Let’s Explore The Fiercest Muscle Cars And Wildest Wedges Of GM’s Australian Division

My old hometown of Adelaide has a few charms, like the former Grand Prix track and the set of giant metal balls downtown. Head a little further afield, though, up into the hills, and you’ll find the real gems. For car enthusiasts, chief among them is the National Motor Museum in Birdwood. What lies within is one of the greatest automotive collections in all of Australia, and it preserves some incredibly valuable local history. On a recent trip back home, I was lucky enough to spend a morning wandering its halls and taking in the crown jewels of Australia’s own automaker, Holden.

The museum doesn’t limit itself to any one make or period of time, instead focusing on the broad topic of Australian motoring history. It features cars from a huge variety of manufacturers, both local and international, along with motorbikes, movie cars, and a particularly nice Bugatti Veyron. But what I was really there to see was altogether more special. I’ve toured the junkyards and seen the rusty side of the brand’s history, now I wanted to see it gleaming, bright and clean.

For context, the Birdwood museum lies just 25 miles from the former Holden factory in Elizabeth. When that factory shut down in 2017, it put Australian automotive manufacturing to bed, with Toyota and Ford having abandoned their own factories shortly beforehand. Australian automotive culture, all its inventions and creativity and rivalries, was dealt a death blow. In the wake of that closure, the National Motor Museum took it upon itself to remember the company’s glory days. The Holden Heroes collection—sadly a retrospective—features Holden’s greatest-ever concept cars, and that’s what I’d come here to see.
This is not a Holden, but it is one of the cool exhibits at the museum as you walk in. No, you can’t drive it.

Local History

The National Motor Museum was well-placed to move when GM made the decision to shut Holden down. The museum was able to secure actual fixtures and fittings from the Elizabeth factory. Chief among them are the multiple partially-completed bodies of Holden Commodores, which ride on a small section of track from the factory’s production line. There’s a small diorama-like setup, too, with a real set of lockers taken from the factory floor, along with a workbench and a control booth. As someone who visited the factory back when it actually ran, it’s an authentic touch. It reminds you that there was this glorious sprawling operation churning out thousands of cars a year, courtesy of the hard work and sweat of thousands of busy workers.

As you walk into the Holden Heroes section, you’re immediately greeted with a smorgasbord of amazing cars. There’s a VB Commodore in great condition, an example of the very first Australian version of the Opel Rekord. The VB marked Holden’s shift away from the archaic Kingswood line and established what would become the company’s most popular model.

Indeed, right behind it is the ill-fated WB Kingswood prototype. As a rehashed version of the Holden HZ, it was intended as a bargain-basement refresh to Holden’s large car that would reuse as much original tooling as possible. The passenger versions of the WB were ultimately abandoned as the fallout of the fuel crisis pushed Holden to downsize and focus on the Commodore instead. But it only gets better from there.

Fans of the Pontiac GTO will be familiar with the Holden Monaro that it was based on. Indeed, that car was basically a reworking of the design language used on the VT Commodore of the late 1990s. Little known, however, is the cabriolet concept known as the Marilyn. Think “LS-powered rival to the drop-top Mustang,” and you’re in the right ballpark.

The Monaro sold okay when it landed in 2001, but only well enough to stick around until 2006. The sales figures didn’t justify developing a whole new body style for production. It’s a pity because it would have been a heck of a thing with the LS1 under the hood and the wind in your hair.

As the Commodore moved on, the Monaro should have been updated with it. To that end, Holden’s designers put together the Holden Coupe 60. Revealed in 2008, it hewed to the VE Commodore’s squared-off styling and looked like a high-performance brick of solid tungsten. In person, it sits super low, with massively pumped guards and a carbon lip spoiler sticking way out in front. It has this heft about it that probably would have been toned down in a production model. Nonetheless, the proportions are very race car, much of which is down to the track width and the massive rubber.

Alas, the Coupe 60 was never to be. The Monaro wasn’t selling enough to justify building a new version, especially with no exports on the table. In the US, GM already had the Camaro on the way, which was actually based on the same Zeta platform as the contemporary Commodore, too. Seeing it in the flesh, it’s definitely one of those concepts that would have translated well to production, even if the real thing ended up looking a touch less extreme.

Similarly related to the VE Commodore is the Torana TT36 concept. In 2004, Australians were still enjoying the reborn Monaro, and thus dared to dream that Holden might bring back its other famous name from the 1970s.

The idea was promising too—a 3.6-liter twin turbo driving the rear wheels in a compact four-door body. As a concept, it was tamer than you might think, despite its transparent roof and lurid color. This one, though, wasn’t so seriously considered for production. Instead, it was used as a way to preview the styling of the upcoming VE Commodore due in 2006. It was a useful way for Holden to gauge the reaction without giving away its hand early.

