Back in 1969 Holden was unveiling its first concept car - the Hurricane. It was a a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-seat sports car incorporating a remarkable array of innovative features and technology, much of it years ahead of its time. Now the company has restored that concept as an experiment "to study design trend, propulsion systems and other long-range developments".
The restoration process has begun back in 2006 and is now finally ready for a first display to the public at the Motorclassica, car show at the Melbourne Royal Exhibition Building from October 21-23.
"The entire team has done a fantastic job in bringing this beautiful concept back to life,” Paul Clarke, Holden’s manager for Creative Hard Modelling said. "The Hurricane plays a crucial role in Holden’s story and the company has such a great sense of history and heritage that it was very important to bring RD 001 back to life. It’s been a challenging but incredibly rewarding process."
Hit the jump to read more about the 1969 Holden Hurricane Concept.
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Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) has unveiled the special edition "SV Black Edition" based on either ClubSport R8, ClubSport Tourer R8, or Maloo R8 models at the Melbourne Auto Show. This special edition will be offered in both manual and automatic transmissions and will go on sale in September.
The "SV Black Edition" will be offered with matte black detailing, a Vector hood scoop and fender gills, HSV’s bi-modal exhaust system, and 20-inch forged alloy wheels. For the interior, the Black Edition models will add a unique dash treatment, leather seats, and a leather-bound steering wheel, on top of the already generous E3 equipment list. A special Enhanced Driver Interface (EDI) system that will offer details on power, torque, manifold pressure, fuel, elevation, voltage, oil and air temperature will also be available.
The standard equipment list includes a reversing camera, park assist, and satellite navigation. There will only be 225 units built and, despite the "Black Edition" name, this special edition will be offered in Sting Red, Heron White, Alto Grey, Nitrate Silver, and Phantom (black).
Details after the jump
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Any Australians anxiously awaiting the return of the Thunder can now breathe a tremendous sigh of relief; it seems that Holden will be bringing back the special edition Thunder nameplate to the VE Series II Ute line-up. The special edition has been launched as a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the original 1951 Ute and will be based on the popular SV6 and SS Ute models. The SV6 will be powered by a 3.6l SIDI V6 and the SS Ute will come with the standard V8. Both models will come standard with a six-speed manual transmission and optional six-speed automatic.
The special edition Holden Thunder Ute will be available in 10 exterior colors and will be distinguished by unique 19-inch five spoke charcoal alloy wheels. Thunder badges will also be visible on the side and rear of the exterior, while the interior gets sports seats with leather bolsters and Touch-screen Holden-iQ system with Satellite Navigation.
"Over 60 years of production, the Holden ute has evolved from typical tradesman’s transport to two-door sports machine with a practical edge - that’s epitomized by the Thunder range," Holden Executive Director of Sales, Marketing and Aftersales John Elsworth said. "It is a really bold, tough looking ute which we think will appeal to many of our traditional sports ute buyers. We’re expecting it to be an absolute winner in our showrooms."
Tom Walkinshaw of Walkinshaw Performance knows his Holden vehicles. In fact, Walkinshaw was the man behind Holden’s HSV performance division so the fact that he chose to take a tuning spin in the Holden Commodore Series II SS isn’t a bit surprising. The result of this rendezvous was the new tuning package unveiled at the 2010 Australian International Motor Show.
For this package, Walkinshaw has remade the 6.0 liter V8 engine found in the original vehicle and matched it up with an Edelbrock 230 supercharger taking the output to a challenging 617hp and 780 Nm of torque.
Next to the engine upgrade, the package also gets an all new front and rear brake package including six piston 378mm rotors at front and six piston 365mm rotors at the rear, an upgraded and recalibrated suspension package developed with Bilstein, and a specially commissioned audio upgrade package from Rockford Fosgate.
The Walkinshaw Performance Series II Commodore will be limited to only 23 units, all painted in Panorama Silver, which was the same color featured on the original ‘Walky’ when it debuted at the Sydney Motor Show 23 years ago. The package is priced at $99,990 (car included).
Press release after the jump.
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Australia’s favorite sports car is getting some updates for 2011, but not much has changed aesthetically, or mechanically for that matter. What HSV has done is added a slew of technological updates to the E-series to come up with the new E-Series 3. The sports car will go on sale at the end of this month.
The most impressive technological advancement for the E-Series 3 is the new Enhanced Driver Interface. This interface allows vehicle performance data to get pushed to the car’s touch screen display, something we are sure everyone would find amazing and helpful. Adding to the technology is also HSV’s new Side Blind Alert which is optional on all models in the 3 range and the Liquid Propane Injection which comes on all of the models except the Clubsport R8 Tourer. The interior will receive a new ‘Oracle’ dash, a new model specific stainless steel ID plate on the center console, new twin-stitch seat trims on GTS and Senator Signature, as well as a new leather color in Turismo Rosso and a Piano black trim on the center console and steering wheel.
The list of standard equipment includes the Enhanced Driver Interface, reverse camera with rear park assist, satellite navigation, and touchscreen radio with iPod connectivity.
Since nothing was mentioned of the engine options, we are going to assume that the E-Series 3 will be powered by the same heart stopping V8 engine that was found on the previous model. This engine allows the Australian sports car to produce 431hp with the top of the line GTS models getting 442hp.
The Holden E-Series 3 is definitely not a bad gig for the Land Down Under. We only wish we could get our hands on one of these in the States. It looks like something that would be right up our alley.
Press release after the jump.
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