I Ran to the Holden Head Office

"Nauraushaun" (nauraushaun12) 06/20/2020 at 21:24 • Filed to: None

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They used to have a display of old concepts and prototypes there. I’ve seen them before, and you can see some cars in there on Google Maps’ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . No longer.

I figured with Holden’s death (which pip reminded me of recently) they would eventually be moved - Port Melbourne might be a good spot for a head office but it seemed an unlikely place to remain as a Holden museum. Anyway, it would seem I’m too late. It’s still a Holden building and it wasn’t completely empty, but it was devoid of cars. How sad.

I’ll drop some pics below of what used to live here. Anyway the run was good, covered about 32km from Kew to Port Melbourne, to Princes Pier and back again. Beautiful sunny day, fairly warm for Winter in Melbourne. Here are some more pics from the day.

Takes a keen eye to spot the difference between the SV and the regular Murcie.

Sandridge Beach, cool to see a beach so close to the city. Spirit of Tasmania and Princes Pier in the background

Ridgy Didge as they say

e c l e c t i c s e l e c t i o n

Here are some pics from last time I was at the Holden head office, same day as !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I once posted about. Even though nobody on Oppo really cares about Holden except me and pip. I’ve seen some of these cars before, at motor shows back in the day or !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! but it was still super cool to see them just parked up like they’re not multi-million-dollar 1-of-1 pieces of history, especially in such a public setting.

Holden Coupe concept based on the VT, ended up as the VX-based Monaro. Marilyn concept next to it, a convertible Monaro.

Coupe 60 - a concept of a coupe based on the newer VE Commodore. Named for Holden’s 60th Anniversary, unbeknownst that 13 years later they’d be dead and gone

Won’t be the same without you, Holden.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Nauraushaun 06/20/2020 at 21:38

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The difference is we care about cool Holden’s and how long until we can legally import model x but you’ve been living with our boring blobs of Chevys and Buicks as Holdens. Great selection today.

Svend > Nauraushaun 06/20/2020 at 21:40

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Not just you and Pip. I don’t know much about Holden but have been picking interesting bits up here and there. It shares some of it’s history with Vauxhall*, a brand today that only exists in the U.K.

*granted Holden have readied and badge engineered other marques such as Isuzu and Mitsubishi but I enjoy reading about the British connections. 

Gone > Nauraushaun 06/20/2020 at 21:49

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Me too!

That sucks though. I didn’t get a chance to go when we went to Melbourne last year. I spent my free time @ Albert Park (was there during F1 weekend) and then left to take care of a family emergency back home (RIP sweetest   kitty ever :’ ( ) before finishing the NZ leg of our trip.

Was hoping to swing by the next time we went. Guess not.

Roadkilled > Nauraushaun 06/20/2020 at 22:05

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At least the Google Street View link you provided allowed me to go a little down the street to see those fancy six-door vehicles.

It was followed closely by a six-wheel hatchback.

A Boy and His Longtail > Nauraushaun 06/20/2020 at 22:22

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That’s a fairly long run man. Nice work and nice pics!

Nauraushaun > Svend 06/20/2020 at 22:59

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They did badge engineer a-plenty and most Holdens were taken from the GM family. But what Holden really means to enthusiast is none of that, it’s the locally made Commodore. Made for Australians, not just sold here. Of course it was originally based on an Opel and always had GM bits in there, so the Vauxhall link is very real.

As a country we don’t build cars anymore. But when we did, the Commodore was ours. There’s little reason for that to matter to the rest of the world though. Especially given it was rarely revolutionary, usually just the big American-style sedan - except for the ute.

Nauraushaun > Gone 06/20/2020 at 23:00

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So sad, so sad. Well I’m sure they’ll show up in a museum somewhere. Hopefully they aren’t sold off privately and kept out of public eyes.

Nauraushaun > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 06/20/2020 at 23:01

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We have been living with some filth. Ah well, even that has come to an end. We’ll always celebrate the cool Holdens. They’re still all over the streets here, likely they’ll never quite go away.

Nauraushaun > A Boy and His Longtail 06/20/2020 at 23:01

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Thanks and thanks!

Nauraushaun > Roadkilled 06/20/2020 at 23:02

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Ah yes, the rare locally built Holden-Nissan X-Trail Long-boy-meat-pie edition, and the Holden-Buick Captiva-Trax-Whatever-AFL-edition- 6x6

pip bip - choose Corrour > Nauraushaun 06/21/2020 at 03:04

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Holden signage still up?

