Cars that have disappeared from our roads

[ari666]

since reading this thread; today i counted (yes i was counting) 5 camiras and a sigma....

that doesnt include the cars at the wreckers, just the ones on the road.

 

[bladerunner]

i'm nearly of the same vintage as yourself calaber,i grew up on a diet of hr's, eh's, hq's-the worst holden ever built for rust,its like they started to rust from the factory!lol, 70's falcons were'nt far behind, cheap petrol and rego though i remember my old man doing his block as we drove past a servo in the 70's, petrol went up to 12cpl from 10cpl, what an outrage!!,despite being dinosaurs these days compared to what we drive now i still miss them on the roads today and miss owning them too, their simplicity in design and ease of repair will never again be matched! as for my contributiuon to what you dont see anymore- how about the leyland p76,most of them spent their early mths/years/? sitting in the paddock behind the factory in various states of completion because of the union probs that leyland had and heres a howler- the nissan cedric!! the neighbour had one, took me years to figure out what the bloody thing was!

 

[Calaber]

i'm nearly of the same vintage as yourself calaber,i grew up on a diet of hr's, eh's, hq's-the worst holden ever built for rust,its like they started to rust from the factory!lol, 70's falcons were'nt far behind, cheap petrol and rego though i remember my old man doing his block as we drove past a servo in the 70's, petrol went up to 12cpl from 10cpl, what an outrage!!,despite being dinosaurs these days compared to what we drive now i still miss them on the roads today and miss owning them too, their simplicity in design and ease of repair will never again be matched! as for my contributiuon to what you dont see anymore- how about the leyland p76,most of them spent their early mths/years/? sitting in the paddock behind the factory in various states of completion because of the union probs that leyland had and heres a howler- the nissan cedric!! the neighbour had one, took me years to figure out what the bloody thing was!

Hi Bladerunner

Yeah, the Cedric. Dumb name for an ugly car. It was the Japanese idea of what a luxury car was in the 60's. I'd dispute the HQ being the worst for rust - the HD (actually my favourite early model Holden) was chronic - you would see HD's with substantial rust before they were five years old. HQ's took just a little bit longer. P76? Yep, they are rare too, but those that remain tend to be in the hands of enthusiasts and there's a P76 Owners Club that keeps them alive.

Your memories of the 70's must be similar to mine. I can remember when the Premier of NSW, Neville Wran, actually dropped the price of petrol by 10 cents a gallon! This would have been around 1976 (it was just pre metric conversion of all our measures) and it was a HUGE discount. Petrol fell to about 50 cents a gallon (about your 10 cents per litre). We all drove around in 307's, 308's and 350's and a full 16.5 gallon fuel tank cost less than $10 to fill from empty. Fuel costs were no concern at all.

I'm also interested in Ari's post just above yours. 5 Camiras and only 1 Sigma. It was the Sigma photo on another thread that started me thinking about how seldom you see them and Ari's comment seems to support that. I haven't seen a single Sigma for many months now, yet they were so popular in the late 70's and early 80's. After owning four Camiras, I know why they are so rare. They rusted just about everywhere and a lot of it was structural, in the firewall and front floors.

 

[bladerunner]

yeah i was a bit quick to blame the hq for rust lol, actually despite it's undeserved (i.m.o) reputation the p76 wasn't all that bad a car, it had its faults but from what ive read about it,it was mainly the way it was built half,arsed because of the union strife they had after all it did win wheels car of the year!! dont why to this day like 99% of us motoring guys but anyway.. yep agree on the HD, my HR wasn't much better but its still my pick of the early holdens followed closely by the HK monaro, another rust magnet but a beautifull car none the less. still wish i had my HG GTS 308 in 100% original nic and mint cond that i sold in a moment of madness some years ago

 

[Calaber]

yeah i was a bit quick to blame the hq for rust lol, actually despite it's undeserved (i.m.o) reputation the p76 wasn't all that bad a car, it had its faults but from what ive read about it,it was mainly the way it was built half,arsed because of the union strife they had after all it did win wheels car of the year!! dont why to this day like 99% of us motoring guys but anyway.. yep agree on the HD, my HR wasn't much better but its still my pick of the early holdens followed closely by the HK monaro, another rust magnet but a beautifull car none the less. still wish i had my HG GTS 308 in 100% original nic and mint cond that i sold in a moment of madness some years ago

We need to be careful or this thread will develop into a "remember when" thread, if it hasn't already. The P76 only won Car of the Year in its V8 version - Wheels Mag often stresses that fact. For its day, the 76 was advanced. It had an all-alloy 4.4 litre version of the old Rover 3.5 V8 (which was originally a Pontiac motor from around 1964, but the Yanks didn't go for it, so BMC or Rover bought the design and manufacturing rights). Back to the P76....it was deplorably assembled. You could pass your fingers through from outside the car, past the door seals at the top of the window frames. And for a car that was designed from a blank sheet of paper, it was plug ugly from certain angles. I can remember Leyland Australia making big noises about being able to fit a 44 gallon drum in the boot and the local dealership at Balgowlah had one in their showroom, with a nice big shiny 44 sitting in the boot to prove the point.

Unfortunately, all Holdens prior to the VB seemed to rust very quickly - some more than others. The HK-HG Monaro's had shocking rust traps built into the rear quarters and rear pillars, because they stuffed foam in between the outer panels and the reinforcing panels to prevent panel vibration. The foam got wet and the rust proofing was ineffective.

LIke you, I've had earlies that I regret selling. HD Premier, HR Premier, HG GTS V8 Manual, HT Premier V8 four speed, HZ Premier V8 and an HT 350 GTS with Turbo 350 which I restored over four years. All traded for chicken feed and worth substantial amounts nowadays.

 

[elmaso]

early 80's magna's, good thing there gone, ####ing hated them my mum had one, couldn't get up pako hill. hahaha
and XD-XF, even though my grandpa seems to have hes hands on an XE and XF, but the one thing i hate about the XE is one light on the dash, if it ever came on, i would probably **** a brick, it reads -BRAKE FAIL- haha.
around geelong/melbourne i dont see many HQ-WB's but up around northern vic, that where most of them didnt rust i guessing.

 

[bladerunner]

We need to be careful or this thread will develop into a "remember when" thread, if it hasn't already. / The HK-HG Monaro's had shocking rust traps built into the rear quarters and rear pillars, because they stuffed foam in between the outer panels and the reinforcing panels to prevent panel vibration. The foam got wet and the rust proofing was ineffective.

bit late for the "remember when".been that way for the last couple of pages. as for the monaro rust yes i know all about that. ive owned 4 early girls, restored 2 of them. i know what its like to chase down n.o.s etc.. real pain in the arse. i wouldnt own one now though, too many thieving scum after them. yep i cry now that i see what they are worth. this is my last on this topic, dont want to keep going on about them.

 

[Trevor 062]

Gemini's don't see many off them either..
Some mighty vans back in the day..
Misty Blues,Mid Summer Dream,Broken Hearted..

 

[nemesis_adrasteia]

the other day i was in melbourne at my bosses mates workshop, he has 5 or 6 one tonners and a valiant hardtop in there, some nice old cars there.

 

[Critical Jim]

Reading through this thread made me think, I see most of these cars on a regular basis.

Although I'm from SA so it it isnt that suprising.

"SA the state were clunkers go to eventually die"