Road-testing the 1974 Holden HJ Premier | RetroFocus
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 лют 2019
- In this episode of 'Torque' from November 1974, Peter Wherrett road-tests the new Holden HJ Premier, and he's not impressed.
For more from ABC News, click here: www.abc.net.au/news/
Subscribe to us on UA-cam: ab.co/1svxLVE
You can also like us on Facebook: / abcnews.au
Or follow us on Instagram: / abcnews_au
Or even on Twitter: / abcnews
Geez Peter, why don't you say what you really think? If only car programs were like that now. Instead we have nothing more than manufacturer sponsored advertorials. Respect to Peter Wherrett for telling it like it is.
Peter Wherrett was a breath of fresh air with his Torque series. Set the standard for automotive journalism.
Enter the advertising dollar and things got wishy washy , because journo's lost integrity and didn't want to lose the revenue. Sad really, but not limited to just car journalism.
Thankfully there are still sources of information where the truth can be found, and the modern day equivalent of Torque would have to be John Cadogan with his AutoExpertTV channel here on UA-cam. Check him out if you want no BS reporting !!
John Cadogan is in Peter's direction. Including fishnet stockings in at least one video I think.
Didn't his career come to a grinding halt when he was picked up by the breathalyser ? Poor bastard he wasn't that far over.
When you don't have advertises who pay your wages, you dont tend to speak freely..That's why 99.9 percent of car reviewers are shills.
He was a bit of a whinger
Pure gold. I watched this show religiously as a kid and Wherrett always called it as it was, no BS. We need quality programming like this now.
Liquid Audio won’t get anything but left leaning dribble on the abc these days unfortunately mate.
Back when Australia made cars, men wearing dresses could be referred to with male pronouns, Gillette sold razor blades, ABC provided unbiased factual news annnd the people presenting that news did not include a disproportionately large number of homosexuals.
@@kirkc9643 nice bit of homophobia....
You realise that your hero liked to cross dress in his spare time?
@@ollie2sik You can thank the right wing money grubbers for the demise of the Australian industry. They soaked up all of the subsidy money that the governments (both left and right) were throwing at them while providing cheaply made knock offs of American models. Wherrett showed quite clearly in this review just how crude and primitive the Australian cars of the day were and that was what eventually doomed the industry here.
Perhaps have a look at John Cadogan's youtube channel AutoExpertTV - he makes the same claim (No BS) and is technically literate.
Wow! This guy is awesome! What happened to quality journalism like this? He's talking like a normal person, and treating us like we have some intelligence! Gold!
These days he'd be fired in a jiffy - the moment he criticized a company and they pulled their advertising money. Sad, but true.
@@aussiebloke609 Thats why this show was on the ABC, no advertisers. Shows like Media Watch, Good Game, and The Checkout still work/worked in a similar way too. No gifts for good reviews, just honest reviews.
Those qualities apparently don't matter to the ABC. It's only their message that count's for them now
@@aussiebloke609 Since ABC doesn't have advertisers, they'd be free to do this still if we still manufactured cars or if this kind of thing was popular in any way...
@@FairladyS130 You're really describing EVERY channel with that broad brush, ABC is still the most balanced out of all of them.
People choose not to believe that because ABC has a left wing, where no other channel does besides maybe 10.
Never seen Peter Wherrett before but after binge watching these on UA-cam I'd have to say he was the best car reviewer of all time. In my humble opinion of course. I wish all the episodes were somewhere to watch.
He's great hey. Even reminds you how our overall culture, language, honesty was different back then. Especially TV/Media. Everything's so sanitised today, especially opinions.
@@CheapCheerful Yes he was great and honest. And had a very interesting private wardrobe as well. His father also had the same "interest' in clothing. However whilst an obsession, it was deemed harmless. No threat to anyone. And certainly not unique to him either, but back in the day it would have been a hard life "behind the scenes" so to speak. Sadly died in 2009 I think it was, but he always spoke the truth and told it as it really was, and not necessarily what people wanted to hear.
@@125sloth Interesting. Thank you.
You know Peter became Pip. Hard to believe but he changed his identity to a woman at the later stages of his life. He was the guru of Cars back in the day.
He was, and Torque was a good show it it’s day.
On ABC of course
My father used to be absolutely in love with Peter for being so honest. I miss both them.
