My dad worked for Holden in 1979, we were given a red VB wagon, I think it was an SL . 6 families I was told were given wagons and sedans to test on Aussie roads for 6 months. I was only 9 then and can distinctly remember people stopping my dad in service stations etc asking what it was. At the time, it was a beauty car.
The 'tens of millions' spent must include the whole development cost - and also conversion fee from DEUTSCH MARKS because thats where the design was from! Tooling and compliance would have been expensive (always is) - but the only substantial contributions to the design done in Australia were the adaptation of a 1963 type engine and live axle, as well as adding gussets to the chassis so it wouldn't shake itself to pieces.
what this video doesnt mention is that before they built this prototype themselves, they used a test 'commodore' which had a body that was actually built in Europe, during testing at lang lang the body shell cracked and split and suspension tore itself out of the mounts, which prompted the Holden Engineers to design their own floor pan and suspension body structure, much stronger for "Australian conditions"
Yeah, so hard to schlep an old red engine into a Opel Kommodore, beef up the body a bit and release it. The rear section of the wagon was actually made in Germany by Opel for years after launch.
Where in the hell did you find these two video gems? I remember as a kid watching this video at the motor show, shortly after the VB was released. I was amazed at the tough tests that Holden inflicted on the test mules. Thank you very much, thumbs up.
Yes; in the late 70s we had hardly any freeways. The roads linking our capital cities were 2 lane goat-tracks. From where I live in Orange NSW, if I wanted to go to our airport, Newcastle NSW or Canberra ACT I would be travelling on dirt road. The Stuart Hwy from Adelaide to Darwin was dirt. That being said in the 70s we still had a booming rail scene, and in such we did not have the heavy vehicle traffic we have now, so sealed roads back then were actually in better shape than they are now...
That makes sense. You want a car that can withstand the punishing terrain between major cities. If only cars sold here in the USA and Canada were built like that. They'd still be around today.
looking at this video it appeared this car was conceived,designed, and built for the 1st time in Australia. This is bullshit because as we all know now it wasn't. Opel in Germany and Vauxhall in England had this "V concept" on the road's of Europe before Aussie did. It would appear that those two divisions of G.M. had spies at the Fisherman's Bend complex at least three or more year's before to achieve that feat,and when it became obvious that the car was a winner, decided to build it in Aussie as well.That all these car's, the Rekord and Kommodore ,Royale and Carlton, and the "home grown commodore" in 1978,79, and 80 all looked identical apart from interior and exterior cosmetic changes gives truth to the fact that it was a European designed car tweaked for Aussie conditions. I remember looking at a Vauxhall Carlton at a London dealership before Christmas in 1977,and seeing the Opel version in early 78.When on arriving home to New Zealand in 83 and then hearing about the " great Aussie design " I thought what a load of crap their feeding the public but even today thousands of Aussies and Kiwis still believe it.As a "con job" G.M.H. sure did a good job !!!!!.
Darryl Kennedy I'm a Holden man myself but completely agree with this. The VB was nothing more than small cosmetic tweaks, more rugged suspension configuration and locally produced running gear being used. The rest of the car is basically a carbon copy of the Opel Commodore of the same era. Interestingly enough a lot of people believe the VT-VZ was the start of a new design too but this was actually just an Opel Senator with the same revisions as these original Commodores received.
Holden never said it was totally their own design yes it was an Opel but it was heavily modified for Australian Conditions. Original Plans came from germany , Holden Re designed everything , There are similarities but the Aussie commodore looks far better inside and out, Also we put 2 v8 engines in the cars Opel didnt.
they could spin as much shit as they wanted. who was flying between the 1960s-late 1970s no-one. Your average aussie battler would rather buy holden than fly to europe. harldy anyone was travelling so it was ripe for all these marketing liars to say it was Australian designed and built (95% was done already by Opel/Vauxhall/GM). Look at the TV shows around this time, all just a rip from overseas, made for Australian conditions.
@Berniessen That was the original concept - however more stronger components were needed for the Australian conditions. Over time when redesigned or facelifted the car would become more Australian - by 2006 with the VE the Commodore was an Aussie design owing nothing to Opel...
by the time the VE arrived opel made nothing bigger than the vectra later the insignia which of course is today's commodore so holden from 06 onwards to late last year had no option.
Hi, do you know who owns the rights to this footage? I am looking to license this video for a documentary film. Is this something that you might be able to help me with. Thanks
Yes I got whacked with a copyright claim due to the music the film contained and sadly had to remove it. I'm sure I have the dvd somewhere that contains the original and I will try and make an edited version.
