Holden HK 1968 News

Way back in February 1968, when Brian Jolly's next door neighbour rolled up in a brand new V8 HK Holden Kingswood, little did Brian know that 46 years later the same car would reside in his driveway. "It's my baby," says Brian of the pristine, metallic blue sedan.Built in the Dandenong factory the car is a perfect example of Holden's efforts to retain market leadership by offering increasingly affluent buyers a longer, lower and wider car featuring a bedazzling array of factory options and all wrapped in a swaggering new shape.Holden's advertising blitz urged buyers to indulge themselves and "personalise" their new car. The choices were formidable : power steering, power windows, four engines (three sixes and the 5.0-litre V8), drum or disc brakes, bench or bucket seats, automatic or manual transmissions (three and four speed), five interior and 10 exterior colours, white wall or redline tyres, airconditioning, venetian blinds (yes!!!) and the list went on and on.Adding to all of that, the upmarket Premier shouted out its prestige and difference with four headlights, metallic paint and a formal, Cadillac-style roof line. It is no wonder that Holden claimed they could make one million HKs and no two would be the same.Brian's neighbour wholeheartedly embraced the idea of creating his own HK. "He ordered it from the Reg Hunt dealership and was very particular about what he wanted," remembers Brian."What he wanted was a Kingswood with the 5.0-litre V8, powerglide automatic, power steering, front bucket seats with the centre arm rest, power disc brakes and the heater from the Premier."This combination makes Brian's car very rare because most Kingswoods came with the three litre six cylinder engine and bench seats. Brian drives the car almost every day. "I've had it for eight years. When my neighbour decided to stop driving in 2004 he asked if I'd like to buy it, but on the condition I call it 'baby'," admits Brian. And that's what he continues to call it."I spent four years restoring the body and bringing it back to new. The interior was much easier. It was in showroom condition, thanks to my neighbour using sheep skin seat covers from day one," says Brian.  The effort has paid off. The car has been a multiple trophy winner at Holden car shows since 2010.On the road the HK cruises with no effort at all. The V8 is totally under stressed and the disc brakes and power steering make for easy driving in 21st Century traffic.HK Holden's are fabulous first time classics. They are not expensive and, because Holden built 199,039 of them, parts are easy to find.David Burrell is the editor of www.retroautos.com.au

How can they not, when the Japanese hero is now the world's all-time favourite with a production total that has just topped 40 million cars. Based on those numbers, the Corolla is nearly twice as popular as the Volkswagen Beetle with 21.5 million sales and even further ahead of the T-Model Ford at 16.5 million, although it has had the advantage of selling at a time when far more people everywhere in the world own and drive cars.My first experience of the Corolla was in the 1960s, soon after the original cars landed in Australia. By the standard of the times, and we're talking here about Falcons and Kingswoods and Valiants, it was tiny and tinny but also solid, sensible and smartly priced. I was only a rider and not a driver at the time, but it also had a fun factor that was missing from other cars of my acquaintance - and you have to remember that an Austin Freeway cringed in our suburban Sydney driveway.The original Corolla helped ignite a small-car revolution and laid the firm foundation that now sees Toyota rampaging along as Australia's favourite carmaker, with annual sales that trump the combined efforts of Holden and Mazda in the other podium places.In America, the Corolla - along with the Honda Civic - is credited with the relatively recent bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler. Looking back to the USA in the sixties, it became the 'second' car in many American households and won over women and youngsters driving for the first time. They went Japanese and never came back. Does that sound familiar?Since the late 1970s I've driven every new Corolla model and had some fantastic fun on the side, including flat-out track laps in pursuit of an Australian racing championship and several forest fights in the Australian Rally Championship. And a Corolla has never let me down.And that gets me thinking about the Honda 750 four. You see, the Honda stalwart from the seventies was tagged as the Universal Japanese Motorcycle because it could do anything, from high-speed pursuit duties with the Highway Patrol police to daily commutes to touring the world in the days before long-distance motorcyclists switched to BMWs.In the same way, the Corolla should be known as the Universal Japanese Car. It's as sensible as an accountant, as dependable as a bullet train, and as predictable as a new tech toy from Apple.  It's also a bankable investment on the secondhand scene and will never offend or annoy. It doesn't have the attitude of an Alfa, or the performance of a Porsche, but a UJC is just fine and we have 40 million signatures to prove it.This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover 

