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Mechknight73
National Driver
1001 Posts
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 Posted - 16 Jun 2010 : 5:25:12 PM
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How many "cousins" of Austrlian cars have you seen? Everybody's seen the Pontiac G8 and GTO, the Vauxhall VXR8 and Vauxhall Monaro, but hands up who's seen the truly weird? For example, Mazda made a version of the HJ Premier called the Roadpacer, and for some unknown reason put a 13B rotary in it. The HQ ute is known as the Chevy El Camino in South Africa. The early Commodores wore Opel badges in South Africa, but were really Holdens under the skin. I've seen the Opel version of the VH Commodore, and it's one ugly beastie! It looks like the love child of an EA Falcon and a VC Commodore, with a slight crossbreed of Camira thrown in. Strangely, there's still a 202 and Trimatic under the bonnet.
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dryVN
Fully Licenced
228 Posts
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Posted - 16 Jun 2010 : 6:18:46 PM
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The strangest one I've seen in the flesh was at a GM Aussie car show, A Powder blue 70's Vauxhall Mid sized car ,that was almost the same as our LX Torana.
I must have gazed at it for a half hour taking it all in , but the owner had the bonnet down and wasn't there so who knows what interesting gear it had in there. |
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Mechknight73
National Driver
1001 Posts
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Posted - 16 Jun 2010 : 11:31:24 PM
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| There's an Opel/Vauxhall model that's a "body twin" to the LX Torana. I know Opel had a 2 litre 4 cylinder, similar to the one that managed to sneak in with the LX. You'd recognise this engine by the rounded black rocker cover |
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dryVN
Fully Licenced
228 Posts
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Posted - 17 Jun 2010 : 08:08:03 AM
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| My first car was an LX Sunbird sedan with the Opel motor and 4 speeed. , sounds like the same running gear. Had a cam to the side of the head with really short pushrods. i have not seen that setup before or since. That was strange. |
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Mechknight73
National Driver
1001 Posts
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Posted - 17 Jun 2010 : 3:21:13 PM
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| It was a very limited run in Toranas, before Holden decided to make the Starfire by lopping two cylinders off the back of a 173, to make a 1.9 litre four cylinder. They knew a four cylinder would be useful in the Torana lineup, and eventually decided to just build their own. Earlier 4 cylinder Toranas (HB/LC/LJ based) ran actual Vauxhall engines. |
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dryVN
Fully Licenced
228 Posts
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Posted - 18 Jun 2010 : 9:53:55 PM
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| Here's a 1 off , The Brock , VK V8 HDT Monza , Hatchback with 5 speed and independent rear. Total 80's son of Monaro ( I'm dreaming ,sort of ), looked tuff and went well with tricked up SS motor , the body came fully imported from Germany where the model began ( as an Opel Monza ) and came with a crappy straight 6. HDT could have sold quite a few , but Holden with there wallet's getting moth infested , seems to have caned the project early on . Got a magazine that tested this car at the time in detail , and no doubt this beast would have been a modern day classic for Holden to be proud of. Especially as Ford at the time detonated the V8 and gave us all saggy ass taxi's. |
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Mechknight73
National Driver
1001 Posts
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Posted - 18 Jun 2010 : 11:41:56 PM
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| I do remember the Rekord (Opel cousin of the VB/C/H Commodores) had a 2 door version. Some serious customisers have been known to import Monza doors to make Commodore convertibles. Apparently they had HQ Monaro-style pillarless doors. Although in 1987, Holden was literally $750 million in debt. Apparently the difference between bailing out Holden and bailing out of Australia to GM was a mere $40 million. In manufacturing terms, some companies spend more than that on a new grille. The VLs and VNs literally saved Holden's very existence. It also helped that because the VL nearly stole no. 1 sales position fron the XF Falcon, they panicked rushed the EA into production. They made some 3600 running changes from EA-EB, and STILL didn't get all the bugs. The EA was literally Ford Australia's Edsel, and even the most diehard of Ford fans hesitate around them |
Edited by - Mechknight73 on 18 Jun 2010 11:50:18 PM |
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