Predators and Prey
- Thread starter CertifiedCervine
- Start date
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- Tags
- fun game lol predsvsprey
Thrashy
Пу́тин — хуйло́! Слава Україні! FckNzs.
I've heard that it's the same with weed too. You gotta separate the male from the female plants.
Of course I've never planted weed ^^
(For real this time xD)
Keefur
aka Cutter Cat
I'm going downstairs to fix some hot dogs for lunch. That thread on the LPW threw a craving on me. I love my hot dogs with mustard and onion.
Yeah... right! lol
Thrashy
Пу́тин — хуйло́! Слава Україні! FckNzs.
We had some hemp plants in our garden once, that grown of guinea pig food ^^Yeah... right! lol
But it was industrial hemp so no THC
Groggy
Hm!
Hey, I've received exactly 150 alerts since yesterday... That's a lot.
Only 6,183 more pings until the 9,001 alerts milestone! Sounds easy enough.
Or perhaps it is already too late...
Only 6,183 more pings until the 9,001 alerts milestone! Sounds easy enough.
Cast that nefarious soup can into the fire before people start getting ideas!
Or perhaps it is already too late...
Thrashy
Пу́тин — хуйло́! Слава Україні! FckNzs.
Oh hey @GroggyHey, I've received exactly 150 alerts since yesterday... That's a lot.
Only 6,183 more pings until the 9,001 alerts milestone! Sounds easy enough.
Cast that nefarious soup can into the fire before people start getting ideas!
Or perhaps it is already too late...
Wouldn't casting the can into fire like... Cook it and therefore make it more edible? Just asking ^^
Groggy
Hm!
Ah, you're right.Oh hey @Groggy
Wouldn't casting the can into fire like... Cook it and therefore make it more edible? Just asking ^^
Then cast it into a pool of mayo, it will be as good as destroyed! Hopefully.
'Tis I!
I reward hugs with another hug and mashed potatoes, it's your lucky day!
*hugs back and gives you some of the delicious mashed potatoes*
Firio Zifirion
Red/Gray Protogen
Revenge
@Manchesterite! Ahah
@Manchesterite! Ahah
DRGN Juno
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA -Sukhoi, 2020
*Notices that we're not doing anything besides pinging @Groggy*
Now seems like the time for learning in 3 parts. My next episode was supposed to be Japan Air Lines flight 123 at the request of @Manchesterite. But this week, General Motors announced that they’ve added another marque to their list of brands they’ve run into the ground. So today, we launch a new series called GM Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things. I’m going to get this out of the way – I despise General Motors. This company has a track record of taking historic nameplates and driving them into mediocrity in the name of profit, before throwing their hands in the air and declaring that they’ve tried nothing and they’re out of ideas. SAAB, Isuzu (in the US market, anyway), Pontiac, Saturn, and now Holden, have all met similar fates. Invariably, GM made a habit of stripping their brand identities and leaving them to languish by peddling rebadged Daewoos before ultimately pulling the plug. So yes, there is plenty of bias in this and following episodes. I will acknowledge GM where credit is due, but I’m not going to pretend for a second that I like the company.
Oh, and GM was singlehandedly responsible for the death of mass transit in America. More on that in another episode.
In case you haven’t guessed, today we’re looking at Holden – an Australian nameplate with a 164-year history that dates back to Adelaide in 1856. The company was founded by Englishman James Alexander Holden which got its start manufacturing saddles. In 1908, the company dipped its toes in the newly emerging automotive world, using their skills in saddlery to repair and produce automotive upholstery. Partnered with a German named Henry Adolph Frost (or Heinrich, depending on your sources), the Holden & Frost company began coachbuilding in 1917, assembling bodies to place on Chevrolet frames. They would also build bodies for Ford as well until Ford finally completed their facility in Geelong, Victoria. In 1924, they exclusively supplied bodies for a number of imported GM frames, including Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Willys chassis.
A 1940 Chevrolet Panel Van, one of many Chevrolets assembled by Holden
A minor nitpick about the above paragraph – almost anyone you ask will state that Holden was a GM division from the very beginning. And if you look at their full automotive assembly years (1926 onwards), they were. But they were still semi-independent coachbuilders before becoming a GM division.
Anyway, in 1926, Holden’s Motor Body Builders (HMBB) still wasn’t a full subsidiary of General Motors, though GM had established General Motors Australia Ltd. It would be a while before Holden had the wherewithal to produce a car of their own design, so they used what’s called complete knock-down kits, or CKDs. Essentially, what happens is that the primary manufacturer (like Chevrolet, in this example) would assemble all of the parts. The car would be either incomplete or only partially completed, then exported as a kit to the destination country, who completes the final assembly. This is a fairly common practice, and is used where smaller subsidiaries can’t produce their own designs, or to build “captive imports” in foreign markets. Holden would continue this business practice of mating their own bodies to CKD Chevrolet frames, and survived as a semi-independent entity until the Great Depression.
In 1930, Holden had produced 34,000 cars, but the Depression hit hard. The following year, the company would only make 1,651. To save the company from bankruptcy, GM Australia bought HMBB in 1931 forming General Motors-Holden’s Ltd. But even still, the company didn’t have a single unique design or nameplate. Holden would continue manufacturing GM vehicles with custom bodies, even dabbling in the streetcar business for a while. By the mid-1930s, GM and Holden were discussing the launch of the first unique Holden. But unfortunately, World War II was just around the corner.
