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Holden

down on the street bonus edition

DOTS-O-Rama Sunday: Holden Ute

We've been receiving DOTS Bonus Edition photos at a rate faster than we can post them at the current pace, so today we're going to have a special Bonus DOTS-O-Rama Sunday, with a series of vehicles captured in the wild by our readers. Today's theme will be Down On The California Street, and the first machine is this Holden ute that Froggmann found in Anaheim. How many California cities can you name that started out as a German utopian colony, had an all-KKK city government, and then became the happiest place on earth? Just one! Make the jump to see all the photos and read Froggmann's description.

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classic ad watch

Power For Towing Or Just Plain Easy Going: Holden Wagons!

Only Australians would make an early-80s station wagon advertisement that showed family-haulin' wagons getting sideways and backwards in hoonage sessions culminating in crazy jumps. We see the six- and eight-cylinder-equipped Holden Commodore and the (Cavalier-based) Holden Camira being put through some highly entertaining paces. Our only problem with this ad is the lack of wagons doing jumps with trailers attached.

el camino

PUTC Sets Up Aussie Sh-Ute-Out Between Holden VE And Ford Falcon FG, We Demand Dibs On Round Two!

Color us here at Jalopnik red with jealousy. Our friends at PickupTrucks.com sent their Aussie stringer James Stanford out back to let him get in touch with his inner hoon. What better way to do it than by running a brand spankin' new 2008 Holden VE Ute head-to-head with a 2008 Ford Falcon FG Ute? Stanford found out all the really important technical details on the two new car-based pickups — like both can hold a slab of 24 stubbies (beer bottles) behind each seat. Yes, the important technical details were covered, but how do each Ute do at going frontways? Sideways? Backways? You'll have to head over to PUTC for the specifics, but according to Stanford, the Ford out-drags the Holden, but the Holden took down the Falcon by a few tenths of a second in the almost-quarter-mile. We think we'd probably call that a tie. Sounds to us like they should send team Jalopnik over for the round two, eh?

[PickupTrucks.com]

holden hsv tourer

Holden HSV Tourer Announced, Will Haul Ass and Take Names

Let us all rise, and solemnly acknowledge the beginnings of the wagon wars. With the stroke of a key and the sending of an image, Holden has loosed a battle cry the likes of which are rarely heard. The Holden HSV Tourer will not only haul little Timmy and Sally to school in the morning, it'll haul ass all day with an LS3 V8 pumping 426 HP and 405 lb.ft. of torque out of that 6.2 liters of goodness. And just look at that garish, chav-tastic styling! We're in love. We need two tickets to paradise Australia. More »

retro

Aussie Wants $1.2 Million For Holden FX #46, We Choke On 'Roo Burger

It's one thing to sell an exceedingly rare and beautiful car for a big pile of cash, but what about just a rare car? Nobody is going to mistake this 1948 Holden FX — one of only 112 sold, and one of three thought to still exist — for any kind of concourse winner. It's just plain fugly in our opinion, but as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Apparently its pretty damned beautiful to owner Charlie McCarron, who has put it up for sale and is asking a stonking $1.2 million for it. More »

classic ad watch

They Say This Holden Kingswood Is A Bad Mother- Shut Your Mouth!

You can bet your life on the early-70s Holden Kingswood's four coil springs and win with a jet-smooth ride... but will it cop out when there's danger all about? Looks like either Isaac Hayes made a deal with GM Australia or advantage was taken of some sort of copyright loophole. Either way, the Kingswood was the great way to move! More »

industry news

LS3 Goes Down Under: HSV To Build Higher Horsepower Hooning Machines

It's not even Australia Day, but we're hearing GM's giving their high-performance team down under a gift of power. Holden's Special Vehicles team announced last night they'll be fitting the US-built LS3 engine across their range of E-Series and WM Grange vehicles. That's the same engine found in the base model of the new Corvette as well as the one found in the Australian-built Pontiac G8 GXP. So that means the new ClubSport R8, GTS, Senator Signature, Maloo R8 and WM Granges will see a power boost from the current 307 kW (412 HP) and 399 lb-ft of torque provided by the ol' and busted 6.0-liter LS2 to 317 kW (425 HP) and 406 lb-ft of torque with GM's new 6.2-liter hotness under the hood. More cost-savings on the high-end across GM's global business? Check. More hooning power? Check. Greater potential for said hooning power to drop in price stateside? One would hope. Full press release after the jump.

