What was the first imported car post 1948 to be sold in Australia with Holden badges?

[XR Martin]

If people prefer chintzy feature on cars than their fellow citizens being employed, then they deserve everything that happens to society when you have mass unemployment.

[Cuyper]

Falcons were the same underbody for probably even longer... They had a stretch of upper body only changes for a very long time. Also even though you can bolt a VN front and rear end into a vb-vl. It'll have a wider track and almost rub the guards. So its not really the same width. VT-VZ is quite different, that stuff doesn't bolt in. Neither does the VS front end or any of the VP-VS IRS rear end.

Originally Posted by Bluehoon

VB Commodore, hands down.

1) Cultural shift to mid size which back fired
2) Imported design from Opel
3) All models there after were modelled an imported options.

Infact only constant was the underpinning chassis design as that didnt change from VB to VZ. This is why the VN had so an overbody or overchassis look about it. It came good in VS and kicked *** in VT/VX though.

VTII SS in Blue with Gen3 is still a rocker car IMO, depsite it's short comings.

VB started the rot, from Holden's perspective.

[stevz]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

We had a 1982 Rodeo "long bed" ute which we owned for about six or seven years, only selling it about two years ago...and what an eye opener it was compared to most of what was available at the time in the early late seventies and early eighties: reliable as hell, economical, able to be used and abused and just keep going, cheap to run. No wonder you still see so many of them around.

Vehicles like that opened peoples minds to the fact that there were other choices other than just a Ford Falcon or Holden Kingswood, and if you prefer it, "that's when the rot set in".

...only if you define "rot setting in" as the public realising they could get a great deal on an amazing well equipped as standard car (often with standard fitments that weren't even available on local products), which cost heaps less to run, giving them a motoring experience quite different than what they'd been led to expect from a "normal family car".

And what happened to all those glorious and well equipped Japanese imports of the 70's and 80's? They quickly became smoke billowing **** boxes. They are as rare as hens teeth these days whereas you see plenty of old Holdens and Falcons still getting around.

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by stevz

Wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall_Viva



As previously stated, the first fully imported Holden was the Rodeo in 1980.

image

Not wrong....the HA Vauxhall Viva was never badged as a Holden, it was assembled by GMH but remained a Vauxhall.....

Introduced in May 1967 to replace the HA series Vauxhall Viva in the Australian market, the first Torana model was a facelifted HB series Vauxhall Viva. It featured a two-door body, 12 inch (305 mm) wheels and a 56 bhp 1.2-litre four-cylinder engine mated to a four-speed gearbox. A Borg-Warner Model 35 three-speed automatic transmission was optional. Drum brakes were fitted front and rear, with power assisted front disc brakes optional.

In early 1968 a "Series 70" engine option was added. This engine had a higher compression ratio, a higher lift camshaft, and a single CD Stromberg carburettor, which boosted output to 69 bhp (51 kW; 70 PS). Power assisted front disc brakes were standard when this engine was used, and the automatic transmission option was now no longer available with the standard 56 bhp (42 kW; 57 PS) engine. A 'sports' model was also released at the same time called the 'Brabham' Torana, named in honour of the well-respected Australian race-car driver, Sir Jack Brabham. The Brabham Torana's engine was based on the Series 70, but twin CD Stromberg carburettors with sports air cleaners were fitted. Together with the low restriction exhaust system, this boosted the power to 79 bhp (59 kW; 80 PS). The Brabham also included wider wheel rims and red-wall tyres, power assisted front disc brakes as standard, different badging and black body accents. Automatic transmission was not available on this model.