The gems aren’t just limited to the modern era, either. Going back in time, an altogether more special Torana was also in attendance—the legendary Torana GTR-X. Developed in the early 1970s, Holden put together a fiberglass coupe with striking looks that were easily equal to what the best designers were putting out at the time. It wanted to build the thing, too, developing brochures and promotional films in support of the rakish wedge. It packed a straight-six under the bonnet, a Holden Red motor sourced from the LC Torana XU-1. Good for 159 horsepower, it sent its power to the rear wheels, as was the style at the time. It didn’t have crazy power on tap, but paired with a curb weight of just over 2200 pounds, it would have been almighty fun for the time. On show at Birdwood is the second example ever built. The first was destroyed, and the third was never finished, having been privately owned all these years, and never restored.

And yet, we didn’t get to enjoy it. Only one example was completed before Holden decided that the business case didn’t quite stack up. The delicate, sharp-nosed GTR-X was one of the most striking designs to ever come out of Australia, and we almost had it. Indeed, the concept has returned to the collective consciousness of late, with the final unfinished example currently up for sale. Of all the cars here, I think the GTR-X would be the one I’d most like to drive, if only for that old-school drivetrain and its cutting-edge—for the 70s—style.

The Pie In The Sky Is Probably Delicious

You’re probably getting the idea by now. As a small offshoot of GM, Holden’s dreams were often bigger than it could realistically achieve. Over the years, though, it didn’t let that stop it from shooting for the stars. Perhaps the best example of that is the Holden Hurricane. Built in 1969, it looked like nothing Holden had ever done before or since. Referred to as a “research vehicle,” it was intended to allow Holden to explore new technologies and concepts.

It featured a high-compression 4.2-liter Holden V8. Good for 259 horsepower, it was mid-mounted and drove the rear wheels in a configuration that was just coming into vogue with supercar manufacturers. The concept lacked any doors; instead, entry was achieved by lifting the hydraulically-actuated canopy. Future-forward features included a rear-view camera which displayed on a small CRT screen on the dash. Holden also touted the potential of “Pathfinder”, a system of navigation that was intended to use magnetic markers in the road to guide drivers to their destinations.

It’s wild to see the Hurricane up close. After it was found in a Holden training center in 1988, it was professionally restored and looks stunning for the effort. The paint, in particular, is something else. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an automaker go quite so hard with the sparkles, but somehow it’s fitting on the Hurricane. It’s all the more exciting for its bold design decisions, too—the canopy, the faired-in rear wheels, and the differential hanging out the back of the rear grille. I doubt anyone at Holden ever entertained the idea of building this thing in numbers, but it stands as an amazing achievement of what the brand’s designers were capable of way back when.

We’ve already covered an embarrassment of riches, but Holden’s 69-year history of local production simply delivered a ton of high-end metal. The collection also includes the imposing Efijy, a low-slung hot rod that stunned on its debut at the Australian International Motor Show in 2005. Despite its lead-sled good looks, it was actually based on a Corvette floor pan. Meanwhile, it featured a 6.0-liter LS2 V8 under the hood, good for 644 horsepower. It drove the rear wheels via a rear-mounted 4L60E gearbox.

Highlights of the Efijy design include the massive dishy wheels and the cavernous rear exhausts that are so elegantly integrated into the rear haunches of the design. The Efijy is one of those concepts that served no purpose other than showing off, and it did that well.

The hits don’t stop, either. You can check out the HSV W427, which put the 7.0-liter Chevy Big Block under the hood of the Monaro. The Mambo Sandman is also neat, as is the UTEster from 2001.  You can also step through the million-milestone vehicles, along with the first and last Holden ever built. The lineup shows you just how broadly the company’s designs changed over the decades. It also indicates how sales started to drop off over the years. Just seven years separated the six millionth and seventh millionth Holdens, but a further 9 years would pass with Holden failing to reach the eight million mark before the Elizabeth factory closed in 2017.

More To See

You might get the idea from my proselytizing that the Birdwood museum is just about Holdens, but that’s anything but the case. There are hundreds more cars on site from brands all over the world. There are regular cars, vans, and trucks, along with race cars and oddball movie vehicles like the “Bigfoot 4×4” from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. There’s a whole gaming section, including a free-play Daytona USA machine that still has functional force feedback. Oh, and an entire pavilion of motorbikes for fans of getting around on two wheels.

Ultimately, this article can only hint at the gems lying within the National Motor Museum. It’s truly worthy of that title; you know it’s a good museum when you want to drive everything there. The fact that it has the entire catalog of hot Holden concepts only makes it more compelling. If you can get down there, and stump up the hilariously-cheap $22.50 entry fee, you’ll definitely get your money’s worth. Have fun.

Image credits: Lewin Day