A Ford F15 - A Canadian Military Pattern Truck that was also produced by Holden during WWII
In 1936, Holden opened a facility in Fisherman’s Bend, Victoria. This was the second fully self-sufficient factory and would be followed by another in Pagewood, New South Wales. Then-Prime Minister Joseph Lyons had facilitated the construction of both plants, with the hopes of kickstarting a domestic automotive industry. Before any talk of building cars got underway, both Holden facilities (like many others in all affected countries) shifted their production to wartime materials. The factories produce guns, engines, and even planes. What cars they did produce were Chevrolets and Vauxhalls intended for the military with no space for commercial production. It wouldn’t be until the end of the war when the Australian government began looking at starting the auto industry once more.
Australia’s first car was, let’s face it, a political tool. With war out of the way, the Australian government wanted to reopen talks of a domestic auto industry and established the Secondary Industries Commission to take proposals for an all-Australian car. Five responses were received by different manufacturers – Ford, Chrysler, Rootes, Nuffield, and General Motors:
-Ford proposed a lineup of cars and trucks developed around the company’s Flathead V8 engine.
-Chrysler proposed the establishment of an entirely new company with access to their R&D division in Detroit.
-Rootes wanted to establish a plant in Australia that built British designs from their own marques, including Hillman, Sunbeam, and Kaiser.
-Nuffield also wanted to do what Rootes did, but with their Morris brand instead.
-Holden told the government it was already designing and building a car, and screw whatever campaign the government ran, they’d build it regardless.
Shockingly, the government’s first choice wasn’t Holden’s “screw you, we’ll do it ourselves with blackjack and hookers” proposal, but with Ford’s promise of a full range on Australian-unique models. The problem was that to start building, Ford needed significant financial backing from the government. After ruling out the Brits and Chrysler for not actually offering a fully Australian car or a complete plan, the committee decided to back both Holden and Ford in 1948, though the Ford backing would be significantly less than what they asked for. The hope was that the two combined would produce 45,000 cars a year domestically, to satisfy an estimated demand of 75,000 cars annually.
For those of you not keeping count, the total number of Holdens produced up to this point was zero. Despite producing bodies for Chevrolets and Oldsmobiles, Holden still didn’t have a design of their own. GM had tried to get Holden to produce a rebadged Chevrolet, but Holden wanted something purely Australian. A compromise was eventually reached, where Holden took the designs for an unnamed Chevrolet sedan that never entered production and adapted the design for the Australian market. The result was the Holden FX 48-215 sedan. Then-Prime Minister Ben Chifley launched the first car ever “made in Australia, for Australia” to immediate and massive demand. In six years, 120,402 cars would be produced, and the waiting list at launch stretched into 1950 – nearly two years from launch just to get your hands on one.
A 1948 Holden FX sedan, known simply as the "Holden" or "Holden Sedan" was the company's first production car
Thanks to the FX sedan and a lack of competition, Holden easily dominated the Australian market. In 1951, Holden introduced the 50-2106 – a coupe utility whose origins trace back to a farmer’s wife writing Ford requesting “a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays.” The car-based ‘ute,’ as they came to be known, became a familiar sight in the Australian countryside. While these utes had actually been in production by Ford since the 1934 Model A, the Australian designed Holden was easily the more popular choice. It’s worth mentioning that the coupe utility is a uniquely Australian bodystyle, only appearing Stateside in the Chevrolet El Camino in 1959.
An advertisement for the 1948 Sydney Motor Show, debuting the new Holden Sedan
The original Holden FX Ute, as it appeared in one of my favourite video games, Forza Horizon 3
The final generation of the Holden Ute - a car-based pickup bodystyle that originated in Australia.
Now seems like the time for learning in 3 parts. My next episode was supposed to be Japan Air Lines flight 123 at the request of @Manchesterite. But this week, General Motors announced that they’ve added another marque to their list of brands they’ve run into the ground. So today, we launch a new series called GM Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things. I’m going to get this out of the way – I despise General Motors. This company has a track record of taking historic nameplates and driving them into mediocrity in the name of profit, before throwing their hands in the air and declaring that they’ve tried nothing and they’re out of ideas. SAAB, Isuzu (in the US market, anyway), Pontiac, Saturn, and now Holden, have all met similar fates. Invariably, GM made a habit of stripping their brand identities and leaving them to languish by peddling rebadged Daewoos before ultimately pulling the plug. So yes, there is plenty of bias in this and following episodes. I will acknowledge GM where credit is due, but I’m not going to pretend for a second that I like the company.
Oh, and GM was singlehandedly responsible for the death of mass transit in America. More on that in another episode.
In case you haven’t guessed, today we’re looking at Holden – an Australian nameplate with a 164-year history that dates back to Adelaide in 1856. The company was founded by Englishman James Alexander Holden which got its start manufacturing saddles. In 1908, the company dipped its toes in the newly emerging automotive world, using their skills in saddlery to repair and produce automotive upholstery. Partnered with a German named Henry Adolph Frost (or Heinrich, depending on your sources), the Holden & Frost company began coachbuilding in 1917, assembling bodies to place on Chevrolet frames. They would also build bodies for Ford as well until Ford finally completed their facility in Geelong, Victoria. In 1924, they exclusively supplied bodies for a number of imported GM frames, including Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Willys chassis.
