Torana A9X 1977
1954 Holden FJ Special
1957 FE Special
1971 Holden HQ Monaro
Holden 1962 EJ Premier
John Wright18 Feb 2020
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Top 10 Holdens to invest in

General Motors has axed Holden; here's our pick of the Aussie brand’s most collectable cars

With the demise of Holden announced this week, following the end of the Australian car-making industry in 2017, enthusiasts are more conscious than ever of just how much has been lost.

Inevitably, the most collectible of local cars will increase in value – some perhaps exponentially – and none more so than the models which have partaken of Bathurst glory.

Here is our subjective pick of the 10 Holdens we think are worth collecting now. Some have already begun to rise in value, while the newest is still experiencing the initial depreciation plunge.

There is a car for anyone with between $10K and $200K to spend on a classic. Market values (for pristine examples) are courtesy of Shannons auctions manager Chris Boribon

In chronological order, they are: 1953 FJ Special, 1957 FE Special Station Sedan, 1962 EJ Premier, 1968 HK GTS327, 1971 HQ Statesman De Ville, 1971 HQ Monaro GTS350 coupe, 1972 Torana GTR XU-1, 1977 Torana A9X Hatch, 1984 HDT SS Group A, 2013 HSV Gen-F GTS.

1977 Torana A9X hatch

Torana A9X

The A9X, announced quietly to Holden insiders in a memorandum just weeks before the 1977 James Hardie 1000 at Mount Panorama, was a car which could not have been imagined even two years earlier.

It was developed due to the confluence of two major priorities. The first was to turn all Holdens into crisp-handling cars. The second was to win touring car races, especially at Bathurst.

Available as a sedan or hatchback, the A9X looked pretty much like any other LX Torana, but something approaching an engineering miracle had been wrought.

GM-H went light on publicity for fear of re-igniting the supercar crisis, sparked by a feature story by Evan Green in Sydney’s Sun-Herald on June 25, 1972.

In 1975 US engineer George Roberts, who had worked on the so-called ‘boulevarde ride’ of Cadillacs (where he was chief engineer), and who believed terminal plough understeer was a safety feature, was still the boss of Holden engineering.

But Alex Cunningham, GM’s director of international operations who drove assorted Holdens at the Lang Lang proving ground outside Melbourne, could hardly believe how bad they were. He raised his concerns in Detroit and months later Roberts was gone.

Two of Opel’s most senior engineers came to run Holden, Charles (‘Chuck’) Chapman as managing director and Joe Whitesell as chief engineer. They brought out German Peter Hanenberger to fix Holden suspension.

The marketing theme – following a similar Pontiac theme – was Radial Tuned Suspension (RTS). Hanenberger, in turn, got young engineers like Ray Borrett to do the hands-on work.

Borrett told me: “I had a Torana down at Phillip Island. I took every bit of rubber out of the suspension, cut down the control arms, welded plates on and screwed rose joints on. It was all seat of the pants.”

His last job at Holden before taking up a position in Detroit was to develop the A9X. By this time the LX Toranas all had RTS, but this car had to be even better.

“I took an L34 and the first A9X prototype, if you like, and did all the geometry, steering rack location and all that sort of stuff. I got it running, drove it for two days at the proving ground, made a few changes, then hopped on the plane.”

As well as its superior version of RTS, the A9X also got rear-wheel disc brakes, the first Holden to be thus equipped (beating the HZ Kingswood/Premier by weeks).

To be able to fit GM-H’s new Salisbury disc-braked rear axle, the A9X essentially got the floorpan from the forthcoming UC Torana. And the A9X steering gear was mounted directly to the chassis for much more feel.

A new fibreglass front-end panel, flared guards to house wider wheels and tyres, the deletion of some trim like the centre console as weight saving measures, a Davies-Craig thermo-electric fan (to gain a few kiloWatts) and a rear spoiler completed the package.

A9X hatchbacks have always been more desirable than sedans, because of (a) their racing provenance and (b) their aesthetics. Expect prices to continue heading north.

Think of the A9X hatch as the closest thing the Australian industry produced to a contemporaneous front-engined Porsche; here was our 928S. It was the last V8 Holden coupe until the resurrection of the Monaro and the last Holden to be created specifically with Mount Panorama in mind. All these factors amount to a unique heritage.

Prices climbed beyond $300K in 2008 but dropped back below $200K until 2017 when one outstanding car made $250K. Even that figure looks inexpensive for the burden of Australian automotive culture embodied in that Holden model code A9X.

