GTS327
The HT was a minor revision over the HK, but with the replacement of the GTS327 by the GTS350. Also with the HT came the brand new Holden V8 engine, replacing the previous 305 and 307 Chevrolet items. The 308 cubic-inch Holden V8 was initially only available in the HT Brougham, as GMH still needed to liquidate stock of the smaller American V8s.
The HG design was again, similar to the two models that came before it, The HG introduced the 308 engine to the lower specification models, along with the new TriMatic 3-speed automatic gearbox, finally bringing automatic transmissions into the mainstream line up, being less expensive than the imported PowerGlide and HydraMatic transmissions that were available prior. Although the 3-speed Turbo-HydraMatic 350 was still available behind the Holden 308, and the remaining imported Chevrolet 350.
The Introduction of the Fifth Generation of Holden in 1971 marked the first full redesign since the original 48-215 in 1948. With this change can the new Semi-monocouque architecture for coupé, sedan and station wagon models and a full body-on-chassis design for the ute, panelvan and newly introduced one tonner model. The Brougham was also dropped in favour of the new Statesman model, which no longer carried the Holden name.[13]
The Holden HQ is yet another heavily Chevrolet inspired design, sharing likeness with the Camaro and Chevelle. The HQ was the last Holden model to feature a Chevrolet Small Block V8 until the introduction of the Series II VT Commodore in 1999. With the HQ Monaro came the LS, a variant similar to the sedan and wagon's Premier specification. The HQ Monaro could be a lot more luxury focused, without the looming effect of homologation, as Holden's motorsport teams turned towards the smaller Torana.
Production: 485,650 examples. The most of any Holden ever produced
The HJ introduced a more Cadillac-esque styling to the Holden, with the return of the large chrome grilles. The Monaro however retained the HQ style taillights, along with the One Tonner remaining largely unchanged with the exception of dashboard design.
The HX is mostly known for the Monaro Limited Edition, designed as a runout model for the remaining coupe bodyshells, all 580 examples of the LE were identical to each other.
The main changes that came with the HZ holden are the introduction of Radial Tuned Suspension (RTS) technology, previously tested in the LX Torana, along with the deletion of the coupé body style and the deletion of the Belmont trim level, now simply called Holden.
With the release of the WB range, the sedan and station wagon bodystyles were dropped, leaving only the ute, panelvan and cab chassis body styles, the WB also introduced the Blue motor, bringing an end to the Red's 17 year run. After the WB ended production, production of the Holden came to an end after 36 years, with Holden moving their focus to their smaller Commodore model.
And its commercial vehicle based derivative the Holden Sandman.
Holden Overlander
The Holden overlander was a 4x4 converted version of the Holden ute and wagon, optioned with a Holden 308 V8, Turbo 400 gearbox, along with axels & transfer case manufactured specially for the Overlander by Dana in the USA. The Overlander was made by Arthur Hayward in Launceston, Tasmania from brand new Holden utes and wagons. GMH denied selling bare shells, however did retain their factory warranty for buyers of the Overlander.[14]
Body Styles
Sedan
The first body style ever introduced for the Holden in 1948 with the FX, it consisted of a 4-door, 5 seat design with a full size boot separated from the cabin space by the rear seat cushion.
Coupe Utility
The Coupe Utility or ‘Ute’ Was introduced in 1951 to compete with Ford Australia's wildly popular Coupe Utility, it maintained the sedans front doors forwards, yet had a completely redesigned rear end. In 1971, Alongside the Panel Van, the Ute was given a Body-on-Chassis style design over the classic unibody style.
Panel Van
The Panel Van was introduced shortly after the Ute, essentially a Commercial van based on the Ute with a Fixed sheet metal hardtop.
Wagon
The Wagon was introduced with the FE Generation, it was essentially identical to the sedan forward of the rear doors, which themselves were modified to flow with the extended roofline, with a squarer rear end, a lift back rear hatch and the rear seat back, this time acting as a luggage divider rather than completely separating the boot space from the cabin.
Coupe
The much anticipated Coupé body style was introduced in 1968 in the HK range to compete with the Falcon Futura and Valiant coupes of the time, the Coupe's front clip and boot-lid were essentially the only crossover panels between the Coupé and Sedan, with restyled rear quarter panels and extended doors.
Long-Wheelbase Sedan
The Long-Wheelbase Brougham was introduced to compete against the Ford Fairlane, the Brougham was essentially a standard Holden Sedan with an extended boot and some adjustment to the rear of the cabin space. In 1971, the Brougham was phased out and replaced by the Statesman, a model of essentially the same goal, however the Statesman saw some success in chipping into the Fairlane's market share.
One Tonner
The One Tonner was introduced alongside the HQ range in 1971, the ‘Tonner was essentially a Coupe Utility with the rear tray section removed implementing a Cab-Chassis design, the ‘Tonner also featured an extended Ladder frame.
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