A 1940 Chevrolet Panel Van, one of many Chevrolets assembled by Holden
A minor nitpick about the above paragraph – almost anyone you ask will state that Holden was a GM division from the very beginning. And if you look at their full automotive assembly years (1926 onwards), they were. But they were still semi-independent coachbuilders before becoming a GM division.
Anyway, in 1926, Holden’s Motor Body Builders (HMBB) still wasn’t a full subsidiary of General Motors, though GM had established General Motors Australia Ltd. It would be a while before Holden had the wherewithal to produce a car of their own design, so they used what’s called complete knock-down kits, or CKDs. Essentially, what happens is that the primary manufacturer (like Chevrolet, in this example) would assemble all of the parts. The car would be either incomplete or only partially completed, then exported as a kit to the destination country, who completes the final assembly. This is a fairly common practice, and is used where smaller subsidiaries can’t produce their own designs, or to build “captive imports” in foreign markets. Holden would continue this business practice of mating their own bodies to CKD Chevrolet frames, and survived as a semi-independent entity until the Great Depression.
In 1930, Holden had produced 34,000 cars, but the Depression hit hard. The following year, the company would only make 1,651. To save the company from bankruptcy, GM Australia bought HMBB in 1931 forming General Motors-Holden’s Ltd. But even still, the company didn’t have a single unique design or nameplate. Holden would continue manufacturing GM vehicles with custom bodies, even dabbling in the streetcar business for a while. By the mid-1930s, GM and Holden were discussing the launch of the first unique Holden. But unfortunately, World War II was just around the corner.
A Ford F15 - A Canadian Military Pattern Truck that was also produced by Holden during WWII
In 1936, Holden opened a facility in Fisherman’s Bend, Victoria. This was the second fully self-sufficient factory and would be followed by another in Pagewood, New South Wales. Then-Prime Minister Joseph Lyons had facilitated the construction of both plants, with the hopes of kickstarting a domestic automotive industry. Before any talk of building cars got underway, both Holden facilities (like many others in all affected countries) shifted their production to wartime materials. The factories produce guns, engines, and even planes. What cars they did produce were Chevrolets and Vauxhalls intended for the military with no space for commercial production. It wouldn’t be until the end of the war when the Australian government began looking at starting the auto industry once more.
Australia’s first car was, let’s face it, a political tool. With war out of the way, the Australian government wanted to reopen talks of a domestic auto industry and established the Secondary Industries Commission to take proposals for an all-Australian car. Five responses were received by different manufacturers – Ford, Chrysler, Rootes, Nuffield, and General Motors:
-Ford proposed a lineup of cars and trucks developed around the company’s Flathead V8 engine.
-Chrysler proposed the establishment of an entirely new company with access to their R&D division in Detroit.
-Rootes wanted to establish a plant in Australia that built British designs from their own marques, including Hillman, Sunbeam, and Kaiser.
-Nuffield also wanted to do what Rootes did, but with their Morris brand instead.
-Holden told the government it was already designing and building a car, and screw whatever campaign the government ran, they’d build it regardless.
Shockingly, the government’s first choice wasn’t Holden’s “screw you, we’ll do it ourselves with blackjack and hookers” proposal, but with Ford’s promise of a full range on Australian-unique models. The problem was that to start building, Ford needed significant financial backing from the government. After ruling out the Brits and Chrysler for not actually offering a fully Australian car or a complete plan, the committee decided to back both Holden and Ford in 1948, though the Ford backing would be significantly less than what they asked for. The hope was that the two combined would produce 45,000 cars a year domestically, to satisfy an estimated demand of 75,000 cars annually.
For those of you not keeping count, the total number of Holdens produced up to this point was zero. Despite producing bodies for Chevrolets and Oldsmobiles, Holden still didn’t have a design of their own. GM had tried to get Holden to produce a rebadged Chevrolet, but Holden wanted something purely Australian. A compromise was eventually reached, where Holden took the designs for an unnamed Chevrolet sedan that never entered production and adapted the design for the Australian market. The result was the Holden FX 48-215 sedan. Then-Prime Minister Ben Chifley launched the first car ever “made in Australia, for Australia” to immediate and massive demand. In six years, 120,402 cars would be produced, and the waiting list at launch stretched into 1950 – nearly two years from launch just to get your hands on one.
A 1948 Holden FX sedan, known simply as the "Holden" or "Holden Sedan" was the company's first production car
Thanks to the FX sedan and a lack of competition, Holden easily dominated the Australian market. In 1951, Holden introduced the 50-2106 – a coupe utility whose origins trace back to a farmer’s wife writing Ford requesting “a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays.” The car-based ‘ute,’ as they came to be known, became a familiar sight in the Australian countryside. While these utes had actually been in production by Ford since the 1934 Model A, the Australian designed Holden was easily the more popular choice. It’s worth mentioning that the coupe utility is a uniquely Australian bodystyle, only appearing Stateside in the Chevrolet El Camino in 1959.
An advertisement for the 1948 Sydney Motor Show, debuting the new Holden Sedan
The original Holden FX Ute, as it appeared in one of my favourite video games, Forza Horizon 3
The final generation of the Holden Ute - a car-based pickup bodystyle that originated in Australia.