In September 1968, the '69 Torana' was released, sometimes called the HB Series II. This featured locally made body panels, replacing the imported bodies of the original HB. The model line up now included a four-door sedan which was developed in Australia, with four-door bodies shipped back to the UK to be constructed and sold as the Viva. A collapsable steering column was now fitted, together with a new recessed instrument cluster, new indicator switch, and new steering wheel borrowed from the contemporary full-sized Holden. These local components replaced the previously imported Vauxhall items. A consequence of using these local components was the loss of the stalk operated headlight dip switch and horn. The dip switch ended up on the floor, as was the case for full-size Holdens. Dual circuit brakes were now standard on all models, though power assisted front disc brakes were still optional with the standard 56 bhp (42 kW; 57 PS) engine. The Brabham Torana was still available, in two-door form only. It now included a sports steering wheel similar to the contemporary Holden Monaro GTS, full instrumentation, different badging, and different black accenting. The HB Torana continued until late 1969. Total production was 16,318 with imported panels and 20,243 with the locally manufactured bodies.

[castellan]

Originally Posted by Cuyper

I doubt the very first Toranas were built here, when they became built here.. That I don't know but that was the first imported model I'd say. I m sure someone on here owns one or has a friend that owns one and can find out, still heaps of them running down the 1/4 mile. Theres no way Holden would have tooled up and built that here from day one. The VB wasn't imported, sure many panel moulds would have been but I have as friend in Europe with the Opel version and on visiting me he could point out major differences in the chassis and body.

The HK-WB were very very similar to the American models under the sheet metal but not near identical like the Falcons of the period were to the American Falcons.

In the end these are both American companies and the Australian models from both were heavily influenced by the American cars or in Holdens case also the German cars. I guess many of the Capri/Escort and early Cortinas were fully imported also?.

The first Holden was mainly influenced by the German Opel then any USA GM car.

[castellan]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

I remember that...it was very noticeable at the time and I recall other makes doing comparisons between the same, or very similar, cars, some of which were fully imported and some built here. BIG differences were apparent.

People also forget that the local industry got lazy...they were protected from the big bad world, and were happy to dish out haphazardly built, under-equipped poor performing cars and the public sucked it all up because it didn't know any better. My parents always had "imports", from a Hillman Super Minx when I was born up until I was about six, to a couple of brand new Mazdas starting with a Capella in 1971, a top of the line 929 wagon in 1974, then on to a Diahatsu Charade top of the line model in 1984, to a Mazda 121 in 1998 which is still going strong for my mother. Our neighbour in Nambour always bought Holden, full stop, despite being a watchmaker with a jewellery shop. I remember even now all the standard features that the cars our neighbour bought just didn't have, or which were expensive options on the Holden (if they were available at all), and my father and he indulging in a bit of good natured ribbing back and forth over the fence about the subject.

In an isolated country like ours, yes, it can be a good idea to be able to build your own cars to suit...however, that doesn't mean the makers can ignore the quality and features of foreign cars and just expect the government to protect them strongly from the nasty furriners who are coming in with fancy stuff they aren't willing to put in their boring old outdated cars.

Sorry...but sometimes the truth hurts. I have no doubt in my mind that the current Commodore and Falcon would be nowhere near the standard they are now if it weren't for strong foreign competition. Their problem is that they are too big and not what the public wants any more...and both makers were caught on the back foot (as plenty of other car manufacturers have over the decades) when buying trends changed.
They're not selling to an uneducated (about cars) "captive audience" anymore.

How can one say they were poor performing etc, the junk you are on about were rubbish in it's day.
The aussie people were backward mainly just like the yanks, they loved there drum brake poorly damped understeering cars because that was all they could comprehend. they do not consist of driving enthusiast but just stupid lazy dopey numb skull twerps that some how have a licence.
People were mainly poor in this nation if you look back so they bought 6 cyl kingswoods etc = junk but you could get V8's and get them perfoming well but this was fround on by most, even mechanics as they would say why do you want better brakes etc.
Look at the aurion they etc of today they don't cut it compared to commodore or falcon to drive and where you can drive them, ok for a city car for some fairy driver as this FWD crap is not made for the majority of true aussie conditions of a 2WD.
look at our utes nothing is better than the aussies by far.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by castellan

Look at the aurion they etc of today they don't cut it compared to commodore or falcon to drive and where you can drive them, ok for a city car for some fairy driver as this FWD crap is not made for the majority of true aussie conditions of a 2WD.
look at our utes nothing is better than the aussies by far.