That's very common in prototypes. It's dopne for two reasons 1. they might not have finalised what the final look will be and 2. to confuse motoring journalists trying to get a scoop on what the next model will look like
K lol although theres a bit more to it than that as the german cars tested here nearly split in half from our roads. The engineers from opel thought our stress measuring equipment was faulty because of the unbelievably high stress levels on the cars.
You forgot internal body reinforcing, upgraded suspension, a crossmember that can withstand the torque and weight stress of a 5 litre V8, some restyling, and dial in said steering and suspension to withstand rally conditions. The first motorsport victory of the Australian Commodore wasn't on bitumen. It was in rally, and despite having the lowest budget of any team in it, they came home 1,2,3 against some of the best in the world
????????????? Design a Australian car????????????? It shut better be: Take a German Opel Commodore shell,place the steering wheel to the other side,put a Holden engine in and change a few things...........
Much strengthened for Australia's rough roads; the Commodore got Australian made rack and pinion steering, the Rekord had a recirculating ball steering.
Well you need to understand that the roads in Australia around this time were very dodgy, many main roads in the outback where they tested were unsealed dirt roads, this was necessary as people do live in these areas and the cars need to be rugged enough to commute on such roads.
Yeah I know, let's grab that new Opel but leave off the good stuff like the independent rear suspension. If it was good enough for the 1960s, it's good enough for Australian punter of today
My dad worked for Holden in 1979, we were given a red VB wagon, I think it was an SL . 6 families I was told were given wagons and sedans to test on Aussie roads for 6 months. I was only 9 then and can distinctly remember people stopping my dad in service stations etc asking what it was. At the time, it was a beauty car.
The 'tens of millions' spent must include the whole development cost - and also conversion fee from DEUTSCH MARKS because thats where the design was from! Tooling and compliance would have been expensive (always is) - but the only substantial contributions to the design done in Australia were the adaptation of a 1963 type engine and live axle, as well as adding gussets to the chassis so it wouldn't shake itself to pieces.
what this video doesnt mention is that before they built this prototype themselves, they used a test 'commodore' which had a body that was actually built in Europe, during testing at lang lang the body shell cracked and split and suspension tore itself out of the mounts, which prompted the Holden Engineers to design their own floor pan and suspension body structure, much stronger for "Australian conditions"
Yeah, so hard to schlep an old red engine into a Opel Kommodore, beef up the body a bit and release it. The rear section of the wagon was actually made in Germany by Opel for years after launch.
Where in the hell did you find these two video gems?
I remember as a kid watching this video at the motor show, shortly after the VB was released. I was amazed at the tough tests that Holden inflicted on the test mules.
Thank you very much, thumbs up.
Great upload
Thanks for uploading
Yes; in the late 70s we had hardly any freeways. The roads linking our capital cities were 2 lane goat-tracks. From where I live in Orange NSW, if I wanted to go to our airport, Newcastle NSW or Canberra ACT I would be travelling on dirt road. The Stuart Hwy from Adelaide to Darwin was dirt.
That being said in the 70s we still had a booming rail scene, and in such we did not have the heavy vehicle traffic we have now, so sealed roads back then were actually in better shape than they are now...
Have you got part 2?
That makes sense. You want a car that can withstand the punishing terrain between major cities. If only cars sold here in the USA and Canada were built like that. They'd still be around today.
looking at this video it appeared this car was conceived,designed, and built for the 1st time in Australia. This is bullshit because as we all know now it wasn't. Opel in Germany and Vauxhall in England had this "V concept" on the road's of Europe before Aussie did. It would appear that those two divisions of G.M. had spies at the Fisherman's Bend complex at least three or more year's before to achieve that feat,and when it became obvious that the car was a winner, decided to build it in Aussie as well.That all these car's, the Rekord and Kommodore ,Royale and Carlton, and the "home grown commodore" in 1978,79, and 80 all looked identical apart from interior and exterior cosmetic changes gives truth to the fact that it was a European designed car tweaked for Aussie conditions. I remember looking at a Vauxhall Carlton at a London dealership before Christmas in 1977,and seeing the Opel version in early 78.When on arriving home to New Zealand in 83 and then hearing about the " great Aussie design " I thought what a load of crap their feeding the public but even today thousands of Aussies and Kiwis still believe it.As a "con job" G.M.H. sure did a good job !!!!!.
Darryl Kennedy they are still bullshitters today!!!
Darryl Kennedy I'm a Holden man myself but completely agree with this. The VB was nothing more than small cosmetic tweaks, more rugged suspension configuration and locally produced running gear being used. The rest of the car is basically a carbon copy of the Opel Commodore of the same era. Interestingly enough a lot of people believe the VT-VZ was the start of a new design too but this was actually just an Opel Senator with the same revisions as these original Commodores received.
