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Aussie Greats: seven decades of car production

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The lines of Australia?S very last car manufacturing plant has just been closed down.

Holden, the country’s final car producer, will follow Ford and Toyota’s lead by moving production elsewhere. Given Holden, which has been owned by GM since 1931, has been making cars in the country for seven decades, it seemed fitting to look back at some of the finest cars that have been made in Australia.

Would you add any motors to the list? Let us recognize within the feedback under.

1948-1953 Holden 48-215

Not many car manufacturers can claim to have were given off to a rolling begin, but Holden, with its locally-evolved forty eight-215, did just that. The model turned into celebrated for its outstanding towing capacity, cushty trip and extraordinary gasoline economic system ? All traits that made it a better standard automobile for Australia than the formerly sturdy promoting Austin A40. Such was its recognition that more than 120,000 had been produced.

1968-1969 Holden HK Monaro

One of the most hanging Holdens produced is this, the HK Monaro. Borrowing a typically ?60s pillarless coup? Design from the Opel Commodore, the HK became affordable but extraordinarily perfect for the fashion-minded driver. The top of the variety GTS 327 had a 4-barrel five.3-litre Chevrolet V8 engine that produced 249bhp and drove tyres complete with pink bands. The reality the version become a Barthurst winner in ?Sixty eight cemented its vicinity within the Holden hall of fame.

1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Pursuit Special

Arguably the most iconic non-Holden Aussie car there is; it's Mad Max's '73 Ford Falcon XB GT. As menacing as it is famous, the car was a 1973 model, and was six years old when the film came out. Shame that the supercharger thrusting from its bonnet wasn’t operational during filming, but its on-screen presence is second to none.

1975-1978 Holden LX Sunbird

At a look, the LX Sunbird was only a facelifted model of the LX Torana. But look deeper ? Or take a trip ? And the technical advances it presented turn out to be clean. Radial Tuned Suspension (RTS) is the name of the then appreciably stepped forward chassis setup introduced with the 1975 version. With it, the pre-replace automobile?S roly poly managing turned into gone, swapped for a sharper, greater suitable stance that eventually ideal its macho outdoors. The ?78 VB Commodore that followed used it?S own take of RTS and quickly have become a Holden icon, placing the brand on a direction that ensured many extra overall performance legends would be produced.

1978-1980 Holden VB Commodore

Think this seems acquainted? That?S due to the fact the VB Commodore changed into closely primarily based at the Opel Senator aka Vauxhall Viceroy, borrowing its fashionable the front end and combining it with the greater compact rear of the Opel Rekord. It become at its great with a Nissan-sourced six-cylinder. You ought to say the automobile changed into Australia?S cherry-picked international product, however it additionally had proper Aussie genes thanks to a complete nearby re-engineering.

1987 Holden VL Commodore Touring Car Championship racer

Holden was already well-known for its racing at domestic, however on the arena degree the call become nevertheless fairly low scale. Cue the outlet spherical of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship wherein former Ford racer Allan Moffat entered a VL Commodore, finished in Rothmans livery, with fellow Aussie John Harvey. The unlikely entrant was most effective overwhelmed across the line by way of six factory-supported BMW M3s, but then later offered the win whilst the German squad were discovered to be running with lightweight panels ? In opposition to regulations. The Commodore wasn?T able to comply with up its WTCC win with anymore silverware, but its marvel performance at the outlet international race method it stacks up, albeit in the back of a long list of domestic championship successes, as one in every of Holden?S maximum remarkable motorsport achievements.

1997-2000 Holden VT Commodore

The success of the satisfactory-promoting Commodore, which became produced in 303,895 devices, become key for the birth of many splendid warm Holdens. The VT Commodore brought about the HSV-advanced VTII GTS in 2000, which channelled an E39 BMW M5-embarresing 402bhp to its rear wheels way to the five.7-litre supercharged V8 up front. The two-door V2 Monaro also owed plenty of its life to the Commodore. The VT become a income success and the forebear to other terrific matters.

1997-present Supercars racers

Australia's answer to the BTCC uses 'Supercars' - 5.0-litre, V8-engined muscle motors, often based on avenue-going saloons like, , the Volvo S60, Mercedes-AMG E63 and Nissan Altima. It's been going on the grounds that 1997, even though only considering the fact that 2013 have cars been capable of input which aren't, you guessed it, Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores.

2007-2017 HoldenHSV Maloo

Chances are you think of a 'ute whilst you think of an Australian car, and no 'ute is better acknowledged within the UK than the HSV Maloo. A handful have been added to the UK, mainly as Vauxhall VXR8 Maloo-badged variations. Thank God for badge engineering.

2013-2017 Holden HSV Gen-F

Australia’s engineering talents can at least bow out on a high, because the HSV Gen-F, Holden’s last hot model, is also one of its best. Powered by a supercharged 6.2-litre V8 packing 577bhp and 546lb ft of torque, the four-door muscle car can go pound for pound with the Mercedes-AMG E63 S but for a much lower price. The car’s HSV-tuned magnetic dampers mean it’s got the agility to match, making this arguably the best all-round machine to have come from the Lion-badged car maker’s home soil. The W1, the run-out special, was brought to the UK as the Vauxhall VXR8 GTS-R. And we drove one.

Related testimonies:

Vauxhall VXR8 GTS review

Vauxhall VXR8 GTS-R evaluation

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