Really? Ever driven an Aurion? Plenty of power, hard pressed to know which end is doing the driving, comfortable...a bit "white goods on wheels" I'll admit...but perfectly good for what 99% of motorists need. No wonder so many sell.
"Aussie" utes? "Nothing better"? Tell me where I could find something "Aussie" that does what our Triton dual cab does...and it's not just me...look at the explosion of dual cabs these days. They're the ideal "car" for a lot of people...the room of a sedan, a ute back able to be covered with a canopy to hold huge amounts of stuff, four wheel drive ability, diesels...the list goes on.
RWD? Getting the tail out is hardly high on the list of requirements for a family car. Towing? People don't buy Falcons or Commodores to tow big vans and boats...they buy one of the staggering range of AWD or four wheel drive vehicles.
Too many people honestly believe that when buyers consider a new car, the first thing on their mind is which end is driving the wheels, what it's 0-100 time is, and what sort of quarter mile time it can post...

Originally Posted by XR6 Martin

If people prefer chintzy feature on cars than their fellow citizens being employed, then they deserve everything that happens to society when you have mass unemployment.

Be careful what you wish for...a little history should be remembered.
Perhaps you don't remember the "golden era" of Australian car manufacture...the days when even something as simple as a rear window demister or a radio was an option, and sometimes expensive options. Hell, I always wished someone had ticked the option box for power boosted brakes on my VH 265 hemi Charger...the piddly little foreign Mazda Capella (also from 1971) that I owned before it had the following standard which were merely options on the Charger: front disc brakes, power boosted brakes, rear window demister (not even sure you could get that on a Charger), AM/FM stereo, tinted glass, cloth seats, pile carpets...the list goes on and on.

Back to the good old days where, unless you stumped up the cash for a car brand new and ticked a lot of option boxes (and as I said, some you couldn't even get), if you bought second hand you were usually up for a lot of extra spending to bring it up to a good standard.


Car makers in Australia were lazy...cars weren't just "under-equipped", they were shoddy by todays standards. Hell, sometimes they were even shoddy by the standards back then.
Forget the Premiers and Fairmonts and Regals that you see now in immaculate restored condition...the "normal" cars that people bought in large numbers were things like Belmonts, Kingswoods, Falcon 500's, and Rangers. These things were basic, but people were happy with them...because they didn't know better. They'd been convinced that this was "as good as it gets" when it came to "motoring excellence". There were people who were willing to look outside the box and consider something different, and they were often a voice in the wilderness amongst neighbours with underpowered, ill-handling, under-equipped land barges that were dynamically way behind even basic Japanese offerings. They were allowed to continue like this because of strong tariff and tax protections from the government.


Today we have pretty good cars from local makers...we have some absolutely excellent ones with amazing features...but they're mostly the imported ones rebadged and localised. The big two cars, Falcon and Commodore, are good...but they could be so much better.

The public isn't stupid...they're better educated than ever about cars. They no longer walk into a dealer and believe that their only "choice" is a large six cylinder local sedan that doesn't actually suit their needs these days. Those days are long gone...potential buyers are more badge-blind than ever, because honestly it's hard to buy a "bad" car nowadays. there's such a huge range that you will find pretty much anything to suit your needs, but large scale trends come and go, and the days of big rear drive sedans have "went" to the vast majority of the car buying public. People will not just walk in and plonk down cash on a car because dad had one and his dad had one...they will research carefully on the internet, they will ring around, they'll talk to other people, they'll take time to buy a car, much longer than they ever used to.

It's a shame that the car makers didn't see this coming, when it was so bloody obvious. Otherwise we could still see locally made cars on the menu.

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

not that simple, how do you define built here?