Last edited:
DRGN Juno
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA -Sukhoi, 2020
(2/3)
It wouldn’t be until 1960 that Ford finally unveiled the Falcon, trying to cement their presence in Australia. The Falcon was initially met with poor sales due to lower durability, but Holden finally found themselves with a direct competitor to their limited range of sedans. At this point, Holden was still focusing on producing several bodystyles out of a single platform, which limited their product range. When the Falcon was introduced, it failed to meet expectations from buyers seeking durability. But the newly introduced FB was also dated in appearance and engineering.
With that said, it was the first Holden to be adapted for export markets, and the company saw exports to the Philippines and Hawaii. Holden would perform well as an exporter reaching markets like South Africa, and even returning to America with the Commodore (Pontiac G8) and Caprice, the latter being an exclusive model for police departments, and both filling a niche for V8, rear-drive sedans that GM had abandoned domestically. But back in Australia, Holden needed to combat the Falcon. To do so, Holden needed a larger platform, and so introduced the EK.
Yes, this really was their nomenclature scheme. It’s made research a bit headache inducing.
Later in the 1960s, Holden would launch two celebrated nameplates – the Monaro, and the Torana. A friend of mine actually had a Torana, which he told me he rolled into a ditch. Anyway, the Monaro was to Australia what cars like the Pontiac GTO or Dodge Charger were to America. While it took some cues from Chevrolets like the Camaro and Corvair of the era, it was once again a uniquely Australian design. On top of this, Holden’s engineers claimed that the 327 cu in Chevrolet V8 that GM wanted them to use was “too big,” leading to the development of the 5.0L 308, Holden’s first unique engine. This turned out to be false after engineers went back and remeasured the engine bay, but that’s a minor detail. Starting production in 1968, the Monaro gained a reputation for performance when a GTS327 took first place in the Bathurst 500 of that year, and another GTS327 took third in the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1969.
The 1968 Monaro GTS327 that won at Bathurst
The Torana started life like any other GM product these days, which was to say it was a Vauxhall Viva with the badges swapped. Initially only available with a 4-cylinder engine, a 6-cylinder variant was made in 1969. This high-performance model was never intended to be street legal or put into production, reserved exclusively for racing. But overwhelming demand for a high-output Torana made the case for Holden to put it into production, so they introduced the second-generation Torana in 1969, complete with optional straight-six engine.
One example of the Torana GTR XU-1
The Torana would go on to see plenty of use in motorsport, from Series Production racing to rallying. But the top-line model, the GTR XU-1 would compete at Bathurst (now Mount Panorama), holding its own against the mighty v8-powered Ford Falcon GTHO. In 1970, it would replace Holden’s own Monaro GTS 350 as the company’s premier race car model. The third generation of the Monaro would be introduced in 2005 to America as the Pontiac GTO, and in the UK as the Vauxhall Monaro, thanks to the UK’s lack of previous muscle car nameplates to bastardize. Sadly, the end of two historic nameplates (the Monaro and the GTO) would be at the hands of GM’s incessant badge engineering, with the last Monaro ever made being a Pontiac GTO.
For an example of exactly how pervasive GM’s “one-size-fits-all” mentality was, here’s a Chevrolet commercial from the 1970s, alongside a Holden commercial of the same era:
Through the 1970s, Holden made a name for themselves outside of patriotism. Their repeated successes in motorsport would lead to the development of the Holden Dealer Team, debuting in 1969. By giving ownership to Holden dealers, Holden got around GM’s rule that banned their manufacturers from competing in motorsport. The Torana GTR XU-1 I mentioned above would be one of HDT’s first attempts to challenge the Ford Falcon GTHO. The Torana’s light weight gave it an advantage in corners, but the Phase 1 GTHO’s monstrous power would dominate the straightaways. The HDT Torana would lose at Bathurst in 1970 and 1971. But in 1972, the 6-cylinder Holden snagged the first of nine victories at Bathurst. Over the company’s history, HDT would claim four driver’s championships, and 38 wins over a variety of disciplines.
During the HDT’s Group A years, owner Peter Brock began a side business modifying production cars for increased performance. Some were done as homologation specials to keep HDT’s race cars eligible, and a total of 4,246 HDT vehicles were built. In this regard, HDT was to Holden what AMG was to Mercedes-Benz, or STI to Subaru. These cars were factory authorized, high-performance variants of Holden’s everyday cars, like the Statesman or the Commodore. Today, genuine HDT cars built until 1987 (when Holden cut ties with HDT) are highly sought after. Predictably, the market for these is very limited, but the few examples I’ve scrounged up start at the $50k AUD mark, with a 1985 HDT Calais sedan listed at $170k AUD. After HDT was sold off, Holden created Holden Special Vehicles, or HSV to fill the role of a performance division.