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maximum el camino day

926 HP Holden Ute: Blueprint For An Epic Pontiac G8 El Camino

Considering everything under the skin of the new Pontiac G8 El Camino sport truck is basically a Holden Ute, it stands to reason all the modifications done to this truck-car could be done to our sport truck. How would you feel about a 926 HP El Camino? We would feel pretty good about it, all seven seconds we drove it before planting it into a wall somewhere. The mega-hoons at C.A.P.A. Performance who build this baby really understand the idea of Maximum El Camino Day - it's every day of their lives.

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ad watch

Holden Ute Expands To Keep Up With Suburban Sprawl!

Given the current QOTD, it seems only right to have an Aussie-themed Bonus Classic Ad Watch today, so here ya go! This ad sort of reminds us of Robert Crumb's History of America, with its small towns evolving into McMansion-filled edge cities and tiny utes morphing into somewhat larger versions. But, by God, the Aussies never stopped making cars with truck beds, while Los Norteamericanos cruelly shunned the once-beloved El Camino and Ranchero.

question of the day

What's Your Favorite Australian Car?

With the Melbourne International Motor Show in full swing we thought we'd focus on all the things that make us love the cars from down under. On the new side, it's hard not to love the Z06-powered HSV Super Sedan or the new FPV Ford Falcon (a car so hot the Mark Fields personally asked for his own to be delivered to North America). And what about those utes? The HSV Maloo or FPV Falcon Ute? Why not both? And those are just new cars. If the classic cars weren't great people wouldn't be stealing them constantly.

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melbourne international motor show

Forum Fan-Boy Builds Excitement With Pontiac GTO Photoshop Of Holden Coupe 60

We can always trust the GM fan-boys at GMInsideNews to get their p-shop pens out whenever Holden drops a hot piece of Aussie 'roo tail out for the muscle-craving hoons of the world. Yesterday's Coupe 60 concept was no exception to the rule. camaro_freak, one of the Vegemite-loving forumites over at GMI has photoshopped the Coupe 60 concept in a way that builds swelling excitement in the loins of any muscle car lover — it's his take on what it could look like with the Pontiac arrowhead affixed firmly to the front. That's right, we bring you the camaro_freak GTO 60 concept. Eat your heart out "Maximum" Bob. Hit the jump to see the p-chop bigger, longer and more uncut and getting ready to drive, Pontiac, drive!

[via GMInsideNews]

melbourne international motor show

HSV W427 "Supercar" Revealed In Melbourne Gets Z06-Level Power For Increased Hoonage Potential...Mate

Yeah, this limited-edition Aussie madman from the folks at Holden Special Vehicles has got itself a 7.0-liter V8 under the hood — the same one found in the Corvette Z06. Really, we think that's all that needs to be said. Check out the gallery below and the press release after the jump.

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chicago auto show

GMC Denali XT Hybrid Concept Truck: The Caballero Is Back...In Concept

This is it. It's called the GMC Denali XT Hybrid Concept Truck, and this unibody rear-wheel drive Australian professional grade car-truck action set to be unveiled this week at the Chicago Auto Show is making us excited in a way we haven't been since we saw the first episode of My Name Is Earl. And why shouldn't we be? Everyone knows the El Camino had a GMC version called the Sprint Caballero! GM, knowing of our love of all things car with a truck-bed allowed us, along with the fellow lovers of all things El Camino at PickupTruck.com, the opportunity to go behind the scenes in sunny Southern California for an exclusive with the design team and some one-of-a-kind photos of this unique Aussie import. When we accepted the invite to attend (at our own expense of course) we were expecting to see nothing more than a re-badged four-door Holden Crewman updated to the current VE architecture. Cool, but nothing more than what you'd expect from a leader in re-badging. Instead what we got was stunning, jaw-dropping and mind-blowing. So grab a shrimp off the Barbie above and settle in for the full story below the jump, mate!

