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2017 ACT All Holden Day: the stories behind the cars

The last All Holden car show of the year was held in Canberra, only weeks before Holden's local manufacturing wrapped up, with a record 275 entrants. Hosted by all Canberra-based Holden clubs, it attracted a huge variety of cars and its owners, with some making the trip from Tumit, Albury, Cooma, and Goulburn. All money raised went towards the Endeavour Foundation, supporting those with a disability.


CarAdvice spoke to some of the Holden owners, which you can listen to the audio at the bottom of this article, or read and check out the photos, below.


Jack - 1964 EH

It was owned by my father. He bought it as a three-old car, and it then got written off. He had a heart attack and hit a tree. It was insured for $300, and it ended up at a Fyshwick wrecking yard. I got onto a friend of mine, and he bought the car back for me for $100.

The next Saturday we looked in the Canberra times, and there was an EH station wagon for sale for $150. It was a painters station wagon, and it was the same colour. We brought it home, put the front on this one, gave it back to my Dad, and he drove it for another 12 years.

When he retired, I bought the car off him, and since then I’ve done a bit of work to it. It’s got 14-inch wheels, and I’ve converted it to an automatic. It has a '186' which is the original motor, and it goes very good.

Darryl - 2009 HSV Maloo

It has about 72,000kms on it, and it is a daily car that gets driven short distances. It gets shown as much as possible at car shows and is a very enjoyable toy. It looks good and goes well, and the white stands out when it’s clean. It’s very low to the ground, so it’s quite firm on the road, but with the power, it’s hard not to speed - it just wants to growl!

I’m a part of the HSV Club which has just over 100 members, and we’re all very passionate about our cars. We enjoy going on the cruises together and having a common passion.

Vanda - HK Monaro

They’re just a beautiful car. I’ve always loved the Monaro from way back. My husband always wanted a yellow 327, and when the opportunity came up, he got it. He loves it and he will never part with it. Bruce McVee raced it at Bathurst in 1968.

The extra steering wheel sitting on the dash was Bruce’s. He liked string around his steering wheel instead of wearing gloves. He gave it to my husband, Michael, in 1998 at Wangaratta. Bruce was going to auction it but instead gave it to Michael. It’s our most prized possession.

Peter - 1975 HJ Kingswood Deluxe (not pictured)

I bought it as is off the second owner, who grew up with the first owner's son. The first owner stopped driving it in 1985 and then he gave it to Dave, who I bought it off in Davenport, Tasmania. He repainted it and changed the front seat covers, and that’s about it.

I bought it as my Sunday driver when I used to live in QLD and worked in the mines. I then got made redundant, and now work in Canberra and it’s now my everyday car. I had one when I just got my license that was Jade Green.

Thirty years ago I took my wife in it for our first holiday. I bought this current car for our 30th anniversary.

Lloyd - 1974 SLR 5000 Torana

I’m babysitting this for my brother, which he did a ground-up rebuild. Everything is original and stock standard - as it came out of the factory. It came out with a '308'. It’s such an awesome car and is fun to drive and goes well.

Brandon - 1986 VK SL Group A HDT Commodore

It was produced by Holden, and it came out of HDT in February 1986. The paperwork says it’s one of 50, and there were about 23 that were made in white. HDT produced cars of different types, but VK was one of the most popular at the time.

I’ve owned it for a lot of years, but I haven’t used it very much. I haven’t driven the car for 10 or 12 years. I look after it the best I can. It’s signed by Peter Brock on the dashboard. I’m the fourth owner of the car, and it’s in original condition. It might’ve had a few minor touchups.

It has a 4.9-litre V8. They made a smaller motor when they went to Group A racing. They’re not making them anymore, and as we know, Peter Brock isn’t around anymore, so HDT was popular.

Alan - 1968 HK Monaro

It’s an original 307 GTS, and I’ve had it for 20 years. There’s still ongoing work. I’ve got to find the more hard-to-get bits, finish the engine off and put the original engine back in. All those little things that take time and money which we have neither of!

It’s had a full restoration from the ground up. I bought it as an empty rolling shell with no motor or panels, materials, door trims, bumper bars, just nothing, and I slowly pieced it together the last 20 or so years. The prices for these have gone crazy, so we’d never afford to be able to get one now. The young bloke might get some value out of this one!

Podcast

Listen to the 2017 ACT All Holden Day report below, and catch more like this at caradvice.com/podcast.

THREE THINGS WE'LL MISS


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