Same. My dad used to call him Peter ferret but loved his honesty. My dad was also brutally honest with cars
Soon as he said "has a V8 and no power" I knew it was a 253
A failure engine. The Ford 250 six was better.
The V8 sound without the power !
@@simonf8902
Had an S pak cross flow in my XD wagon and it pulled like a tractor !
I had a slightly modded 4.2 in a VB commodore with touring car kit and 4 speed manual. Had cam, intake manifold, Holley, flat tops, new bearings etc etc and it pulled like a freight train.
I also had a stock 253 and trimatic in a HJ and it wouldn't have pulled the skin off a cold coffee.
Same size as the Valiant 6's of the 70s & the big 6 in the Fords (the most common engine in them) But is limp compared to the Valianst & generally little better than the 1 carb Ford, not the 2V.
Butt why? simple, cost & lack of development, thereof.(hence goes with the whole damn car)
Want an old hat car of the era (& yes ther's charm in that) buy one of these (unmodded) or maybe a Datsun or an aicooled VW. Want a modern car of the era? try one of the then new VWs
The 253 was the first Australian V8 in a Holden, in the late 60s, just before it's big brother and both replace the stopgap 5 litre Chev engine. This was an old and innificent engine, far removed from the bored out 253 the Australian 5 litre.
Ok, so we have the first of the 253s, a limited release white manual Kingswood sedan. Only a little slower than the big old V8 it replaced and notably faster than the 186, the bigger of the 2 sixes @ the time. The S version of the 6 may still have been on the market between them.
Soon the 253 was available across the board & as you can imagine, it would suit the power sapping Powerglide automatic, much more than the 186.
So for the late 60s it wasn't unatractive @ all.
Same with Falcon of the era, it's V8s apart from the GT were not overly powerful, but remember, the 6 was almost as undernurished as the Holdens.
As Wherrett said, he is looking at a dated car in new clothes.
Only if you buy a wagon and use it as such, does it make sense. you'll have a bigger and considerably more powerful wagon than say a type 3 VW, but forget sporty & check the power stearing belt.
The honesty is overwhelming - nobody owned him.
Think Mitsubishi did later on!
Remember the Peter Wherrett Special In 1981?
@@mervynstent1578 When Torque was on he wasn't owned.
Had a Holden HD once. All these decades later I am still in recovery therapy.
Highly Dangerous, we used to call them
Yes I had a HD - they were a shocker, apart from a decrepit Simca easily the worst car I ever owned.
@@francodalpozzo7533 ...Simca - Vedette, or Aronde?
An XB was a much better thing at the time.
And the ugliest car ever made.
Gods - imagine that! An honest and intelligent motoring journalist! John Cadogan is the only inheritor of the breed.
Cadogan is fine if it concerns Hyundai's and BMW's. The rest? Nah.
@@FairladyS130 Sheep.
@@FairladyS130 True that, and always comes across as a "holier than thou" tool. Wherrett is definitely classes above.
@@FairladyS130 Wherrett is several grades above Cadogan. Cadogan is always trying to be too clever for social media likes. Wherrett wouldn't have given a dam about that stuff and just got on to talking about the cars.
Cadogan can’t help but be smug and condescending. He’s nowhere near Wherrett
Miss this show. No stupid stunts or driving cars only a millionaire could afford, just straight talk and honest testing of everyday cars.
Pete always told it like it was, no beating around the bush, a genuine car reviewer. R.I.P. Pete........
Let the good times roll :) I had the 1975 HJ Monaro, my first car. no aircon no power steering with the 253 manual and it is just like he says "bad" had to change the gear box every so many miles because 2nd would blow out. One of the rocker arms would (I think No 6) would go noisy even after just replacing it, over heating problems, carburetor problems and not to mention the noise coming from the ignition system over the radio just to name a few. But I was young had a V8 Monaro and loved every minute of it :)
After listening to his verdict for two minutes I thought he's going to throw the car off the cliff at the end of the video.
Big cars handled so badly back then, many probably went over cliffs unintentionally. Wanna hear a joke? The start of Roxy Music, Love Is The Drug, with this car. Or better still, the HX (how many takes before the can get it running?)
Never cease to be impressed by Peter's reviews. So refreshing to hear him telling it like it is, holding no punches. A lot of modern day motoring journalists could learn a lot from watching him. It would be great if he were around today.
