Aussie icons: HQ Holden | Drive Flashback

Original story, by Peter McKay, published in Drive on 5 August, 2000.

Released in 1971 to the sound of trumpets blaring, GM-H stood on the palace balcony proclaiming to the masses that this, its newest car, was not only the greatest achievement since the FX, but the best thing since sliced bread.

It was a fair comparison – the FX had a front grille like a toast-rack and it could handle a loaf of Tip Top no worries.

An accurate prophecy (about its popularity, not the toast bit), they sold over 500,000 HQs, and with our population at then around 11 million, having one was more popular than both Alvin Purple and Leed lemonade.

A modern design compared to the previous Monaro (the Humpback shape being replaced by new "creased" side panels), the HQ carried on the familiar tags of Belmont, Kingswood and Premier – names as revered in Australia as Gallipoli or cheap smokes.

That year, 1971, was also huge for other car manufacturers who released their own big guns; Ford's XA Falcon and Chrysler's VH Valiant. True, plans of the Leyland P76 were also unveiled, but as Meatloaf said, "Two out of three ain't bad".

Regardless, the HQ not only led the way, but also introduced another winner for Holden, the Statesman. For GM-H it was the start of a very big roll.

Meatloaf? Big Roll? Hmm... where's that FX grille? I'm hungry. Peter McKay

The HQ Holden has passed into Australian motoring folklore, representing a coming of age for our auto manufacturing industry.

Designed entirely in Australia, the HQ spawned a seemingly endless list of variants – from the bread-and-butter line-up of sedans and wagons (Belmont, Kingswood, Premier) to the high-performance SS sedan, a range of Monaro coupes (Monaro, LS, GTS and GTS 350) as well as a Monaro GTS sedan, a one-tonne ute (imaginatively called One-Tonner) as well as regular ute and a panel van.

And that’s not counting the large limo derivatives, built on the same platform – Statesman and Statesman De Ville – that really took the fight to arch-rival Ford and its Fairlane models.

Cementing its place in Australian popular culture, the Logie-award winning TV sit-com Kingswood Country, which graced our television screens from 1980-84, popularised the catch-phrase, “The Kingswood! You’re not taking the Kingswood!” usually followed by an unlikely excuse like “I’ve just glad-wrapped the aerial”, or “I’ve just shampooed the battery”, or even “I just dry-cleaned the fan belt”.

Holden produced and sold over half-a-million HQ variants, the bulk of which (485,650) was made up of Belmont, Kingswood and Premier sedans. Yet, despite the huge number produced between 1971-74 when the HJ series replaced it, finding an unmolested HQ Holden today is difficult. And expensive. Clean examples can fetch over $50,000 while even tired HQs sell for $20,000 or more. RM

Have you ever owned a HQ Holden? Tell us a bit about your experience in the comments below.