1. locally built from components mostly locally made and a local design
2. locally built from components mostly locally made and an offshore design
3. locally built from a CKD kit ( like the Laser)

as you can see different people can have a different view on what is a local car

Options 1, 2 and 3 are all local. Those that were screwed together in an Australian factory are local regardless of where they were designed or where the parts came from. Those which rolled of a ship complete were imported. Why is that difficult to understand?

[monte.b]

Lets face it most new cars now are just computers with wheels ,the younger folk wont buy it if it hasnt got blue tooth ,a dvd player and can park itself cause most have no idea how to park and of course cruise control ,stability control ,cause they cant drive either and all the rest of the crap ,our local cars are just as good or better than the imported rubbish pity they didnt load them a bit more with the extras the poor little souls need these days just to drive 5kms to work in their little office

[FGII-XR6]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Options 1, 2 and 3 are all local. Those that were screwed together in an Australian factory are local regardless of where they were designed or where the parts came from. Those which rolled of a ship complete were imported. Why is that difficult to understand?

Not difficult to understand I was just seeking clarification as people have different ideas of what constitutes a local car. many said the Laser was not a true local car as it was just a Mazda 323 in CKD kit form

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

Not difficult to understand I was just seeking clarification as people have different ideas of what constitutes a local car. many said the Laser was not a true local car as it was just a Mazda 323 in CKD kit form

Ah, the good old days of badge engineering. My favorite was the Nissan "Ute". People used to laugh at those who bought them...until they realised that badged as a "Nissan" the Falcon ute now had a standard Nissan factory warranty of 2yr/40,000km, instead of the Ford standard warranty of 1yr/20,000km.
It also worked the other way...the Ford Maverick (Nissan Patrol) went back to the local Ford warranty of 1yr/20,000...half the warranty the exact same vehicle came with when the badge said "Nissan".
Ah yes...the good old days when local makers were so trusting of their magnificent product that they offered half (or less) of the warranty of those pesky rubbish foreign cars...


Good point you make...do CKD cars count as "foreign" even though they're pretty much completely screwed together here...?


I also love it when people start deriding modern safety and convenience features as "unnecessary toys" or similar terms, especially the way foreign cars are usually packed with these features as standard. I'd pose this question: would you rather buy a completely Australian built car without cruise control, CD player, ABS, stability control, and all the other normal modern car features we have come to expect, just to say you "bought Australian"...?
If so, then you must like the good old days of the 70's, when Australian cars were indeed lacking in everything but the gullible public had been brainwashed into thinking they were "world standard"...

[monte.b]

1970 -71was a very good year i thought ,GTHO aint nothing built like it today ,and if they made one today id buy one ,without all the bells and whistles ,and really the only problem with the later ones was rust ,but super reliable and very comfortable cars to drive ,and the bloody doorhandles were a bit of a problem on the xd xe series

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by monte.b

,and the bloody doorhandles were a bit of a problem on the xd xe series

Yep...same problem was had with the TE Cortina...what the hell did Ford make them out of? Compressed toilet paper bonded with Clag glue...? They had the structural strength of a strand of uncooked spaghetti...

[MethodX]

Holden Piazza? came out about 86 I think.
A rebadged Isuzu, looked stylish at the time, but handled like a bag of spuds the testers said.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by MethodX

Holden Piazza? came out about 86 I think.
A rebadged Isuzu, looked stylish at the time, but handled like a bag of spuds the testers said.

Amazing looking car, but just a Gemini underneath. This meant they were astoundingly reliable, cheap to run, and economical...but which meant they hardly had the chassis dynamics to back up the sporting good looks.
Interestingly, after very slow sales because of a too-high price, Holden dropped the price by about $6000 shortly after it went on sale. The people who had bought one already were very angry about this (understandably) and Holden gave them refunds of the extra money they'd paid.