One of the more recognizable HDT cars, the 1985 Group A VK Commodore, or "Blue Meanie"
And this is where we start seeing Holden’s decline. The decade started ominously with the closure of Holden’s Pagewood plant, but the real issues began in 1982. Holden introduced the Camira – a car built on GM’s J-body platform which underpinned such stunning examples of automotive quality as the Chevrolet Cavalier, or the Cadillac Cimarron. I can tell you from experience that the J-Body and all of its derivatives are steaming piles of absolute trash, and a waste of otherwise good steel. I briefly owned a 2003 Cavalier that I bought and fixed for profit. Even in almost-new mechanical shape, this car rattled, handled poorly, and had an interior so cheap it made a Little Tikes car seem like a Lexus. The J-body was an exercise of “it was a good idea on paper,” and all variants of the J-body (except the vastly overpriced Cimarron) had exactly one redeeming feature – they were dirt cheap. And even then, GM somehow managed to screw that up, because each Cavalier and Sunfire sold allegedly lost GM $1,000 USD.
Author’s note: I had to take a break here because I started screaming at my computer out of disgust and now my birbs are scared.
What I’m trying to say is that the J-body was the first significant badge engineering attempt by GM to get Holden to introduce a cheaper midsize car for the 1980s. While sales were initially strong, buyers quickly learned to stay as far away as possible as the cars rapidly gained a reputation for unreliability. The first generation lasted for a whopping three years before Holden had to replace it. The second generation that followed borrowed engines from Nissan to meet Australia’s new ban on leaded fuels, and they still managed to screw that up. With both generations being absolute disasters in reliability, Holden discontinued the Camira and replaced it with a rebadged Toyota Camry called the Apollo. That decade, the Camira would contribute to the company's nearly $500M AUD in losses. And it was all downhill from there.
The second generation Camira, one of the worst cars made on one of the worst platforms ever made
It wouldn’t be until 1960 that Ford finally unveiled the Falcon, trying to cement their presence in Australia. The Falcon was initially met with poor sales due to lower durability, but Holden finally found themselves with a direct competitor to their limited range of sedans. At this point, Holden was still focusing on producing several bodystyles out of a single platform, which limited their product range. When the Falcon was introduced, it failed to meet expectations from buyers seeking durability. But the newly introduced FB was also dated in appearance and engineering.
With that said, it was the first Holden to be adapted for export markets, and the company saw exports to the Philippines and Hawaii. Holden would perform well as an exporter reaching markets like South Africa, and even returning to America with the Commodore (Pontiac G8) and Caprice, the latter being an exclusive model for police departments, and both filling a niche for V8, rear-drive sedans that GM had abandoned domestically. But back in Australia, Holden needed to combat the Falcon. To do so, Holden needed a larger platform, and so introduced the EK.
Yes, this really was their nomenclature scheme. It’s made research a bit headache inducing.
Later in the 1960s, Holden would launch two celebrated nameplates – the Monaro, and the Torana. A friend of mine actually had a Torana, which he told me he rolled into a ditch. Anyway, the Monaro was to Australia what cars like the Pontiac GTO or Dodge Charger were to America. While it took some cues from Chevrolets like the Camaro and Corvair of the era, it was once again a uniquely Australian design. On top of this, Holden’s engineers claimed that the 327 cu in Chevrolet V8 that GM wanted them to use was “too big,” leading to the development of the 5.0L 308, Holden’s first unique engine. This turned out to be false after engineers went back and remeasured the engine bay, but that’s a minor detail. Starting production in 1968, the Monaro gained a reputation for performance when a GTS327 took first place in the Bathurst 500 of that year, and another GTS327 took third in the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1969.
The 1968 Monaro GTS327 that won at Bathurst
The Torana started life like any other GM product these days, which was to say it was a Vauxhall Viva with the badges swapped. Initially only available with a 4-cylinder engine, a 6-cylinder variant was made in 1969. This high-performance model was never intended to be street legal or put into production, reserved exclusively for racing. But overwhelming demand for a high-output Torana made the case for Holden to put it into production, so they introduced the second-generation Torana in 1969, complete with optional straight-six engine.
One example of the Torana GTR XU-1
The Torana would go on to see plenty of use in motorsport, from Series Production racing to rallying. But the top-line model, the GTR XU-1 would compete at Bathurst (now Mount Panorama), holding its own against the mighty v8-powered Ford Falcon GTHO. In 1970, it would replace Holden’s own Monaro GTS 350 as the company’s premier race car model. The third generation of the Monaro would be introduced in 2005 to America as the Pontiac GTO, and in the UK as the Vauxhall Monaro, thanks to the UK’s lack of previous muscle car nameplates to bastardize. Sadly, the end of two historic nameplates (the Monaro and the GTO) would be at the hands of GM’s incessant badge engineering, with the last Monaro ever made being a Pontiac GTO.
For an example of exactly how pervasive GM’s “one-size-fits-all” mentality was, here’s a Chevrolet commercial from the 1970s, alongside a Holden commercial of the same era:
Through the 1970s, Holden made a name for themselves outside of patriotism. Their repeated successes in motorsport would lead to the development of the Holden Dealer Team, debuting in 1969. By giving ownership to Holden dealers, Holden got around GM’s rule that banned their manufacturers from competing in motorsport. The Torana GTR XU-1 I mentioned above would be one of HDT’s first attempts to challenge the Ford Falcon GTHO. The Torana’s light weight gave it an advantage in corners, but the Phase 1 GTHO’s monstrous power would dominate the straightaways. The HDT Torana would lose at Bathurst in 1970 and 1971. But in 1972, the 6-cylinder Holden snagged the first of nine victories at Bathurst. Over the company’s history, HDT would claim four driver’s championships, and 38 wins over a variety of disciplines.