Price range: $150,000-$220,000

1953 FJ Special

1954 Holden FJ Special

Well before the FJ model was introduced in October 1953, Holden watchers had begun to anticipate a completely new car and thus the modest facelift – promoted in GM-H advertising as the ‘New Look’ (which instantly rendered the original 48-215 the ‘Old Look’) – was a disappointment.

But the introduction of a more decorative ‘Special’ variant pretty much made up for it. This was Holden’s first departure from austerity.

With its chromed and stainless steel ornamentation, minuscule tail fins and offer of two-tone paintwork, the FJ Special (£1075) offered a taste of Detroit fashion and gestured towards the real coming of glamour for GM-H, the FE due within three years.

The entry-level Holden, essentially an updated 48-215, was now the Standard and cost £1023, and there was also a Business sedan, aimed at fleet buyers and priced at £1052.

Leather (softer than the hide used in many 48-215s, others having grey cloth) was standard on the Special but – in a true sign of the times – made way for highly stylised (two-tone with buttoned square panels) ‘Elascofab’ vinyl in 1955.

Elascofab was more fashionable than leather in an era when mantle radios were stylised and GM-H’s Nasco division provided such accessories as a venetian blind for the rear window, chromed number plate frames and windscreen sunshade.

By 1953 memories of petrol rationing (which finished on February 8, 1950) were fading and there was evident demand for more comfort and style.

The evidence suggests that the majority of buyers who could find the extra £52 over the price of a Standard did so: some 80,000 Specials were sold, compared with 28,000 Standards and 9300 Business sedans; completing the FJ’s tally of 169,969 units were the utilities and panel vans.

In my view the sales price range listed below fails to acknowledge the importance of this car in Australian cultural history. How many other cars have featured in movies and pop songs?

Price range: $25,000-$35,000

1957 FE Special Station Wagon

1957 FE Special

The three-box FE Holden sedan, styled entirely in Australia by Alf Payze and arguably the best executed car in the entire General Motors world and perhaps the most elegant of its size produced anywhere, was released in July 1956 to immediate public rapture. But the new Station Sedan variants would not be available until March 1957.

Few Australian cars are more reflective of their specific era than the FE Special Station Sedan. By 1957 a high proportion of the baby boomer generation were at school (the eldest already 10), the first waves of post-war immigration were changing the culture forever (and for the better), and many families wanted a vehicle better suited to their needs than the conventional sedan.

The longer and wider FE model with its big boot accommodated mum and dad and two school-age kids better than the 48-215 and FJ with their essentially pre-war body design, but the Station Sedan brought an entirely new versatility.

The Special variant supplied the kind of glitz and glamour in the family car that the new Astor television purchased for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games did for the lounge-room.

Wagons were uncommon on Australian roads in 1957 and no other maker offered one with a one-piece roof pressing, curved rear side glass, unique rear doors, lift-up rear panel and fold-down tailgate; old-fashioned barn doors were still the norm.

The FE Station Sedan ushered in a wagon craze just as suburbs such as Baulkham Hills, Glen Waverley and Acacia Ridge burgeoned. It was the perfect family car for the summer holidays.

It is also worth noting that the FE Station Sedan with its high ground clearance, short front and rear overhangs, peak engine torque at just 1200rpm and rugged construction could take the family over roads that would now be considered impassable except by a dedicated four-wheel drive.

Price range: $20,000-$30,000

1962 EJ Premier

Holden 1962 EJ Premier

When rumours circulated of GM-H having ordered a large number of bucket seats from a supplier, the easy conclusion was that Holden was about to launch a sports car. In fact it’s difficult to imagine any outcome further from the truth.

No-one expected the Holden Premier. The introduction of the Special in 1953 had been GM-H’s gesture towards luxury and even before the end of that car’s life, the standard leather upholstery had been ditched in favour of fancy-pants Elascofab vinyl.

But the Premier boasted bucket seats and two-tone Howe leather. There were twin horns. It had a white steering wheel befitting a Mercedes-Benz 220SE and, indeed, many EJ Premiers substituted for one of these or a Jaguar Mark 2 as second cars in Vaucluse or Toorak households.

Collectors have always preferred its EH successor. The EJ was the last Holden to be equipped with the old grey-painted six-cylinder engine – albeit it with 25 per cent more power – first seen in the 1948 48-215 original.

This outdated unit had its work cut out in the heavier Premier. Amazingly, but almost certainly in a misguided attempt to promote perceptions of the car’s luxury, an automatic transmission was the only type on offer.

On the road, the first Holden Premier could match the 1948 car neither on acceleration or top speed (realistically 78 miles per hour rather than about 82).

