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1985 Holden Gemini RB SL/X

c2105026

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1985 Holden Gemini RB SLX

Bought with 91600km on the clock, one family owned over 3 generations. Immaculate rust free, a couple of small dings that I’ve taken out, paint is original and excellent, no scratches. Fully documented history, including original sales invoice.

Car was assembled Dec 1985 at Elizabeth, delivered to an elderly couple from Port Pirie SA by a small rural dealer (Newitts) at Crystal Brook SA on 3rd February 1986. Husband died 1987, wife died 1993, passed onto daughter. Driven sparingly for 16 years, she passed it onto her son in 2009, who I bought it off 2.5 weeks ago. He also drove it sparingly. Complete maintenance log from 1993 to now.

I flew to Adelaide to buy it, drove the 1060km back to Forbes over a day and a half. Price was excellent.

It’s an automatic finished in Alpine White. So far I’ve fitted tyres of correct size, done some PDR work, and replaced the muffler. Rear seat was split due to sun; I found a wrecker in my town that had a car with a good back seat, cleaned it and fitted it. Also repainted the grille and wipers. Hubcaps need redoing, I already repainted them but the colour of silver is a bit off. Found a better colour to use. Inner tie rod end in steering rack is worn, creating a highway speed vibration issue; parts have been ordered. A small section of damage on the drivers door frames was worsened through PDR; I will be repairing this through traditional methods.

Why an RB? So far I have a trophy quality Holden I can put on club plates for under $3k. At that money a contemporary Commodore or RWD Gemini will be riddled with rust and/or needing an expensive respray.
 

Calaber

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Interesting choice of one of Holden's lesser known models. The RB never got close to the sales of its predecessor and is a very rare sight these days. I rented one once for work in the mid 80's and found it to be a reasonable performer. I imagine some parts might be difficult to obtain today as they are so old and rare.
 

c2105026

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Interesting choice of one of Holden's lesser known models. The RB never got close to the sales of its predecessor and is a very rare sight these days. I rented one once for work in the mid 80's and found it to be a reasonable performer. I imagine some parts might be difficult to obtain today as they are so old and rare.

Most mechanical parts are easy to find still, super cheap auto web store stocked 5 different brands of rack tie rod ends. Service items, suspension parts are available over eBay but they are noticeably dearer than VT Commodore items.

Trim and body very hard to find. I was incredibly lucky to find my rear seat in my home town of 8000 people! But the local wreckers has cars I could use for bumpers, lights, grilles if push came to shove.

Most bizarre thing is that given that only 16,000 were made there is no aftermarket workshop manual in existence. As such, I’m very lucky that it came with a genuine factory manual that dealers in the 80s/90s would have used. Otherwise, reprints are around the $200 mark!
 
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