Cars that have disappeared from our roads

[Calaber]

haven't seen a Toyota Avalon in ages

Double post.

 

[Decicrate]

A kind of deviation of the topic.

I have never seen one of these, in use, in public.

 

[Calaber]

Nor have I. I don't think Holden sold many of them. They were a gimmick introduced with the LX Hatchback to extend its versatility with young people but a tent was probably still more practical.

 

[Hangman]

Haha the old Hatch Hutch. You can get repro ones now.

Hey, Decicrate, where'd you get that pic? I was there the day that pic was taken, I actually helped put the hatch hutch on lol. My HB Torana is parked to the left of that hatch.

 

[Decicrate]

Haha the old Hatch Hutch. You can get repro ones now.

Hey, Decicrate, where'd you get that pic? I was there the day that pic was taken, I actually helped put the hatch hutch on lol. My HB Torana is parked to the left of that hatch.

I came across it here 10 Most Outrageous Factory Options Ever - GM Inside News Forum

Small world

 

[Cheap6]

Ah, more memories. I've only ever seen pictures of that Hatch Hutch (I had forgotten the name) in an old Holden brochure. It reminds me of a few more cars you don't see any more; the Sandman variants of the HZ (I think) panel van and ute and the Sundowner variants of Escort and XB (once again, I think) panel vans. I suspect many people alive today have never seen one of them either, even fewer an Escort panel van Sundowner or not.

Interestingly, the current Street Machine magazine has a short review of "Alley Cat" - Jag V12 and suspension in an HJ or HZ, air brushed murals, crushed velour interior (in the "cargo" area) - another relic of the van craze of the late '70s.

There were some pretty bright colours available on Holdens of that vintage too; Tangerine (that's the proper name I think), a bright yellow, a lime green, a sort of turquoise blue, (similar to Sports Blue on VP for reference) among them.

You used to be able to get transparencies with the silhouettes of the cars - all Holden models - printed onto them that you overlaid over a page with blocks of the available colours printed onto them to aid in choosing a colour.

 

[Calaber]

It's funny read some of the posts where younger members have never even seen cars which were absolutely everywhere back in the 70's or 80's. One member couldn't recall the Camira but I only use this as an example, not to have a shot at anyone. It might have been a dud initially, but they sold them in very substantial numbers between 1982 and 1989. That's really not that long ago.

I was lucky enough to be a car nut during the panel van craze of the early and mid 70's. Fully optioned and fitted out HQ's were all over the place. They were cheap compared to sedans or coupes and could be optioned with everything. One mate had a couple of 308 HQ and HJ's. Vans of that vintage have almost vanished too. The Valiant Van (can't recall the name they gave it) disappeared very quickly, but they didn't sell all that many in the first place. Ford's Sundowners as mentioned above, even made available in Escort vans, were also popular, but are now dead as a dodo.

 

[Hangman]

The Valiant van was the Drifter. I was born 20 years too late, I missed the 70's.

 

[Calaber]

The Valiant van was the Drifter. I was born 20 years too late, I missed the 70's.

You missed a great decade. V8's were cheap, (I bought a two year old V8 GTS four speed HG Monaro for $2,300 in 1973), petrol was REALLY cheap (only 15.7 cpl in July 1978) and there was a lot less traffic. No speed cameras, radar was talked about and seldom seen. The Camry hadn't been invented. The only downside was the old biddies going to bowls in their Morrie 1100's. We used to reckon they used the indicator stalk to hang their handbags from, because they never used them for anything else.

 

[Hangman]

The Camry hadn't been invented.

Now that made me laugh. :rofl2: