1976 Holden Kingswood review
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- Опубликовано: 14 сен 2024
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Worked for a Holden dealer when these were released and was asked to operate the dyno tune up department so got to know how to work around the emission system to get more power out of the 6 cyl motor. All very illegal but kept the customers happy. Came in handy when I bought one in 1987. Mine was Aquarius in color, a sort of bluey green color with a white painted roof (another option available from the factory ), 6 cyl. with column shift auto and bucket seats with seat separator. Had to get rid of it in 1994 because of rust. Bought a late 1990 VN Commodore to replace it.
That was excellent. Glad you like the looks of these. They were everywhere when I grew up and so iconic.
Unfortunately the HX was the worst of both worlds, it gained the very stifled pollution engines without addressing the poor handling that afflicted this generation of car until the HZ came out in 77.
I knew a guy who had an HX wagon with a rebuilt 3.3 that had balanced pistons, Holley carb and extractors together with a three speed floor shift manual and it went like a rocket with sound to match. The anti pollution gear was likely blocked off.
Loved that car.
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A very nice pick for this brochure. I have never been to Australia so don't have any first-hand experience with these models but they do look a lot like the Vauxhall Victor FE. The rear also reminds me of the Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier so you can see a GM family resemblance here. The interior does look really nice too, that bench seat looks really comfortable and is above what we got in the UK. The 3 speed manual im guessing is the column shift one and the 4-speed manual is the floor-mounted gearbox? Im sure that 3300 engine was also used in some UK Vauxhall models. Nice video and nice editing too.
The Achillies heel of these Holdens was it's propensity to rust [like many other vehicles of this period including the Fords & Chryslers], particularly in humid coastal climates (ie: the entire eastern seaboard of Australia where Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane etc are located). Dealer-installed rustproofing & underbody undercoating was essential if you lived on the coast & particularly by the beach and would slow down the body corrosion a bit; I saw many of these back in the days with their door skins & rear quarter panels rusted right through after only 7 or 8 years (I owned a used '73 HQ Kingswood that literally fell apart with rust & had to be scrapped at only 12 years old; in the end it practically had more body filler in it than steel).
Thank you for sharing your experience
Great to see this! Thank you! You could always hear a Kingswood as some would be hard to start and then owners would try again and I think the starter motor was still spinning so...SCREEEEECH! Hugely popular as taxis. They were so iconic they spawned a TV show, "Kingswood Country." This was very popular despite it's racial slurs and misogynistic language, much in the same way as Benny Hill and "Mind your language."
Thank you for sharing some Aussie culture
Ted would be pleased. If you know you know. I think it's still the only car ever made that got a TV comedy series made about it.
Kingswood had two models as Kingswood n base either Belmont or later SL. HJ model very popular, the difference HJ to HX was hi/low switch on the floor compare stalk on right HX. HJ horizontal speedo dash compared cockpit style dash. Yes unfortunately vinyl seats LOL burn your ass n sweat like river in summer n cold in winter. Harvesting in Australia we had International AA160 truck with vinyl seat that was torture, no relief standing in summer heat.
Appreciate your comment love learning about these cars
HX was hard hit by pollution controls and didn’t have much trim for 1976. The next model, the HZ was the last of the line but had radial tuned suspension. The HQ, two models earlier, had more trim.
These were good cars that kept their value well. Very reliable, not too bad for rust but maybe a bit slow in 3300 form which most were. There were popular used cars on the 80s after they stopped making Holdens this size for a while. The first gen Commodores were a fair bit smaller especially in width. Thankyou for posting.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge
I like the colour of the base model) it looks very similar to the shade of green that the vauxhall victor FE' was available in.
We had these in New Zealand too , HZ probably better buy back in 77, we had SL and Premier Holden dropped the Kingswood name when HZ came out, love watching your catalog reviews
Thank you
See if you can get your hands on the 1977 Holden HZ Premier brochure, the one with the gold car on the cover. Nice car.
I will keep my eye out for it
HX was arguably a low point in the series. These were comfortable and reliable cars, but let down by the pollution gear added to the range which simultaneously decreased power and worsened fuel economy. The bulk of the cars were straight six 3.3 litre and the 1960s engines design was already well past its prime. The engine was simple and reliable, however it lacked power and fuel economy was dreadful. Sadly they continued with this woeful engine until the mid 1980's. The 4.2l and 5.0l V8s were both better more expensive options. The best models were the earlier HQ and HJ because the engine ran far better without the suffocating anti pollution gear. And the subsequent HZ which had a radical suspension redesign that changed the car from a boat into something safe and predictable you'd enjoy driving even today.
