Keep Holden

[wbute]

Fair enough. Those things are available to farmers. However I consider them to mostly be tax incentives the same as offered to every business in Australia. A farm subsidy I can state for a fact that was available to UK farmers while worked over there went like this;
"Set aside". The government paid them to not put a crop in a certain percentage of land. I thought it was ludicrous but that's what we have to compete against.

[SLR_dave]

Hey guys,

Just wondered how many people know about this attempt, I am sure there are plenty that do but for others, of company hybriding between GMH and Mazda?

Can't understand why it just didn't work?

An attempt at exporting which well, failed I guess but our desire was there!

Would it be a collectable?

Collectable - yep, just a bit!! The Mazda Roadpacer, as far as I know, had only the rotary in it. The 13B I think. The thing was that to get the little rotary to zip like it does in a Capella or an RX7 when you are looking at the weight of the H series (HX -HZ, I dont know exactly, maybe HJ? - somebody will know) sort of means it didnt zip!!! (Apparantly, I cant claim to have ever driven or ever seen one).

The story goes that in order to combat the lack of of power from the motor, Mazda offered a heap of luxury options on it, like full electric windows, I dunno exactly, but I think everything I've read about it says it was a bit of a dud! Still very very collectable!!!

I dunno if the body was assembled in Japan or Australia, but it's a good point I think in this thread, because it brings up that once, (maybe just once?) GMH did manage to export something to the very protected Japanese market and sell it there - albeit with a shared engine (and Tokyo style mirrors on the fenders)! A very cool thing to have, extremely valuable I would imagine to the right buyer.

[SLR_dave]

Fair enough. Those things are available to farmers. However I consider them to mostly be tax incentives the same as offered to every business in Australia. A farm subsidy I can state for a fact that was available to UK farmers while worked over there went like this;
"Set aside". The government paid them to not put a crop in a certain percentage of land. I thought it was ludicrous but that's what we have to compete against.

Yep, agreed.

[SLR_dave]

You can check out this page which shows the relationship between Germany, Korea & Australia with a similar looking Commodore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Rekord_Series_E.

It is also worth reading this link which shows the Australian car industry started to decline many years ago with the button Plan. The recent closure announcements have been know in the automotive industry for the last few years and came as no surprise. It was the general public who were not aware.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_plan

Interesting post. History tells us that the Opel Rekord was the base for the VB Commodore. The European electrics came in on Calais (about VK I recall), giving Holden the "world class car". Holden also put the 6 and the 8 in it, straight up, making it very quick for a family car, brakes and drivetrain came pretty much off what they were doing with Torana and Kingswood.

However, yeah shared GM body, but we made it here!

[Dr Terry]

Interesting post. History tells us that the Opel Rekord was the base for the VB Commodore. The European electrics came in on Calais (about VK I recall), giving Holden the "world class car". Holden also put the 6 and the 8 in it, straight up, making it very quick for a family car, brakes and drivetrain came pretty much off what they were doing with Torana and Kingswood.

However, yeah shared GM body, but we made it here!

There several major differences between the Opel & the Holden. You mention the engines, but they also used Holden transmissions & rear axles. The Holden Commodore front structure was upgraded substantially due to failures in early testing. Also the Holden uses Australian designed rack & pinion steering, whereas the Opel still had a recirculating ball box & draglink etc.

I'm not sure what you mean by "European electrics" but by the time VK was built, most of the German stuff was long gone. Even the entire heater/demister/air-cond system was totally Aussie.

Dr Terry.

[HK1837]

Collectable - yep, just a bit!! The Mazda Roadpacer, as far as I know, had only the rotary in it. The 13B I think. The thing was that to get the little rotary to zip like it does in a Capella or an RX7 when you are looking at the weight of the H series (HX -HZ, I dont know exactly, maybe HJ? - somebody will know) sort of means it didnt zip!!! (Apparantly, I cant claim to have ever driven or ever seen one).

The story goes that in order to combat the lack of of power from the motor, Mazda offered a heap of luxury options on it, like full electric windows, I dunno exactly, but I think everything I've read about it says it was a bit of a dud! Still very very collectable!!!

I dunno if the body was assembled in Japan or Australia, but it's a good point I think in this thread, because it brings up that once, (maybe just once?) GMH did manage to export something to the very protected Japanese market and sell it there - albeit with a shared engine (and Tokyo style mirrors on the fenders)! A very cool thing to have, extremely valuable I would imagine to the right buyer.

HJ and HX Premier. I'm pretty sure they were sent over as a complete car minus engine and box. Extra stuff for Mazda was either fitted (like side blinkers) or deleted (like side mirrors). I have a full list somewhere of the option package and what it had or what was deleted.

[Dr Terry]

HJ and HX Premier. I'm pretty sure they were sent over as a complete car minus engine and box. Extra stuff for Mazda was either fitted (like side blinkers) or deleted (like side mirrors). I have a full list somewhere of the option package and what it had or what was deleted.

Correct, HJ & HX Premier sedans. They were built here, less engine & transmission, with a specific rear axle ratio & air cond etc. etc., but an interesting tid bit is that the front & rear bars were pressed out of steel around half the thickness of the Aussie delivered cars, in an effort to reduce body weight.

I've never driven one either or even seen one in the flesh, but photos I've seen depict some very ordinary (read garish) interior trim.

Dr Terry

[wbute]

They were a piece of crap from what I have read, as you would imagine from an engine like that in a big car.

[Innuendo]

Punch in Mazda Roadpacer into youtube you will find many results.

Like this:

[HK1837]

Here you go (for HJ anyway):

Special Vehicle Package XT2 - Special Equipment for Toyo Kogyo. 8WP69 only.

No engine.
This option covers parts of unique design provided to Toyo Kogyo as part of a sepcial parts package order comprising selected items.
Items are listed below:
Evaporator and blower assembly (Aircon).
Rear axle assembly and components (4.44:1 rear axle ratio).
Cluster Assembly - Instruments.
Seat belt anchorage nuts 7/16" N.F.
Bar sub assembly - no.1 cross (I think this is the box member under the floor).
Bar assembly - rear suspension upper arms mounting.
Door assembly - front RH.
Car locking set.
Frame assembly - front.
Shaft and coupling assembly - steering intermediate.
Indicator assembly - auto trans.
Disc and knuckle assembly.
Tank unit - fuel guage.
Rear bumper bar.
Unplated bumper bars.
Horn actuating bar assembly.
Steering column assembly.

So I guess this means all the items listed are different to a normal Holden item in some way. Examples: the front bar will be modded to suit the Japanese licence plates. and the driver's door will have the mirror deleted. There is no mention of the front guard flasher lamps and guard mounted mirrors but these come up in the Izuzu "Deville" XX8 package, so I guess Mazda must have done these themselves whereas Isuzu got GMH to do them. Same with the rear bar mods for the extra lamps in the rear bar (you see them in the video above), this will be why the bars were unpainted so Mazda could modify them and plate them over there.