But its successor got the new, more powerful 179 cubic-inch ‘red’ engine and automatic transmission added to the purchase price, the manual gearbox being standard, and three-pedal cars offered a top speed not far short of 100mph.

Despite a shortfall in performance, the EJ Premier was a classy and elegant machine. It had metallic paint – called ‘iridescent’ at the time, usually contrasted with a white roof, whitewall tyres, a centre console and folding armrest in the rear seat.

There was pile carpet throughout and it was the first Holden to be fitted with a heater as standard equipment, but customers still had to pay extra for the Air Chief radio.

The EJ Premier represented a new point in a style and sophistication for what had started out as a simple, utility car conceived in wartime. When the Holden came to market there were just one million cars on Australian roads.

The two million mark was reached in 1956. The millionth Holden passed down the line in October 1962 which indicates the enormity of the Holden’s contribution to mass motorisation. Fittingly, number 1,000,000 was a bronze EJ Premier.

Price range: $20,000-$30,000 (EH Premier $30,000-$40,000)

1968 HK Monaro GTS 327

Holden HK Monaro GTS

This car was even more of a surprise than the Premier. Not only was it Holden’s first coupe but it was essentially a race car with a rego label, its mission being to win the Bathurst 500.

You could buy the same looks, vibrant colours, stripery, wheel trims, lowered suspension and aftermarket tachometer mounted below knee-level in the six-cylinder GTS 186S or the automatic-only V8 GTS 307, but the 327 was bespoke.

Here was a Holden that could reach 125mph -- unimaginable even 18 months earlier until Ford Australia, under marketing genius Bill Bourke, launched the XR Falcon GT.

As with the 307 variant, it used a Chevrolet V8. But it also got a close-ratio Saginaw four-speed manual gearbox, limited-slip differential, anti-tramp rods and 25-gallon fuel tank.

Unfortunately, less attention was paid to the brakes and it was only because 1968 winner Bruce McPhee, who modified the system within the regulations, was such a canny engineer that he was able to fend off the XT Falcon GTs in his Monaro. Contemporaneous drivers reckon the Holden was the better handling of the two.

GM-H did not officially involve itself with racing in line with international GM policy of the time but was delighted to claim whatever credit was on offer. Racing aside, any HK GTS Monaro is a beautiful car which utterly overshadows any other HK Holden variant.

Price range: $200,000-$320,000

1970 LC Torana GTR XU-1

Holden LJ torana GTR XUI

Even though both the GTS 327 and GTS 350 Monaros had beaten their Falcon GT rivals at Mount Panorama, three GM-H executives believed the key to future Bathurst victories was not to – in the words of then chief engineer Bill Steinhagen – ‘out GTHO the GTHO’ – but to create a David to tackle Ford’s Goliath.

Along with sales director John Bagshaw and marketing liaison Peter Lewis-Williams, he conceived a hotshot Torana.

The all-Australian LC (‘LC’ standing for ‘Light Car’) Torana range complete with six-cylinder variants headed by the GTR was launched in the last quarter of 1969.

Shortly after that year’s event and with the LC still in the motoring headlines, these three men met in Steinhagen’s office. The chief engineer was unwilling to launch an even more powerful Monaro which could be used on public roads.

A re-imagined Torana could use much of Holden’s own componentry, dispensing for the need to obtain engines from Detroit. It could also be sold at a much lower price and doubtless attract greater sales.

As well as being ideal for circuits, it could also be taken rallying, where its lighter weight and smaller size than the Monaro would prove advantageous. Additionally, it would be a hero car for the entire six-cylinder Torana range.

The Holden Dealer Team had been created earlier that year to bypass the issue of GM-H not being officially involved in racing. Harry Firth was the boss and it seems that he combined all his experience from the Cortina GT500 (1965) with the knowledge of his new protégé Peter Brock, who had lots of experience of extracting maximum performance from six-cylinder Holden engines.

The Holden, like the Cortina GT500, got twin fuel tanks (which could be filled simultaneously to halve the time required). Firth had given the Cortina large air scoops under the front bumper to direct air onto the brakes and the XU-1 got a spoiler designed to do the same.

A modified 186S engine with new cylinder-head, higher compression, bigger valves and hot camshaft, equipped with triple carburettors and a sports exhaust system gave 160 brake horsepower. For the 1971 ‘evolution’ variant, further modifications took power up to 180bhp.

But outright victory in the Bathurst 500-mile race would not come until 1972 when Peter Brock famously outdrove all rivals in the rain to take the flag in his LJ XU-1.

