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| Years | 1971–1974 |
|---|---|
| Body | Coupe |
| Doors | 2 |
| Seats | 5 |
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The HQ Holden debuted on July 15, 1971. It replaced the HG Holden which had been on sale for 12 months prior to the release of the HQ.
Up to that point, it was the most visually changed Holden when compared with the model it replaced. In actual fact it was the first ground up redesign of the Holden since it was originally released to market over 20 years earlier in 1948. It was built on a different, and larger chassis, was an all new body with rebuilt suspension. Coil springs would replace leaf spring in the rear of all except the One Tonner.
Even though all previous Holden large cars were all marketed as family cars, the HQ would be the first Holden to officially be classed as a large car. All previous models had only qualified as ‘mid size cars’.
The model range available with the HQ was much larger than before. The Belmont, Kingswood and Premier were available as both sedan and wagon variants.
The Belmont was available as a utility and a panel van also, the Kingswood was available as a utility but not as a panelvan. The Sandman panelvan was available as a highly optioned version of the HQ panelvan.
A first for Holden was the One tonner utility variant. The Monaro range consisted of a 4 door Monaro for the first time, introduced in March 1973.
Deleted from the range was the luxury Brougham variant, replaced by the Statesman. The Statesman had longer wheelbase than the equivalent sedan model.
Did you know: The now iconic SS variant made its first appearance with the HQ in August 1972. It was really just an option base model (Belmont) sedan.
For the HQ, the ‘red’ inline 6 cylinder engines remained the very much same, minus a few tweaks and boring out. These lead to an increase in power and a subsequent decrease in fuel efficiency.
The 161 became a 173 and the 186 would become a 202. The 253 and 308 cubic inch Australian built V8 engines as well as the 350 cubic inch imported Chevy engine would also appear in the HQ.
Also introduced with the range of HQ engines was the high compression and low compression engine. Each type was available with both 6 cylinder engines and the 253 V8. A lower compression engine was able to run on lower grade fuel at the expense of both power and efficiency.
The transmissions available with the HQ were a 3 speed manual, a 4 speed manual and a 3 speed ‘Trimatic’ automatic.
The HQ Holden would be replaced 39 months later by the HJ Holden, after a production run of 485 650 cars, which to this date has not been surpassed by any other Holden car in Australia.
The HQ would be the start of a new era for Australian motoring.