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el camino

Report: Lutz Confirms Holden Ute-Based GMC Concept At NY Auto Show, Is The Crewamino Nigh?

It looks as though Maximum Bob Lutz has confirmed to Australian website GoAuto that a four door truck concept based on the Zeta platform will be appearing at the New York Auto Show as a GMC. While we can't be sure this is the precursor to the new El Camino we keep asking about, what we're picturing in our head is totally a four-door El Camino. Specifically he said "We will have a ute concept at the NY show, but that is going to be badged GMC... and a very interesting study in that it is a GMC tough-looking four-door ute that could then obviously be badged as a Holden for Australia." A lot of people have taken to thinking this refers to the Holden Crewman, which didn't get updated like the other Utes in Holden's lineup.

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el camino

No Holden VE Sportwagon For U.S.: A Nation of Big Back End-Lovin' Auto Enthusiasts Mourn

We can hardly believe our eyes. We all were under the impression after the last set of rumors from Automotive News that we here in the U.S. would be seeing a Zeta-platformed wagon and ute sometime before the end of the decade. We'd even done our darndest trying to track down that rumor ourselves — first with Rick Wagoner at CES, then with Lutz himself at Detroit on Tuesday morning. Now, Australian auto media site GoAuto is reporting GM's main product man told them and other members of the media from down under the United States will not be seeing a Holden VE Sportwagon-based wagon. How could "Maximum" Bob Lutz leave us out in the cold like this? Here's how and why — straight from his "Maximum" mouth:
"We looked at that, but the amount of change to meet US regulations was going to be quite a lot of money...and the sad truth is, as much as some of us like 'sportwagons', they just don't sell in the US.
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ces

We Ask GM's Rick Wagoner About a New El Camino...Back-Asswardly

As we hinted at yesterday — we had the opportunity to sit down (with a group of other auto journos — but it totally felt like it was just the two of us in that room. Or maybe it's just because I could care less about the fuel economy and economic issues surrounding the General, the direction most of the auto hacks were beating their chests to) and talk with GM's big chief exec, Rick Wagoner, yesterday before his keynote address at CES. So what did we talk about? How about future Zeta products hitting US shores — like the reports we've heard of GM greenlighting an El Camino ute and a wagon for Pontiac under the G8 nameplate. Namely we were wondering about the rumors we've heard that if Pontiac builds both the wagon and the ute, the wagon will only come with a V6 engine while the ute would come in both V6 and V8 flavors. Our back-and-forth with His Slickness after the jump. More »

knight rider

Hello KITT: Aussie Cops Testing Super Police Cruiser

Here is where Shakespeare's timeless question gets stretched to it's limit; Does a rose by any other name smell just as sweet? Or adapted: Does KITT, recreated in part by Aussie coppers, bust just as many bad guys? The cool swooshy light show will be roofside instead of in the nose, but it does a lot of the stuff that got our collective 12 year old engines revved. How about starting with the solid base of a Holden Commodore VE, add realtime cameras that stream video back to base, voice recognition, automatic plate recognition, and get this - the ability to fire a GPS enabled tracking dart into a cars' backside. Now doubt hoons everywhere will respond with rotating number plates, hardened trunk lids impervious to darts, and lasers. Also, turbo boost. What? You mean life doesn't imitate art? [couriermail.com.au]

hoon of the day

Hoon Of The Day: Holden Test Drive Crash Experience

All teenagers think that they're God's gift to motorsports and, unless they're a Foyt or an Andretti, chances are their skills don't quite match up to their aspirations. Take the case of a 19-year old hoon from Victoria, Australia, who apparently took what's left of this VY HSV Clubsport out for a test drive. While the young man became very familiar with the power and handling of the tuned Holden, he never quite got a handle on the brakes.

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