Price range: $80,000-$120,000 ($150,000 for Bathurst ‘evolution’ variant)

1971 HQ Statesman DeVille

Holden Statesman

It took GM-H more than four years to introduce a serious rival to the Ford Fairlane which, like the Falcon GT and, indeed, the entire XR Falcon range, was a product of Bill Bourke’s marketing nous.

The Statesman and Statesman DeVille superseded the faintly absurd Brougham (almost literally: old carriage), which was essentially a Premier with longer boot, vinyl roof and garish brocade trim. Yuk!

Even the Statesman (finally with a long wheelbase) laboured under some pretension. Like the 1948 Holden, its hubcaps were inscribed ‘General Motors’.

That decision was taken before the Holden was named (and monikers such as ANZAC and GM-H were being considered). The name Holden did not appear on the car, the idea being that ‘Statesman’ was a brand of its own; the market took a different view.

With the Australian 308 cubic-inch V8 engine and automatic transmission as standard equipment and its elegant, formal design, the Statesman De Ville was a fitting flagship for the HQ range.

A small number of these cars had the optional 350ci Chevrolet engine (with Turbo-Hydramatic auto), which gave them a serious turn of speed.

Price range: $20,000-$30,000

1971 HQ Monaro GTS 350 Coupe

1971 Holden HQ Monaro

With racing duties bequeathed to the GTR XU-1, the Monaro GTS 350 had little purpose in the range. This is one reason why the last of the Chevrolet-engined Monaros of last century remains relatively underrated.

Opinions vary, but I think this is the most beautiful Holden ever made. Like every other HQ variant, the flagship was much more refined than its predecessors and, even though plagued by the dreaded plough understeer beloved of chief engineer George Roberts, was a brilliant interstate cruiser and, at least, unlike many HQs, it came with radial tyres as standard.

It could be specified with a manual transmission or – to be preferred – Turbo-Hydramatic auto.

This was the penultimate Monaro GTS coupe. Its HJ successor was stylistically compromised by retaining the gorgeous HQ rear styling with the blunt, unsubtle nose of the HJ.

All HQ Holdens are appreciating in value but none will be coveted like this one.

Price range: $90,000-$120,000

1985 HDT VK SS Goup A Commodore

Holden 1985 HDT VK SS Goup A Commodore

Among all Commodores to bear Peter Brock’s famous signature, this is the most memorable and certainly the most internationally significant.

To homologate the Holden Commodore for the international Group A racing formula, 5000 cars had to be produced with a limited run of 500 special road-going versions. This was the first Commodore SS Group A.

The decision was taken to reduce the 5.0-litre V8’s capacity to bring it below 5000cc. Group A had complicated rules and, in a nutshell, by making this change, the car was allowed to race 75kg lighter and in a different class from the V12 Jaguar XJ-S.

Group A made its Australian debut in 1984 where a few of these cars competed against the outgoing – it would be Group A from 1985 – ‘dinosaur’ Group C cars with their huge wings and spoilers but in their own classes.

When Allan Grice and Graeme Bailey won the 1986 event in their VK SS Group A, the Holden Commodore became the only car to have won the Bathurst 1000 under two different sets of rules.

Two Australian teams (Peter Brock/Allan Moffat and Allan Grice/Graeme Bailey) took VK SS Group A racers to Europe where they competed in some rounds of the 1986 European Touring Car Championship. This adds to the car’s provenance.

In the years following Peter Brock’s death in 2006, these cars were briefly changed hands at upwards of $100,000. Expect values to go much higher in the short to medium term.

Price range: $70,000-$100,000

2013 HSV Gen-F GTS

HSV GTS 16

It is often noted that Holden Special Vehicles has struggled to sell cars which cost upwards of $100K and the Gen-F GTS suffers from this syndrome.

In 2013 HSV equipped its new VF Commodore-based GTS flagship with a supercharged 430kW/740Nm 6.2-litre Chevrolet engine, as seen in the most powerful Corvettes.

With its six-speed automatic transmission and immense brakes (six-pot callipers front and rear), it was not only the fastest Australian car to date but also the most accomplished.

For the first time in its history, HSV had a vehicle which could equal or better a Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG -- not just in acceleration (standing 400m: 12.7 seconds) but also in dynamics.

Brand-new, this GTS commanded $92,900. But because you can still buy a later version of the same car brand-new or with very low km for $100K or less, four-year-old examples are now available for less than $70,000.

Soon, a new or late model HSV will be a thing of the past, and prices of pristine GTS models are likely to appreciate.

Price range: $65,000-$70,000


A version of this article was first published in October, 2017 after the closing of Holden manufacturing

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Written byJohn Wright
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