During the HDT’s Group A years, owner Peter Brock began a side business modifying production cars for increased performance. Some were done as homologation specials to keep HDT’s race cars eligible, and a total of 4,246 HDT vehicles were built. In this regard, HDT was to Holden what AMG was to Mercedes-Benz, or STI to Subaru. These cars were factory authorized, high-performance variants of Holden’s everyday cars, like the Statesman or the Commodore. Today, genuine HDT cars built until 1987 (when Holden cut ties with HDT) are highly sought after. Predictably, the market for these is very limited, but the few examples I’ve scrounged up start at the $50k AUD mark, with a 1985 HDT Calais sedan listed at $170k AUD. After HDT was sold off, Holden created Holden Special Vehicles, or HSV to fill the role of a performance division.
One of the more recognizable HDT cars, the 1985 Group A VK Commodore, or "Blue Meanie"
And this is where we start seeing Holden’s decline. The decade started ominously with the closure of Holden’s Pagewood plant, but the real issues began in 1982. Holden introduced the Camira – a car built on GM’s J-body platform which underpinned such stunning examples of automotive quality as the Chevrolet Cavalier, or the Cadillac Cimarron. I can tell you from experience that the J-Body and all of its derivatives are steaming piles of absolute trash, and a waste of otherwise good steel. I briefly owned a 2003 Cavalier that I bought and fixed for profit. Even in almost-new mechanical shape, this car rattled, handled poorly, and had an interior so cheap it made a Little Tikes car seem like a Lexus. The J-body was an exercise of “it was a good idea on paper,” and all variants of the J-body (except the vastly overpriced Cimarron) had exactly one redeeming feature – they were dirt cheap. And even then, GM somehow managed to screw that up, because each Cavalier and Sunfire sold allegedly lost GM $1,000 USD.
Author’s note: I had to take a break here because I started screaming at my computer out of disgust and now my birbs are scared.
What I’m trying to say is that the J-body was the first significant badge engineering attempt by GM to get Holden to introduce a cheaper midsize car for the 1980s. While sales were initially strong, buyers quickly learned to stay as far away as possible as the cars rapidly gained a reputation for unreliability. The first generation lasted for a whopping three years before Holden had to replace it. The second generation that followed borrowed engines from Nissan to meet Australia’s new ban on leaded fuels, and they still managed to screw that up. With both generations being absolute disasters in reliability, Holden discontinued the Camira and replaced it with a rebadged Toyota Camry called the Apollo. That decade, the Camira would contribute to the company's nearly $500M AUD in losses. And it was all downhill from there.
The second generation Camira, one of the worst cars made on one of the worst platforms ever made
Last edited:
DRGN Juno
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA -Sukhoi, 2020
(3/3)
Elsewhere in Holden, the full-sized Commodore had enjoyed a particularly good run, with the 1986 VL Commodore being the first Commodore generation to finally outsell the Ford Falcon. With the pending leaded fuel ban, Holden wouldn’t be able to update the 24-year-old Holden straight-six engine into compliance. So in order to replace the aging engine, Holden decided to leverage their partnership with Nissan, and use their RB30E inline six engine instead. This family of engines is iconic in its own right, but for a company that had launched on the slogan “built in Australia, for Australia,” the decision didn’t sit well with buyers. At least not initially, since most buyers ended up liking the Nissan’s reliability and power increase.
But the federal government introduced the Button car plan in 1983, named after Senator John Button who was the Minister of Commerce that devised this monstrosity. Australia’s car industry at the time was protected by tariffs, and the Button plan intended to lower domestic protections and rationalize the industry. The plan itself incentivized automakers to produce fewer models at higher volumes, where increased efficiency would result in lower tariffs. Apparently.
While theory dictated that increased competition would spur on technological development as well foreign investment in local manufacturers, it only resulted in an atrocious amount of badge engineering. The plan was unpopular with buyers and manufacturers alike. Rather than share their assembly lines through forced partnerships, Holden, Ford, and Toyota simply decided it was easier and cheaper to import fully built cars from elsewhere. And nobody was happier at the prospect of cost cutting than GM.
A 1995 Toyota Lexcen (above), which was a rebadged Holden Commodore (below) - the main result of the Button Car Plan
Through the 1980s, Suzukis and Isuzus began popping up in dealerships masquerading as Holdens. The Isuzu Trooper became the Holden Jackaroo (1981), the Suzuki Swift became the Holden Barina (1985), and then GM stopped caring and the Isuzu Piazza became the Holden Piazza (1986). Import tariffs also steadily dropped as part of the Button plan, from 57.5% down to just 15%. It wasn’t an entirely downhill slide, the Commodore continued to see strong sales as Australia’s bestselling full-sized sedan. But traces of Holden continued to slowly disappear. Buick engines replaced Holden-built engines, and GM’s global platforms began appearing on more Holden products.
Now to be fair, product development (especially in the auto industry) is insanely expensive. And some degree of parts sharing is a good thing. Even the original Commodore was derived from the Opel Senator, but it was still unique enough to hold up on its own. But as is the case with GM, everyone else did it better. Instead of developing multiple products from common origins, GM took a common product and tried to sell it as several different products. It was a piece by piece dismantling of brand identity as they’d done with so many other marques under them. And by the end of the 1990s, Holden was rebadging everything from Chevrolet Suburbans to Opel Vectras.
