2
NEWS
Holden: The Great Years, The Great Cars
Informative new book spills the beans on a formative 35-year chapter in Holden's performance and racing historyAs 2017 approaches, expect to see a growing number of books dedicated to Ford, Holden and the two companies' respective products.
Obviously 2017 not only marks the end of the local manufacturing industry, it's also the 50th anniversary of the first win at Bathurst for a V8-engined Aussie-built touring car.
'Holden, The Great Years, The Great Cars' is a new title from Rockpool Publishing. Released in time for Christmas the soft-cover book outlines a chapter of Holden's performance road- and race-car history from 1968 to 2003.
The book is not the work of a single author, but a collaborative effort by James Cockington, Mark Oastler, Steve Normoyle, Ben Stewart, Jon Thomson, Luke West and Stewart Wilson. All the writers know their stuff, which is clear from the forensic-level of detail found in the pages of the book. But it's a book that might have benefited from a foreword – if only to explain why the story ends at 2003...
Surely there must be plans for a companion to complete the history through to 2017?
As it stands, the book contains detailed descriptions of the road cars on which the race cars were based. Presumably much of this material was sourced from the original brochures. As a wellspring of harder to obtain data this alone makes the book an invaluable addition to any Holden fan's collection.
Understandably, the heroes in the book drive Holdens, but Allan Moffat, THE man that Holden race fans loved to hate, is treated fairly, as are other Ford drivers. One of the writers disparagingly – but truthfully – wrote of Moffat that he fell foul of Ford's "corporate mood swings" at the end of the 1970s.
In the rush to produce the book in time for Christmas 2014, shortcuts have been taken and some errors made. On page 26, for instance, a photo of a 1969 (HT) Monaro appears for the chapter regarding the HK Monaro GTS 327. The same car appears in a different photo for the HT model. Nobody could find a mint condition HK? And a ¾ rear photo of a UC Sunbird is reproduced in the chapter concerning the LX Torana.
Editing could have been tightened up too, with typos and mixed tense regularly appearing throughout the book. And the editors can't seem to decide whether, or when, to use metric as well as imperial measures. That decision seems to have been left in the hands of the individual writers, naturally with varying results.
Design choices are not always well conceived either, such as the stippled, screen-print look in the lower right corner of black pages. This obscures pictures and the white-on-black text, and looks like a print production glitch. Some of the chapters should have been treated as sidebars also, since there's no flow, no segue from one chapter to the next.
But... the pictures are glorious, the writers tell it like it was and the text includes illuminating remarks from the great Harry Firth.
Firth's description of trying to keep up with a young Larry Perkins driving the V8-engined Torana XU-1 through country New South Wales at high speed is a highlight of the book. It's one of those anecdotal gems that make any read worth the while.
For $29.99 – available from Rockpool Publishing - it's an ideal Christmas gift for your nearest and dearest die-hard Holden revhead.
Share this article
Written byKen Gratton
See all articlesOur team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Stay up to dateBecome a carsales member and get the latest news, reviews and advice straight to your inbox.
Subscribe todayDisclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Contact
Advertise with us
Local marketplaces
International marketplaces
Scan to download the carsales app
Want more info? Here’s our app landing page
App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo
are trademarks of Google LLC.