Holden never said it was totally their own design yes it was an Opel but it was heavily modified for Australian Conditions. Original Plans came from germany , Holden Re designed everything , There are similarities but the Aussie commodore looks far better inside and out, Also we put 2 v8 engines in the cars Opel didnt.
they could spin as much shit as they wanted. who was flying between the 1960s-late 1970s no-one. Your average aussie battler would rather buy holden than fly to europe. harldy anyone was travelling so it was ripe for all these marketing liars to say it was Australian designed and built (95% was done already by Opel/Vauxhall/GM). Look at the TV shows around this time, all just a rip from overseas, made for Australian conditions.
Amazing video !!! Have you got more videos like this?
If only today's cars were built like this.
Even at the time this car was being designed and built?
@Berniessen That was the original concept - however more stronger components were needed for the Australian conditions. Over time when redesigned or facelifted the car would become more Australian - by 2006 with the VE the Commodore was an Aussie design owing nothing to Opel...
joh2 except the engines
by the time the VE arrived opel made nothing bigger than the vectra later the insignia which of course is today's commodore so holden from 06 onwards to late last year had no option.
Hi, do you know who owns the rights to this footage? I am looking to license this video for a documentary film. Is this something that you might be able to help me with. Thanks
Google project v the making of a motor car holden commodore
I remember there used to be a part 2 of this, but for some reason it had been removed. :(
Yes I got whacked with a copyright claim due to the music the film contained and sadly had to remove it. I'm sure I have the dvd somewhere that contains the original and I will try and make an edited version.
Don't you hate that? Why then did they let you keep Pt 1? I would've reckoned they'd had you remove this as well. :(
please add second part,I was disappointed not to find it here,I will be very thankful to you
@@ucwepn Please do this, sir
@Seattlecarnut Actually robots still built the cars but not the prototypes and pilot vehicles used for testing.
That's very common in prototypes. It's dopne for two reasons 1. they might not have finalised what the final look will be and 2. to confuse motoring journalists trying to get a scoop on what the next model will look like
That makes sense.
K lol although theres a bit more to it than that as the german cars tested here nearly split in half from our roads. The engineers from opel thought our stress measuring equipment was faulty because of the unbelievably high stress levels on the cars.
I like how there were so many American accents saying that this is an Australian car......
still waiting for the second part :)
Yep me too
...I have a '79 model one of these. Completely built to light weight, flimsy as anything, is extremely tinny.
The voice at the start should be registered as the Holden voice
Peter Gwyne?
When Australia had jobs and not import crap from Asia even though it was a Vauxhall it still built in Australia by Australian workers
no part 2 yet
GM has never been great at building a light-weight...yet very rigid (in torsion/beam stiffness) Uni-body.
You forgot internal body reinforcing, upgraded suspension, a crossmember that can withstand the torque and weight stress of a 5 litre V8, some restyling, and dial in said steering and suspension to withstand rally conditions. The first motorsport victory of the Australian Commodore wasn't on bitumen. It was in rally, and despite having the lowest budget of any team in it, they came home 1,2,3 against some of the best in the world
?????????????
Design a Australian car?????????????
It shut better be:
Take a German Opel Commodore shell,place the steering wheel to the other side,put a Holden engine in and change a few things...........
Opel Rekord
Much strengthened for Australia's rough roads; the Commodore got Australian made rack and pinion steering, the Rekord had a recirculating ball steering.
It was Chuck Chapman’s car, he was chief Engineer on the V Car project before he was appointed MD at GMH. The
Peter Hanenberger as well.
"Economy gauge" aka manifold vacuum pressure.. LOL.. every car in late 70s/80s had one, and they were completely useless ;D
To drive in the 'economy' zone, you had to practically coast everywhere with the clutch in.
Well said... that gauge was a joke.
Well you need to understand that the roads in Australia around this time were very dodgy, many main roads in the outback where they tested were unsealed dirt roads, this was necessary as people do live in these areas and the cars need to be rugged enough to commute on such roads.
and since when is "V" a word
V is the designation of the holden commodore model, throughout the life of the holden commodore it has kept the V designation from 1978-2017 (VB-VF)
Spot on and the J Car was the Camira JB to JE
@@ucwepn did you have any luck with part 2 at all
Yeah I know, let's grab that new Opel but leave off the good stuff like the independent rear suspension. If it was good enough for the 1960s, it's good enough for Australian punter of today
What a sham acted out as a documentary- this is an Opel tweeked for the Aussie market, but totally an Opel design!
Rip off from the Opel. Big deal.