Back when the abc wasn’t horse shit
please keep posting these car videos, I really love em!
Now I know who influenced John Cadogan. A car review that kicks arse..... Bloody marvelous
But Wherrett is far more rational and not just a extremist sensationalist seeking attention like Cadogan..
Cadogan doesn’t even deserve to be compared with something Wherrett evacuated from his bowel after a big night on the curry. Cadogan is a nothing but a bloviating clickfarmer.
There's no mucking around with this bloke, He calls a turd a turd!
As a kid I thought Aussie cars were the best in the world and especially the Kingswood. Peter Wherrett blew my mind with his show and I think made Australian design lift its game and gave me a far more realistic view of marketing vs reality. To this day I have never owned a Holden and, no joke, I survived a Ford Falcon losing power steering and nearly killing me.
I wish the print & TV media had a bit more Peter Wherrett in them, and maybe we might still have had an Australian car industry
Holden rust bucket now dreamed about by middle-aged men.
Imported shitbox, falls apart in 2 years, at least the holdens lasted . I don't even like holdens but those old cars are much better than the shitboxes of today.
Yeah, I'd like an example of how dated a poor motoring example from the mid 70s has become. Mk 1 Golf, Passat, Scirocco, Porsche 924 or even Honda Civic need not apply. But as a have a 2 stroke Suzuki 4x4, I already have that. It's far more primative than this holden, so it's all relative. & any of these barstards now cost big money, "FURRRK!"
What an awesome presenter, wish we had presenters like this today.
My mate, John Cadogan continues to kick arse...
The world would be a better place with more dudes like this chap
Rip to the best motoring legend ever. I mean I love Jeremy clarkson he is also very good at being the modern equivalent of a guy like this
I love the comparisons to Auto Expert, my belief is that Wherrett speaks from the experience of driving and had superior knowledge of the products he reviewed. He didn't appear overtly biased with any brand, he also didn't verbally insult his audience, nor did he speak in an inane pseudo french accent while filling content with innuendo - no comparison in my book, just superior in every facet.
JC says his not biased lol..how come he can get a great deal on a Hyundai or Kia & get given them to borrow for a road test 😅,plus he only seems to get an average deal on other brands
Plus, he gave the Sigma a good report. Lol.
Peter Wherrett the savage legend.
Yes Peter was a transgender legend before transgender was a word..
Wow, he doesn't pull any punches! Great review and technical detail.
Like Wherrett’s straight talking no BS approach. lf only the Aussie car makers had listened to him back then maybe they wouldn’t have put out mediocre cars for decades and we’d still have a car industry here.
The Commodore and falcon were more than adequate, piss off.
enigmaticx.car makers didn't have to listen to him because he talks crap
@@peterbarber7613 He was spot on. These were shit heaps.
Check out the Lima Agreement + The government (mainly the railways) was once the nations largest employer.
Government debt has caused this. Check the debt clock & see if government debt is going down?
Total debt, How the hell does Australia & its governments pay off 7 trillion $? How do we pay the interests
( taxes re gov debt) & maybe this debt is going down ?
Ah, Sco Mo got is 300g a year payrise from beating the ex cop for PM, he's happy.
@Yuck Foutube What a load of utter rubbish. Please educate yourself on the matter before making more stupid comments.
Such honest and detailed analysis! He was terrific
Gold, straight from the No Spin Zone. No re-takes for the slip ups, just like having a real person talk to you. I was expecting him to set fire to it as a final comment!
Torque was a great show. I remember he bagged the P76 big time. Called it just a car with a big boot. Was very accurate with what he said. He also criticized the old Hume Highway in highlighting all the dangerous kiiler sections of it in the 70s. Today you would get a show sucking up to a big manufacturer.
I’d liked to find that video!
He said the P76 is below average! Which killed the car instantly!
Lol, imagine the motoring Executives faces drop after the roasting Peter gave their vehicles. 🤣🤣
More like a look of rage. They knew their cars had unacceptable shortcomings.
Brutal 🤣 but he accurately describes what it was like to drive my grandfather’s old Statesman.
Peter Wherrett explaining many of the reasons the Aussie car industry failed - decades before its demise. Way ahead of his time here.
We should have listened to him . Spoken like a true prophet.
Not only the demise of car manufacturing, but also the environmental pollution by burning fossil fuels.
He wasn't the first by a long way, but very aware of the facts. 👍 Peter Wherrett👍✔️
These cars shouldn't be worth the money they are today either.
@@Jo_Wardy they are part of aus culture, of course they should. Aus has sfa culture besides its car culture
@@distantcoff7391 don't start with the smug green bs, drive your prius and shut up
Crazy to see one of these brand spanking new - not blindingly hotted up, not rusting out in a paddock, not covered in dents and faded paint. It's weird to think that all old things were young once
It's hard to believe people were putting them together in an organised fashion in a factory.
What a brutal serve to GMH.
@@Geoffroxx well they should have spent that money on engineering and not cosmetics and that was always GMHs problem, they could have used that money on improving the brakes and handling.
Back then 1 new suspension arm was heralded as a major breakthrough.
I don't think his review was out of context. The manufacturers were taking the piss of us and we deserved far far better.
Anyhow, I wrote (above) about my experience of one of these Holdens (same model and almost identically specced too) and I loved it even though the review in the vid is correct. No counting for subjectivity.
Same now as then, it's about the look. Form before function and we still fall for it.
For a 6 grand basic car, that's uneconomical yet carries very little.
Yes, a nice classic but not well suited too today (& many I say far from the best car of its time).
@@johnsergei by 1974 standards good but not great.it was a dinosaur compared to any of the stuff germany or italy was giving us at this time.they might all be weak 1.6 to 2.0l fours in the form of the alfa romeo alfetta,fiat 132,lancia beta and volkswagen passat and the audi 80 but in many areas way ahead of whatever rubbish australian cars were.in fact it took the arrival of the vb commodore to finally give from gmh a car australians wanted having been spoiled by europe.
46 years later, guess what? No more Holden.
Fantastic. Holden produced shit back then, and Peter was completely unafraid to tell it like it is. Why can't the ABC do a motoring show like this now?
Their budget's been cut so hard they can't afford to review a bicycle
Roger Mouton.rather drive something from back then compared to the tin shit boxes of today
Because the SJW LBTQXYZ feminazi extremists who've taken over the ABC aren't into cars. They tend to prefer lycra and bicycles. Sad but true.
@Leonard Carr WTF are you talking about? Actually, why the fuck do i care
They were very ordinary & that is being kind. Thirsty, poor dynamics, one could go on & was still leaded fuel.Prophetic words at the end.
This is savage. Love it.
How times have changed. Wherrett couldn't get a gig after his proclivity to cross-dress became known. Nowadays, the ABC would hire him specifically because of that.
Gold comment of the year.
what people do at home is none of my business.
So his cross dressing affected his ability to report honestly?
I remember this episode. It led I think to Holden releasing cars the next year with 'Radial Tuned Suspension' in response to this panning of the handling.
Holden released Radial Tuned Suspension on the Torana in 76, the larger sedans were a year later. It was Chuck Chapman the new MD of GMH who was Chief Engineer at Opel before he took over at Holden that wanted to upgrade the handling & braking of Holden’s. Valiants for instance had almost identical brakes than the Holden with the single Wheel cylinder. It was only on the VB Holden when Holden introduced the new PBR brake Master Cylinder that brakes really started to improve.
Such very interesting information. Thanks so much for sharing.
From memory wasn't 'Torque' dropped due to pressure from certain car manufactures not being able to deal with critiques like this?
What could they do... pull their advertising? This was on the ABC.
Manufacturers stopped supplying cars to reviewers that were honest.
They more likely got to the government who in turn pulled strings to get the show cancelled.
It was a very popular series until the end. Why did it suddenly disappear for the 80s?
Plenty of these still out there going strong 40yrs later. Can't say that for anything post 90's.
I agree to an extent, but his review was still accurate.
Old enough to remember these being on ABC, think on a Friday night. Didn’t watch regularly but wish I had, he was ahead of his time Re fuels, safety, value etc. if he was with us now in 2022 he would in a lot of areas say “told you so” but sure he would love the cars of today. A real car guy who was very knowledgeable.
I met Peter in 1978 when I was at a car show with my Dad.... he was a nice bloke
LOL...Peter really sunk the slipper into GM with this puppy. I have to admit the HJ was a slug. I had an HZ premier and it was a pretty good drive - RTS was a big change to the handling. I Had an HQ and it was all plough understeer LOL.
Use to love watching Torque
The honesty of 70’s presenters. Love him.
Classic show, used to love it as a teenager.
Notice in Peter's car videos you see very little of the car and lots of him explaining the problems of the car.
This pillow biting ponce was always up himself. Unless he was up one of his very few mates.
I forgot to mention his cross dressing.
@@angeloparis7963 Did you know UA-cam is cracking down on hate speech. Just be very careful what you say on this site now.
What's to show? He explains it all
I've got a HJ Kingswood and it's awesome. Sure I don't get reliability, efficiency, safety or comfort. But the nostalgia makes up for it.
Thank goodness the power steering today is as heavy as manual steering of the past on the open road but with the power steering providing much more easy parking. Power steering today is vastly improved.
Fun nostalgia hit:-) Hey Aunty give us some full episodes please!!!
Peter Wherrett and Jeremy Clarkson would have been a great pairing.
Only if Mr Clarkson would let Wherrett do all the talking, driving and appraisals....unlikely I think! I like 'em both but prefer Wherrett.
So, you've heard that one too?@MichaelKingsfordGray
God help the catering if it's not up to standard?
A very poignant comment, Mathew. Peter Wherrett and his father were cross Dressers, Peter died from prostate cancer, as a woman in 2009!
the only thing I want to see Jeremy Clarkson paired with... is a pack of rabid hyenas who haven't eaten in a month
The HJ was my first car . And Peter is completely right in this review 100% on all points.
...it was my second car. Ever slightly bump a gutter and have your thumb smashed by the steering wheel because of bump steer? 🙂 Bloody slow, thirsty, stodgy and bland...I don't miss it. (Miss my Datsun 1200, though.)
Ah the good old days when we could call a spade a spade
Back when Australia made cars, men wearing dresses could be referred to with male pronouns, Gillette sold razor blades, ABC provided unbiased factual news annnd the people presenting that news did not include a disproportionately large number of homosexuals. These days you can only call a spade a spade if the spade identifies as a spade.
@@kirkc9643 Do you need safe space? lol you send so triggered
The days when Australia was unafraid....now strangled by political correctness.
@@Kvasiir yes! I had some bigoted cisgender refer to me as "mate" today. They attempted to justify it on the basis of my having a long beard but my beautiful dress should have made it obvious that I don't accept male pronouns. And they did it in front of my young children! I've had to take the rest of the week off so I can recover and also see my lawyer about suing my attacker.
Kirk Claybrook quick! Run back to the daily mail page so you can feel safe 😭😭
My dad used to work at Holden Pagewood in Sydney, One of the reason why they placed vinyl on car roofs was to fix them due to hail damage, to expensive to fix them so they put vinyl on them.
My father had a beautiful (not) dark green one of these but with a 202 L6. I was learning to drive in it and one day whilst entering the Tullamarine freeway remember pushing the accelerator flat to the boards and was amazed that so little was happening. I mentioned it to my father and his response was “oh you noticed”. It didn’t last long in the family.
Hard hitting automotive journalism at its best!
Used 500 words when he could used 2 It's f_ _ _ _ _. Thanks, Pete liked your brutal honesty but you'll only get that on the ABC no commercial station would have dared to let him be that candid
Loved the emergency braking example he gave. Happened to me when i was 19 with the girlfriend in the car. Trying to stop hard around a slight bend and the Prem stepped out at the rear in exactly the same way as in the video. Even with all it's faults, i love that car more today than when it was my daily.
I really enjoyed this video from Australia. I’m a Canadian whose family has many GM vehicles, from Pontiacs, Buick’s, a Corvette, two Camaros, one GTO Judge and one brother had a Dodge Charger. I have 5 brothers and most of us had a couple of cars when we were at home. My dad had a pizza parlour so the delivery vehicles were Toyota Corollas and a couple of Plymouth Dusters. The time period I’m referencing is early 70’s so I can say that yes some of the muscles cars had excellent power, but the fuel economy was terrible and the handling was about you see with this Holden.
Imagine delivering a pizza in a Plymouth Duster!!!!!
As an owner of a HJ Premier as my first vehicle, i have to say they are a challenge to drive under hard steering and braking, but it also made me a much better driver.
how have i only just come across this guy, he is brilliant
Hey @JohnCadogan! Once upon a time, there were people like you.