A Holden Suburban (above) vs the Chevrolet Suburban (below), one of many examples of GM's laziness
If you look closely at the Holden, you can see the seams where the Holden badge slips over the Chevrolet badge on the grille
The 2000s were not kind to Holden, and less so to parent company GM. Holden saw their market share decline from 27.5% at the start of the decade, to just 15.2% by 2006, being surpassed by Toyota. Some of this is attributed to the development costs from resurrecting the Monaro in 2001, and the strong Australian dollar that persisted for a while. But really, ‘made in Australia’ was just a lie at this point. GM continued cutting quality for the sake of pushing out cheap products, and Holden was suffering because of it.
But in 2005, GM began their ultimate act of cheapening by spreading their Korean Daewoo subsidiary to every corner of the globe. Now Daewoo has come a long way from the days of the Lanos, and…whatever the hell their other thing was in the 90s. But a Daewoo in any other language is still a Daewoo. And in the mid-2000s, they still hadn’t shaken their reputation for poor quality and reliability. This reputation for lazy imports and half-assed attempts would lead to GM’s bailout and 2009 Chapter 11 restructuring. In Australia, low quality captive imports like the Holden Captiva (Daewoo Winstrom), Holden Epica (Daewoo Tosca), and the Holden Viva (Daewoo Lacetti) began to flood the market to an overwhelming ‘meh.’ Long gone were the days of ‘built in Australia,’ and peak sales of nearly 180,000 units a year. The company saw a significant drop in sales from 2005 onwards, coinciding with the introduction of Daewoo to the Holden lineup.
Like GM, Holden was losing money at an alarming rate, shedding jobs while requiring over $150M AUD a year in subsidies to stay afloat. Holden bucked the trend and posted profits again in 2010 and 2011, but in 2012, Holden needed a lifeline bailout from the federal, South Australian, and Victorian governments to the tune of $270M AUD. This was supposed to return nearly $4B to the economy in manufacturing and ensure local production until 2022. If you’ve been paying attention, we can see where this is going. The following year, GM announced they would instead cease Australian manufacturing by 2017, at a loss of 2,900 jobs. On October 20, 2017, a special edition Holden Commodore Redline sedan rolled off the assembly line at the Elizabeth plant in Adelaide. After nearly 70 years, it was the last car ever built in Australia.
The final Holden, and the final car ever to be built in Australia
The announcement to shut down Holden in full only came a few days ago, on February 17 of this year. Like other companies that they've killed, or that have withdrawn from entire markets (like FIAT and Alfa Romeo from North America), GM is agreeing to supply parts and service for the ten years following the official withdrawal in 2021. To see exactly what has become of this once iconic company, here’s a look at every Holden currently on sale on the company’s website, what it was originally called, and where it was actually made:
-Holden Acadia (GMC Acadia, USA)
-Holden Astra Hatch (Opel Astra, Germany)
-Holden Colorado (Isuzu D-Max, Japan)
-Holden Commodore (Opel Insignia, Germany)
-Holden Equinox (Chevrolet Equinox, Canada)
-Holden Trailblazer (Isuzu MU-X, Thailand)
-Holden Trax (Chevrolet Trax, USA)
-Holden Corvette (Chevrolet Corvette, USA)
Elsewhere in Holden, the full-sized Commodore had enjoyed a particularly good run, with the 1986 VL Commodore being the first Commodore generation to finally outsell the Ford Falcon. With the pending leaded fuel ban, Holden wouldn’t be able to update the 24-year-old Holden straight-six engine into compliance. So in order to replace the aging engine, Holden decided to leverage their partnership with Nissan, and use their RB30E inline six engine instead. This family of engines is iconic in its own right, but for a company that had launched on the slogan “built in Australia, for Australia,” the decision didn’t sit well with buyers. At least not initially, since most buyers ended up liking the Nissan’s reliability and power increase.
But the federal government introduced the Button car plan in 1983, named after Senator John Button who was the Minister of Commerce that devised this monstrosity. Australia’s car industry at the time was protected by tariffs, and the Button plan intended to lower domestic protections and rationalize the industry. The plan itself incentivized automakers to produce fewer models at higher volumes, where increased efficiency would result in lower tariffs. Apparently.
While theory dictated that increased competition would spur on technological development as well foreign investment in local manufacturers, it only resulted in an atrocious amount of badge engineering. The plan was unpopular with buyers and manufacturers alike. Rather than share their assembly lines through forced partnerships, Holden, Ford, and Toyota simply decided it was easier and cheaper to import fully built cars from elsewhere. And nobody was happier at the prospect of cost cutting than GM.
A 1995 Toyota Lexcen (above), which was a rebadged Holden Commodore (below) - the main result of the Button Car Plan
Through the 1980s, Suzukis and Isuzus began popping up in dealerships masquerading as Holdens. The Isuzu Trooper became the Holden Jackaroo (1981), the Suzuki Swift became the Holden Barina (1985), and then GM stopped caring and the Isuzu Piazza became the Holden Piazza (1986). Import tariffs also steadily dropped as part of the Button plan, from 57.5% down to just 15%. It wasn’t an entirely downhill slide, the Commodore continued to see strong sales as Australia’s bestselling full-sized sedan. But traces of Holden continued to slowly disappear. Buick engines replaced Holden-built engines, and GM’s global platforms began appearing on more Holden products.