[castellan]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Really? Ever driven an Aurion? Plenty of power, hard pressed to know which end is doing the driving, comfortable...a bit "white goods on wheels" I'll admit...but perfectly good for what 99% of motorists need. No wonder so many sell.
"Aussie" utes? "Nothing better"? Tell me where I could find something "Aussie" that does what our Triton dual cab does...and it's not just me...look at the explosion of dual cabs these days. They're the ideal "car" for a lot of people...the room of a sedan, a ute back able to be covered with a canopy to hold huge amounts of stuff, four wheel drive ability, diesels...the list goes on.
RWD? Getting the tail out is hardly high on the list of requirements for a family car. Towing? People don't buy Falcons or Commodores to tow big vans and boats...they buy one of the staggering range of AWD or four wheel drive vehicles.
Too many people honestly believe that when buyers consider a new car, the first thing on their mind is which end is driving the wheels, what it's 0-100 time is, and what sort of quarter mile time it can post...




Be careful what you wish for...a little history should be remembered.
Perhaps you don't remember the "golden era" of Australian car manufacture...the days when even something as simple as a rear window demister or a radio was an option, and sometimes expensive options. Hell, I always wished someone had ticked the option box for power boosted brakes on my VH 265 hemi Charger...the piddly little foreign Mazda Capella (also from 1971) that I owned before it had the following standard which were merely options on the Charger: front disc brakes, power boosted brakes, rear window demister (not even sure you could get that on a Charger), AM/FM stereo, tinted glass, cloth seats, pile carpets...the list goes on and on.

Back to the good old days where, unless you stumped up the cash for a car brand new and ticked a lot of option boxes (and as I said, some you couldn't even get), if you bought second hand you were usually up for a lot of extra spending to bring it up to a good standard.


Car makers in Australia were lazy...cars weren't just "under-equipped", they were shoddy by todays standards. Hell, sometimes they were even shoddy by the standards back then.
Forget the Premiers and Fairmonts and Regals that you see now in immaculate restored condition...the "normal" cars that people bought in large numbers were things like Belmonts, Kingswoods, Falcon 500's, and Rangers. These things were basic, but people were happy with them...because they didn't know better. They'd been convinced that this was "as good as it gets" when it came to "motoring excellence". There were people who were willing to look outside the box and consider something different, and they were often a voice in the wilderness amongst neighbours with underpowered, ill-handling, under-equipped land barges that were dynamically way behind even basic Japanese offerings. They were allowed to continue like this because of strong tariff and tax protections from the government.


Today we have pretty good cars from local makers...we have some absolutely excellent ones with amazing features...but they're mostly the imported ones rebadged and localised. The big two cars, Falcon and Commodore, are good...but they could be so much better.

The public isn't stupid...they're better educated than ever about cars. They no longer walk into a dealer and believe that their only "choice" is a large six cylinder local sedan that doesn't actually suit their needs these days. Those days are long gone...potential buyers are more badge-blind than ever, because honestly it's hard to buy a "bad" car nowadays. there's such a huge range that you will find pretty much anything to suit your needs, but large scale trends come and go, and the days of big rear drive sedans have "went" to the vast majority of the car buying public. People will not just walk in and plonk down cash on a car because dad had one and his dad had one...they will research carefully on the internet, they will ring around, they'll talk to other people, they'll take time to buy a car, much longer than they ever used to.

It's a shame that the car makers didn't see this coming, when it was so bloody obvious. Otherwise we could still see locally made cars on the menu.

Yes i own a 2011 aurion it's the family car wife bought it not my cup of tea, would i buy one not on ya life ! it's a good car for joe blow and that's all it is, as it's not a drivers car at all. dirt or harsh roads it's just junk.

Dual cab room, haha what are you 5 ft tall. you wont get me in the back of one it's bad enought in the front sholders touching the driver at times and as far as handerling goes they are just junk, you may have your air bags ABS etc but that wont save you, it mainly gives fools a false sense of conferdance.

Valiants haha !

HG V8 Premier or XY V8 Fairmont what other imported car could better them at the time.

[Angeldust]

Something to consider, from my point of view.

i got my license in 1993, and so did a lot of my back then mates.

In this period, all the cars on the 2nd hand market were 10-20 years old and that is what we ended up buying.