And then Holden went and built the HX with even less power.
Isn't that an emissions thing
Australia'a last true motoring journalist.
Try autoexpert
John says it like it is
@@muzzafreef8250 but Peter did it in a polished way that was more incisive.
I'd love to see if Peter Wherrett road-tested the HZ Premier. My dad had one from 1978 to 2014. Great vehicle. Plenty of memories. Also had RTS!
Maybe they eventually took heed.
Great work, no bullshit here, thank you Peter Wherrett RIP
A refreshing car review. I wish car reviews were as honest as this. I had a HJ and I agree with the criticisms here.
It's unusual by the time we got to the VC Commodore era he had lots of praise for that car except for the out of date six cylinder engine and the fuel economy problem.
@@franzchong9315 I would prefer the HJ over the VC any day though. Yea, and the 202 with the trimatic was sluggish.
@@zeniktorres4320 got worse with ADR27A law in all Australian cars after July 1976!
Holden was the worst of the Big 3 when it came to applying it to their engines!
The early Commodore was way ahead in chassis dynamics to the HJ. The steering was renowned for its direct feel.
I worked at the Pagewood plant when they made this. I was not an assembly worker but on parts supply. The Torana was (became) the better car.
Seriously, how good was this. I was too young to watch this as a kid. Wish we had someone with his guts these days and a broadcaster with the same guts to put it to air. Unedited, uncensored, free speech.
good honest guy
I feel like the teacher just gave me detention & decided to leacture me on what I did wrong....shut up Johnny holden, go sit in the corner...lol
No BS... Amazing review
This guy is awesome. No beating around the bush. Well worth watching.
Wherrett had a relaxing, natural honest style that seems missing from modern presenters. They seem painfully self-aware of how they're doing.
His review of the HJ's inadequate brakes reminded me of a Holden EK I bought. Already 20 years old when I got it in 1980, it had drums all round. Going down a hill on a 40 degree day, the brakes rapidly faded as I approached a set of red lights. I still managed to stop but I was pressing pedal so hard I thought it might snap. When they got hot, the friction disappeared! Disc brakes were a BIG advertising point when they first came out.
And vinyl roofs. Perfect for the Australian sun where they inevitably split and peeled after a few years. Girls were sweeter but.
do a bit to the 253 and they go real good ive had a few some even flogging 350 chevs its all about the rite combination of parts cam carb etc,,
Why not just have a 350 to start with?
This is pure magic a bloke saying exactly what he really thinks about a very average vehicle. These cars drove like a boat went like a pig with a brick and stopped sometimes.
To stop, you have to turn first (early automation, the car will turn for you).
Loved watching this. Brutal honesty with no expense spared. A motoring journalist not influenced in any way by a script or a sponsor to gloss over the truth.
That body roll was spectacular to watch.
So at 11:40 he is talking about ABS in it's basic system.. ABS is individual pressure adjusting pressure towards each break pad until is senses locking up..
Much of what he has said is true...
However, a few minor fixed to breaks and handling, and exhaust to bring performance up a bit, and they are damn fun to drive. Fun he didn't care for.
"We shouldn't have power steering" aaahhhh the 70's
If only now someone like this guy was as so bluntness honest ! He'd be a master!!!
I had a HX Kingswood sedan for a couple of years, than I had a HQ Ute for a few years and I drove mums Torana sometimes.
They all had 6 cylinder engines,the 186 and 202 red engines. They were all pretty good cars really
,
Who is this guy is he still alive ? He was way ahead of his time.
He died years ago, and was living as a woman when he did. I shit you not. Google it.
Peter Wherrett and he was huge in the 70's and 80's. There was even a Sigma named after him...
Died in 2009
Born in 1936
Lived as pip in port Macquarie for the last few years.
Oops
These beasts are just simply built to last 😃 every Premier, Kingswood, all the H family 👍
You mean half of them are rusted 😂 the only good thing ABout these cars is the motor. Yeah they may look ok but that’s all they had going for them
@@Jo_Wardy buddy, like any car, If it's looked after, it'll look after you. I drive a 76 model and it's Fab, cheers to ya
Holden's were dangerous & rubbish.
Are we gonna forget the rust, the 6 cyl models losing cyl 5, or stripping the fibre cam gear, or the shitty shift linkages on the manuals, weak diffs, cracking lower control arms around the ball joints and on the chassis.
Now, this wasn't GM specific but plenty of Aussie made cars were far from perfect and given the amount of money and the amount of protection these companies had via import tariffs, they had the money to do a lot better.
@@DJBJ24 Mines fine, i just look after it, Cheers..
It is heavenly options, 'it has vinyl roofing & cloth trim.
I used to watch him in the early 1980's as a boy. He was very good. He was an articulate writer, and a fantastic rally driver.
This is what tv should still be like not all the complete garbage there is now
And this why we no longer have a car industry in Australia
In the early 90s I picked up a fairly good Nic 75 124 sport 1800 for cheap and comparing it to any Aussie car was futile. Twin overhead cams, weber carb, 5 speed box, 4 wheel disc brakes. The 124 would smoke stock 308s all day long. Was a great fun car.
I owned a HZ Premier 5.0 manual.Guess there was a huge jump from the HJ to mine.Car was a rocket and handled beautifully with some mild engine work and nolathane suspension .
I think the 308 is great
Back when the ABC, was a bit cool..
@Jason Bouphasavanh oh yeah, 👏 I'm a poet and I don't know it ! 😋
Actually, I think the ABC is more cool now with a higher percentage of viewers.
Love the A Bit Cool, even if it was accidental.
Ahhhh..the good old days
allbundys They were that days, but the cars are better now - thank God!
Did my apprenticeship panel beating these back in nz
Love these car special vids
Sweet sweet memories ... please send me back....
Is this the full video? - what about talking about performance of that now ADR27a strangled 253? Basically not a bad engine, sound good and smooth but no way going to give much impressive performance in stock form and in a full sized car. Look at Chrysler's brilliant 265 - Only 0.1 litre bigger and 2 cylinders less but a more powerful and more economical engine!
If he thought the HJ was bad, one can only wonder what he thought of the HX! I wonder if he tested the HZ, big slice of humble pie if he did. He was largely in line with the written media at the time regarding the road behavior of the HJ and HQ before it. But they said other things too. Phrases like "robust feeling", "well finished with good quality trimmings that seem designed to last", "slim windscreen pillars with excellent visibility". So it had it's good points, bad as well. But all cars from that era did, including European and Japanese. The HJ Kingswood, followed by the HX (just) and the HZ that made up for lost ground was the top selling car, and continued to be until it's eventual demise following the introduction of the Commodore. Why? Not too much a mystery really, you could carry six or five people in comfort with their luggage and tow something behind it if you chose to without having to worry about letting you down.
those nice slim pillars would kill you went the ****hit the fan on a dirt road and I've seen the result.
fox 6 - what did you see?
@@chrisfi3d the crap that came back on the back of trucks to the local wrecking yard i lived near i use to haunt the place as a kid one day i asked when i well got old enough what had why the pancaked roof the blood was still evident to Bill the owner told me oh its a rollover it happens a lot you seen a lot of cars from that time that were cut open to get not live ones out as i learnt,hanging around and after awhile working there just to get the bodies out.also watch some of the car crash video on the tube cars winding up upside down is far more common than people realise.or want to admit.
fox 6 - wow, nice first hand account of the underbelly of the perils of driving, HJ era. I guess it’s all fun until you crash one of those old fords or Holdens. Car crash design has come a lonnnng way since then.
Good honest journalism 👍
Wow hats off for this bloke!!
In 1983 I bought a new Nissan for $10,000 on the road and the equivalent from GMH was $14,000. This is exactly why Australian auto manufacturing went down the gurgler. Any feature or specification Holden or Ford sold in Australia has always been available from a Japanese product 10 years earlier. The problem with the idiots running the Australian industry is they though they only needed to compete against their previous model, forget what the market had on offer, we'll get the government to tax the crap out of those imports and everything will be fine.
Incorrect. Toyota was one of the largest manufacturers of cars in Australia for decades 7 for decades Nissan & Mitsibishi were also in the top 5 (& building cars in Australia).
In 1976 Australia signed the Lima Agreement, to move manufacturing out of developed countries to developing ones. Job now complete!
anything from japan was superior.my late father knew people who made commodores and statesmans and the quality left a lot to be desired.after our families experiences with australian cars we switched to imports.
Cool 2 cents.
i8 can remember when a set of hub caps for and fe holden was a gmh accesary you had to pay for