Now to be fair, product development (especially in the auto industry) is insanely expensive. And some degree of parts sharing is a good thing. Even the original Commodore was derived from the Opel Senator, but it was still unique enough to hold up on its own. But as is the case with GM, everyone else did it better. Instead of developing multiple products from common origins, GM took a common product and tried to sell it as several different products. It was a piece by piece dismantling of brand identity as they’d done with so many other marques under them. And by the end of the 1990s, Holden was rebadging everything from Chevrolet Suburbans to Opel Vectras.
A Holden Suburban (above) vs the Chevrolet Suburban (below), one of many examples of GM's laziness
If you look closely at the Holden, you can see the seams where the Holden badge slips over the Chevrolet badge on the grille
The 2000s were not kind to Holden, and less so to parent company GM. Holden saw their market share decline from 27.5% at the start of the decade, to just 15.2% by 2006, being surpassed by Toyota. Some of this is attributed to the development costs from resurrecting the Monaro in 2001, and the strong Australian dollar that persisted for a while. But really, ‘made in Australia’ was just a lie at this point. GM continued cutting quality for the sake of pushing out cheap products, and Holden was suffering because of it.
But in 2005, GM began their ultimate act of cheapening by spreading their Korean Daewoo subsidiary to every corner of the globe. Now Daewoo has come a long way from the days of the Lanos, and…whatever the hell their other thing was in the 90s. But a Daewoo in any other language is still a Daewoo. And in the mid-2000s, they still hadn’t shaken their reputation for poor quality and reliability. This reputation for lazy imports and half-assed attempts would lead to GM’s bailout and 2009 Chapter 11 restructuring. In Australia, low quality captive imports like the Holden Captiva (Daewoo Winstrom), Holden Epica (Daewoo Tosca), and the Holden Viva (Daewoo Lacetti) began to flood the market to an overwhelming ‘meh.’ Long gone were the days of ‘built in Australia,’ and peak sales of nearly 180,000 units a year. The company saw a significant drop in sales from 2005 onwards, coinciding with the introduction of Daewoo to the Holden lineup.
Like GM, Holden was losing money at an alarming rate, shedding jobs while requiring over $150M AUD a year in subsidies to stay afloat. Holden bucked the trend and posted profits again in 2010 and 2011, but in 2012, Holden needed a lifeline bailout from the federal, South Australian, and Victorian governments to the tune of $270M AUD. This was supposed to return nearly $4B to the economy in manufacturing and ensure local production until 2022. If you’ve been paying attention, we can see where this is going. The following year, GM announced they would instead cease Australian manufacturing by 2017, at a loss of 2,900 jobs. On October 20, 2017, a special edition Holden Commodore Redline sedan rolled off the assembly line at the Elizabeth plant in Adelaide. After nearly 70 years, it was the last car ever built in Australia.
The final Holden, and the final car ever to be built in Australia
The announcement to shut down Holden in full only came a few days ago, on February 17 of this year. Like other companies that they've killed, or that have withdrawn from entire markets (like FIAT and Alfa Romeo from North America), GM is agreeing to supply parts and service for the ten years following the official withdrawal in 2021. To see exactly what has become of this once iconic company, here’s a look at every Holden currently on sale on the company’s website, what it was originally called, and where it was actually made:
-Holden Acadia (GMC Acadia, USA)
-Holden Astra Hatch (Opel Astra, Germany)
-Holden Colorado (Isuzu D-Max, Japan)
-Holden Commodore (Opel Insignia, Germany)
-Holden Equinox (Chevrolet Equinox, Canada)
-Holden Trailblazer (Isuzu MU-X, Thailand)
-Holden Trax (Chevrolet Trax, USA)
-Holden Corvette (Chevrolet Corvette, USA)
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TR273
Pirate Fox Mom
Thanks for the history lesson @DRGN Juno ,very interesting.
Here's a quick Aviation fact.
The fastest sub-sonic crossing of the Atlantic was held for 41 years by a Vickers VC-10 with a time of 5 hours and 1 minute.
It was only beaten in February 2020 by a British Airways 747 flying in the teeth of Storm Ciara with a new record of 4 hours 56 minutes.
Here's a quick Aviation fact.
The fastest sub-sonic crossing of the Atlantic was held for 41 years by a Vickers VC-10 with a time of 5 hours and 1 minute.
It was only beaten in February 2020 by a British Airways 747 flying in the teeth of Storm Ciara with a new record of 4 hours 56 minutes.
Breyo
Professional Nibbler
Very interesting, @DRGN Juno and @TR273 ! I only skimmed through them both, but I'll have to read them in full later! Thank you
P.S: @Groggy
P.S: @Groggy
Pygmepatl
Spotted Skunk
Those are really interesting facts and important pieces of history, @DRGN Juno and @TR273. You always leave me with something new and deep knowledge. Thank you both for your facts!
DRGN Juno
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA -Sukhoi, 2020
Pygmepatl
Spotted Skunk
The main site and the forums are still having problems. I hope they get solved soon.
We will! The responsible will never be the same after our spraying!