Nauraushaun > pip bip - choose Corrour 06/21/2020 at 05:08

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Yep

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Nauraushaun 06/21/2020 at 07:14

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Looks like they ran faster...

Kar Wai Wong > Nauraushaun 06/21/2020 at 07:21

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Caprice Avenue

Nice

Ammerty > Nauraushaun 06/21/2020 at 08:18

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Sorry to be pedantic, but:

The white 70s concept you labelled a GTX, is a GTR-X.

The red coupe in the last image you labelled a W427, is a HRT427. The W427 was a VE sedan-based limited production HSV model.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Nauraushaun 06/21/2020 at 10:49

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Coupe 60 is freakin’ gorgeous.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Nauraushaun 06/21/2020 at 10:53

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We’re kinda clueless on what the “go forward” plan is for GM down there... are they completely out of the market? Or, trying to peddle some Chevy’s and Buicks as Chevy’s and Buicks in the same dealer network? Or slapping a Holden decal  on a Malibu and hoping nobody notices?

With the sale of Opel in Europe it’s hard to understand what presence GM even plans to have in Europe in 20 years. Although I guess you can order a C8 Corvette as a Chevy... So, was wondering what the status is in Oz?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Nauraushaun 06/21/2020 at 15:09

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Would you say there’s much sadness on Planet Australia over Holden’s demise? It’s always seemed to me that Holden had some good V8ness throughout their run.

Nauraushaun > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 06/21/2020 at 18:00

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Yes and no. Many people don’t seem to care too much . Most people want nice new SUVs and Holden wasn’t really delivering.

Of course there’s a huge group of petrolheads who will care a great deal. I think the sadness will be felt though. My mother and brother both have Commodores and it’s not for no reason.

Similarly my father has long had Fords. He had a Falcon then a (Falcon based) Territory, has now moved to imported Fords instead. I don’t think he minds too much though. A Ford is a Ford.

Nauraushaun > Kar Wai Wong 06/21/2020 at 18:01

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Caprice Avenue was closed due to construction fencing. Probably the new owners moving in :( Hope it keeps the name.

Nauraushaun > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/21/2020 at 18:01

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:(

Can’t outrun globalisation

Nauraushaun > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 06/21/2020 at 18:02

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GM pulling out of RHD all together is a pretty clear indicator. But it’s still sort of muddy, since HSV have pivoted to doing RHD conversions on Camaros and Colorados.

But yes, with no RHD presence, I’d say there’s no plan at all to exist in any form in any RHD market.

Nauraushaun > Ammerty 06/21/2020 at 18:05

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Damn. Your pedantical ness is welcome! I should’ve got that right. I’ll update it.

I’ve actually seen a W427 once. That was a good day.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Nauraushaun 06/21/2020 at 18:07

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Last time I looked, GM were hardly what you’d call a global company and therefore  a lousy flag bearer of the concept of globalisation.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 06/21/2020 at 18:17

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Holden as a brand is dead. GM talked about a premium vehicle import company to bring in the RHD Corvette C7 but without such a vehicle yet...nothing has come of it.

The Walkinshaw owned HSV now does RHD conversion of Silverado and others but the lack of a meaningful sales and service network constrains that part of the business which is fine because they are also doing RAM trucks for Fiat Chrysler Australia and New Zealand.

Nauraushaun > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/21/2020 at 19:17

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It would seem that way given they’ve just quit out of half the world :P But globalisation in general is why Australians are generally buying the same cars as the rest of the world, imported from wherever, and a locally made car no longer makes sense.

Steve in Manhattan > Nauraushaun 06/21/2020 at 19:51

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Saab and Holden hit me particularly hard - both Sweden and Australia have been hit hard by their demise. 

Nauraushaun > Steve in Manhattan 06/22/2020 at 00:37

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A shame. Of course it’s the weird guys that go first, while boring old Toyota keeps on churning out white Camrys

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Nauraushaun 06/22/2020 at 14:37

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On the other hand, there’s a good potential that Holden simply wasn’t making products that the Australian population wanted to buy. They were either getting beat in price or beat in quality.

Combined with the SUV/crossover craze striking the rest of the world and all of the Commodores in the world couldn’t keep them afloat (especially since they took a FWD Buick, called it a Commodore, and killed off the remaining loyalist customer base for them.)

Nauraushaun > winterlegacy, here 'till the end 06/22/2020 at 18:12

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It’s a shame the Adventra/Territory didn’t take off properly. That was maybe the right idea at the right time, and what they needed to pivot local production towards the style of vehicle people wanted. It just wasn’t really done right.