From my experiance we ended up in Holdens and Fords, because the imported 'Jap' cars from that era were so crap it wasn't funny. For example, a lot of the NA 4cyl were so slow they made a 202 kingy/torana a fast car. Not only that the rings in most 4cyl cars of that era wouldn't last 100K (this is before the fuel injected cars of the late 80's), and maybe apart form some fancy steroe and a/c, there was hardly anything in the 'options' that would have made any of them more desireable.

It wasn't until the 90's that fuel injected jap cars became reliable as well as gained a better more realistic performance. And so it was somewhere around the mid to late 90's that these cars were looked upon as 'reliable' again. The prices of these fell dramatically as well. They now have a very solid following.

[Kingsley]

Originally Posted by castellan

The first Holden was mainly influenced by the German Opel then any USA GM car.

And the first three were built in the US and imported here for R&D. Does that make Holden an importer of vehicles before they were released here????

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by Angeldust

Something to consider, from my point of view.

i got my license in 1993, and so did a lot of my back then mates.

In this period, all the cars on the 2nd hand market were 10-20 years old and that is what we ended up buying.

From my experiance we ended up in Holdens and Fords, because the imported 'Jap' cars from that era were so crap it wasn't funny. For example, a lot of the NA 4cyl were so slow they made a 202 kingy/torana a fast car. Not only that the rings in most 4cyl cars of that era wouldn't last 100K (this is before the fuel injected cars of the late 80's), and maybe apart form some fancy steroe and a/c, there was hardly anything in the 'options' that would have made any of them more desireable.

It wasn't until the 90's that fuel injected jap cars became reliable as well as gained a better more realistic performance. And so it was somewhere around the mid to late 90's that these cars were looked upon as 'reliable' again. The prices of these fell dramatically as well. They now have a very solid following.

Let's not be so keen to slip on the rose tinted glasses about Australian stuff of the era...they were plenty bad and underpowered as well with some "interesting" design flaws, and after ADR27A they became even more asthmatic and uneconomical.

We should be happy to live in an era where there are just about no truly "bad" cars. Back in the seventies, it was a real coin toss, no matter who you bought one from...even the same model from one maker could vary wildly in quality and build finish from car to car.

[XR Martin]

I find it laughable that you use the Mazda Capella as some great example...
AM/FM radio in 1971? FM didnt become online in Sydney until the mid 70s, letalone actually mainstream. I actually dont think it would have even come with FM radio standard when it wasnt even up and running yet? Maybe overseas?
Carpet? What good is carpet when most roads/carparks/driveways outside the major cities was still dirt?
Im sure that real families appreciated the fact that you could barely fit four people in them, letalone five or six like you could in a Kinga or Falcon.


Oh, do you recall when the AU ute came out that people flocked to it, because they were sick of under equipped, unsafe, under powered Jap utes?
Hell, even a 2013 Hilux Workmate isnt any better equipped than an XF ute.

[stevz]

Originally Posted by XR6 Martin

I find it laughable that you use the Mazda Capella as some great example...
AM/FM radio in 1971? FM didnt become online in Sydney until the mid 70s, letalone actually mainstream. I actually dont think it would have even come with FM radio standard when it wasnt even up and running yet? Maybe overseas?
Carpet? What good is carpet when most roads/carparks/driveways outside the major cities was still dirt?
Im sure that real families appreciated the fact that you could barely fit four people in them, letalone five or six like you could in a Kinga or Falcon.


Oh, do you recall when the AU ute came out that people flocked to it, because they were sick of under equipped, unsafe, under powered Jap utes?
Hell, even a 2013 Hilux Workmate isnt any better equipped than an XF ute.

Mazda Capella lol.... I bought one of these once for $50 to use as a paddock bomb. To suggest that these were somehow superior to the Holdens and Falcons of the day is nothing short of a friggin joke.

[Neale]

The first Holden ever built "Australia's own car" was built in Detroit.

From the National Museum of Australia's website: http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/hi...type-car-no.-1

"Prototype No. 1 was built by hand in 1946 by American and Australian engineers at the General Motors workshop in Detroit.

After months of durability and performance tests in America, three prototypes were shipped to Australia.

Legend has it that the cars were driven under cover of darkness to the Fishermen's Bend factory in Melbourne.

Registered as JP-480, Prototype No.1 was tested on a circuit east of Melbourne specifically designed to replicate Australian driving conditions."

[Bossxr8]

Not to mention the Jap crap of the era could not last very long on what we considered "roads" at the time, when Australia was mostly goat tracks.

Kingy's and Falcons were built strong to handle the pounding they would receive on those harsh roads, whereas most imported stuff would just fall to pieces. The idea that these cars where somehow superior because they had a few more gadgets is just plain idiotic.

It's like the flog you meet who thinks he is an absolute hero cause he has a BMW, and when you see it it's a 10 year old 318i that probably cost him 5 grand to buy used.

[stevz]

Originally Posted by Angeldust

Something to consider, from my point of view.

i got my license in 1993, and so did a lot of my back then mates.

In this period, all the cars on the 2nd hand market were 10-20 years old and that is what we ended up buying.

From my experiance we ended up in Holdens and Fords, because the imported 'Jap' cars from that era were so crap it wasn't funny. For example, a lot of the NA 4cyl were so slow they made a 202 kingy/torana a fast car. Not only that the rings in most 4cyl cars of that era wouldn't last 100K (this is before the fuel injected cars of the late 80's), and maybe apart form some fancy steroe and a/c, there was hardly anything in the 'options' that would have made any of them more desireable.

It wasn't until the 90's that fuel injected jap cars became reliable as well as gained a better more realistic performance. And so it was somewhere around the mid to late 90's that these cars were looked upon as 'reliable' again. The prices of these fell dramatically as well. They now have a very solid following.

It wasn't that long ago that whenever you pulled up behind a jap car at the lights you would have to close your windows and switch your a/c to recirculate because of the sickening blue smoke they would belch out when they took off. Thank heavens these atrocious ****boxes have been removed from our roads.

[MethodX]

Holden Shuttle van? another Isuzu.
Came out about 83 I think.

[MAD]

Originally Posted by XR6 Martin

If people prefer chintzy feature on cars than their fellow citizens being employed, then they deserve everything that happens to society when you have mass unemployment.

Let's not forget shareholders and CEO's trying to screw every dollar down to maximise profits.
And that covers EVERY industry.

[RedHotGT]

I'm confused??

The 1957 Chevrolet Sedans that were sold here RH/Drive wore Australian GM-H tags and were fully imported??

Ok - they weren't wearing 'Holden' badges....
But there are plenty of Holden's that wear Chevrolet badges???

[Sprint XR8]

Originally Posted by RedHotGT

I'm confused??

The 1957 Chevrolet Sedans that were sold here RH/Drive wore Australian GM-H tags and were fully imported??

Ok - they weren't wearing 'Holden' badges....
But there are plenty of Holden's that wear Chevrolet badges???

They were assembled by Holden from imported CKD kits.

[castellan]

Originally Posted by BluFGXR6

And the first three were built in the US and imported here for R&D. Does that make Holden an importer of vehicles before they were released here????

Well no not really, them 3 may look the same like but Holden did a lot of mods that differed to the original. a bit like they did to the VB commodores as they fell apart on the testing ground and were modified to handle aussie conditions just like the first holden was.
The Holdens made in 1948 were mainly some what different to the 1949 ones as no one could buy one of them off the showroom and the motor was a bit different as i think the block was not cast in aus different rods etc.
I think the first lot of XK Falcons were usa cast engines but just assemble here and other things were phased in as the months rolled on.

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

...giving them a motoring experience quite different than what they'd been led to expect from a "normal family car".

LOL you should have seen the motoring experience the remaining ones of these were giving folk by the early 90's!