The Holden Kingswood was entering its "twilight zone" at this time. Sure, by this time most of the kinks had been ironed out, and it was quite solid and dependable. However, the Ford Falcon soon became the best seller, and had a better engine, and the hemi six cylinder engines in the Chrysler Valiant range were even better, as someone already commented. I always preferred the first iteration of this shape of Kingswood, the HQ series from 1971. It was a cleaner, less gaudy car, with very Chevrolet style four square taillights set into the rear bumper. The two door Monaro coupe was a great looking car, with pillarless hardtop design and a wrap-around rear window. The GTS version of the Monaro coupe was, and still is, a very desirable car. They came in bold colours like lime green, red, and purple. With the 5.0 litre V8 they were potent performers. The Kingswood was the other end of the scale.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge
HX model. The year that Falcon became bestseller for the first time.
The 202ci six was the WORST engine from the Big Three in 1976 - Ford had a base 221ci unit with a new crossflow head, Chrysler had a base 245ci HEMI six that would SMOKE the other two, even in Low Compression taxicab spec.
Frustratingly underdeveloped design - solid, but pure stodge!
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You could say these 70's Holden's were not that dissimilar to what Vauxhall was doing in the UK, trying to offer cars to their specific domestic market.
Then when the General came to town and I think for both Holden and Vauxhall you saw more of that dominance in the late 70's, you see a lot of that independent domestic focused design ebb away.
Certainly if you look at the Commodore you can see Opel based designs tweaked for the Australia and the Chevette and Carlton for the UK market.
my first car in 1980 was the 1974-75 HJ Kingswood bought for $800. Same car as the HX only no pollution gear and different year 😂 🇭🇲👍👍
This was my exact first car - HX Kingswood - except mine had a vinyl roof. They were underpowered compared to the previous HJ model as ADR 27A ( Australian Design Rules) had come into force and to reduce emissions.
My 202 cu (3.3 litre) low compression 6 cylinder could only do 145 km/h max. Had a bench front seat but a previous owner had switched out the 3 speed column-shift manual to a 4 speed with a floor shift.
Interesting thank you for sharing your experience
A nice looking car, can see the GM lines through it as with the European variants at the time , Holden another name gone unfortunately.
My parents had one.. It was slightly upmarket, being a 50th anniversary.. In short it was the most cynical Holden ever make. In the 3.3 6 it had no performance to mention, the suspension to far to soft and it was like the steering belong to a paddle steamer!! I remember driving (trying anyway) fast and being blown away by a Datsun 180B in the meantime the fuel gauge was seeing more action than the speedo... It was no wonder the HZ came out with long overdue suspension improvements... Yes and vinyl was the norm for seats, and yes it was horrid!!
Thank you for sharing your experience
nice too see this holden kingwood this car model, this car is very big, this is a product fo general motors, like opel, Vauxhall, in Australia now how many this car still on the road now
Ofcourse this was just the base model but they were popular even in base trim . They were big and comfortable and reliable. There was a luxury varient and Ofcourse the GTS. You could have a wagon Ute or van. The slightly later model the HZ didn't look much different but was even better and very popular. Oh almost forgot I think you could still get the Monaro in this model and the slightly longer Statesman. This was a great time for Australian cars. Holden,Ford and Valiant (Chrysler) all had great success with popular and desirable products.
Similar styling to the Victor FE I reckon.
The HX’s with its emission controls especially with the 202 ci or 3.3 litre was not well
Liked as this was really the first with major emission controls and the car was vulnerable to overheating in peak hour traffic in our hot Australian summer as they really tried to lean the engine out to meet standards and it also suffered quite a loss of power compared to the previous HJ and HQ models, Holden did get it a bit better with the next and last model the HZ but it still suffered with its emission controls, when Holden brought out the first Commodores, the VB series they were a lot better and just a point of interest even though Holden dropped the sedan and station wagons for the new VB Commodores in around 1978 Holden still manufactured this Holden for many years but only in ute and Panel vans the 202 or 3.3 sixes were further developed and some major redesign and these commercial Holdens based on HQ,HJ,HX,HZ’s we’re known as the WB series and these commercials were not monocoque but had a seperate chassis than what the sedans had and the WB Holdens also in Statesman and and Statesman De-Villes a luxury long wheelbase car, these Holdens were very popular and were very very good cars indeed and still command high prices on the used car / classic car market
Thank you for this - great info here
Stainless wheel arch mouldings and wheel full or partial chrome dress ring . Wider than picture Radial tyres also became standard on 6 inch rims . The advertisement is very old production date . By the time actual production release date arrived the model features were shuffled around . Most had some features standard when vehicle launched .
The 2.8ltr hung around like a bad smell with 3spd manual column shift mostly appeared in base model Belmont but unfortunately many Kingswood had this option .
By USA standards Holden were very poorly optioned and overpriced .
Never understood why they thought vinyl was suitable for australia