So far, in fact, that the traditional Holden versus Ford tribal war doesn't mean much to Irish butcher Paul Lawless, born in Tiperrary, even though he has lived in Australia for more than 30 years."I don't have a preference for Holden or Ford," says the 2002 Australian sausage champion who runs a butchery in Annerley, south Brisbane, and now owns two pristine examples of '60s Australian automobilia. His 1961 EK Holden and 1966 XP Falcon ute look like they have just rolled off the factory floor."I've been interested in Australian cars since the 1960s when I first arrived in Sydney," he says in his strong Irish accent. "I used to go to the auctions and I bought and sold a lot of cars, mainly Holdens and Fords because I grew up with the culture."There's not really a lot of money to be made (buying and selling at auctions); we just wanted to have different cars all the time." He says he onced owned a 1968 Monaro he bought for $1350. "I only had it for 12 months and sold it for $1500. I wished I'd kept it. In the '60s I went more for Holdens and in the 1970s I veered off into Fords and then I followed Dick Johnson, so I was into Fords. "At Bathurst time my allegiance all depends on what car I have at the time."So come that special Sunday in October this year and he will be in a real quandry as he now owns one of each, although the odds are in favour of Holden as his third car is a 1972 Kingswood he bought six years ago for $2500.Lawless says that despite his past buying and selling habits, he would never sell his XP or EK. "I can't see the point," he says. "I just want to keep them and hand them on to my sons."He bought the XP ute recently for $10,000. Lawless says it had a "clean body" with the rust cut out and had 43,000 miles (69,201km) on the odometer. The only modifications he has done is to reupholster the seats, install a new tonneau cover and replace the steering wheel with a "pearl" model. "That was fairly popular in the 1960s," he says. He has also had the original AM radio restored by John Carr of Yass."I bought hubcaps on the internet from America for $450. They are the only non-original part. Everything else is completely original," he says. It's his daily driver, while the EK only comes out for Sunday drives and car shows."I bought it about 12 months ago for $5000 from a woman who only used it to drive to the shops," he says. "No one has sat in the back since the 1960s. It's absolutely lovely. It is completely original. It was just always kept under cover. You will never get another car like that." He turns over the 170 cubic inch six-cylinder and it purrs into life. "Listen to that. You wouldn't even know it was running," he says.An EK cost 2500 in 1962 and for an extra 180 you could get a Diamond Dot radio which this one has. "That's the only thing I've had to fix on this one," he says.

...and sat between the entry level Belmont and the top spec Premier. An icon and showpiece of the 1970’s, it spanned two generations to 1984 and was the most popular car of its time in Australia.For baby boomers, the Kingswood offered the chance for many to realise their great Australian dream, with luxury and mobility at a realistic price.First generation (1968-1971)The first Kingswood was released as part of the HK series and was lighter and heavier than its predecessor. The same six cylinder engine was used, but Holden introduced a V8 with the HK – the 307 Chevrolet small-block. The Monaro was introduced soon after, and was effectively the two door version of the Kingswood.Holden started making its own V8 for the HT in 1969, but that was the only big change until the introduction of the Tri-Matic automatic transmission with the HG in 1970.Second generation (1971-1984)A completely new design came with the HQ. It looked a lot different from the HG and was the first large Holden to feature coil-spring rear suspension.The HQ was only made in right hand drive so left hand drive markets never saw it; but it remains Holden’s biggest selling model even today at 485,650 units. However, motoring journalists panned its poor ride and handling – a feature added on the insistence of then Managing Director George Roberts, who said it should drive like a Cadillac.Special edition Kingswoods were produced during this time called ‘Vacationers’, and proved so successful that they were seen in various Holden ranges over the next twenty years.In 1974 the Sandman panel van was introduced. It took on some design elements and the sporty features of the Monaro. It was very popular and gained a reputation for being a love-mobile, attracting nicknames like Shaggin’ Wagon and Sin Bin.Apart from a few minor design and engine changes, there were no major upgrades for the HJ. Interestingly though, in 1975 some of the Premier bodies were made at Mazda in Japan, and were fitted with rotary engines. Unfortunately the engines were severely underpowered and the project was dropped in 1977.Government emissions controls saw the 2.85 straight six engine removed from the HX series in 1977, and it resulted in a big drop in performance across the range. There were only minor exterior changes for the HX. The Sandman vans got a tailgate logo and stripes down the sides, and the Kingswood got bucket seats as standard.In 1977, the poor ‘Cadillac’ handling was fixed with Holden’s new Radial Tuned Suspension (RTS), introduced along with minor exterior changes in the HZ. The base model Belmont was lost to another Kingswood variant and equipment levels were enhanced to match those of the Ford Falcon range.1978 saw the introduction of the first ever Commodore and consequently, the fall of the Kingswood reign in 1980. The last Sandman panel van was produced in October 1979 as it had lost its place in contemporary Australian youth culture.Although the true Kingswood was dead, the name lived on in the WB series as a ute; but the flame finally flickered out in 1984 when Holden stopped producing large luxury cars, focussing entirely on their medium vehicle range.