Cars we’re farewelling with the disappearance of Holden

The axing of Holden marks the end of an era for Aussies everywhere. We look back at the car models that defined the brand.

Revheads around Australia are in mourning today, following the announcement that the Holden brand will disappear at the end of 2020.

The company’s owner, General Motors (GM), said it would no longer make cars suitable for Australian roads – a decision that’s set to cost them upwards of $A1.5 billion and will see as many as 800 jobs lost.

The move comes just three years after local manufacturing ended with the shuttering of the Holden plant at Elizabeth in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

The news has incited widespread nostalgia, distress and criticism among Australians, with many taking to social media to share the memories they associate with the brand.

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The wrenching thing is that after such a life long relationship Holden was part of my personal identity (so much so my farewell caricature from The Courier-Mail had me grasping a Holden steering wheel). It's almost like a little part of me is now gone. Vale #Holden

— Paul Syvret (@PSyvret) February 17, 2020

Had 3 Holden's, they all fell apart or rusted well before 100,000ks.

Nostalgia just doesn't reflect reality in the end, does it?

Look on the bright side, Australia still produces banana's#BananaRepublicans

— Juno Garfoyle (@JunoGarfoyle) February 17, 2020

Some were holden (hehe) back tears at the news, others took the chance to confirm their everlasting loyalty to the brand.

And then there were those who saw their chance to pour salt in the nationwide wound and air their grievances, asking the tough question playing in the back of all our minds: What will the mullet-wearing masses drive now?

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What will the toothless tattooed mullet wearing masses drive now?

Maybe, like Cuba they can drive 60 year old Commodores well into the next century.#BananaRepublicans

— Juno Garfoyle (@JunoGarfoyle) February 17, 2020

We take a look back at some of the brand’s most iconic vehicles.

COMMODORE

One can’t spell “Holden" without “Commodore” – which is what anyone who’s driven a Commodore will likely tell you (and not because they didn’t make it past Year 10).

Today’s announcement is another shocking blow to Australians who’ve got one of these parked on their front lawn: late last year, Holden announced it would stop selling the car.

First car I ever bought, from a mate, was a white Holden Commodore. 'Twas old and weathered, but it felt like the quintessential Australian car and I was stoked to drive it.

— Jerome Doraisamy (@JeromeDoraisamy) February 17, 2020

Diehard Commodore owners aren’t surprised that Holden has come to an end this way, with many saying that the company “died” when they let go of their most iconic vehicle.

First produced in 1978, some say the car is associated with being “quintessentially Australian”.

And for others, the word “Commodore” is the surest way to conjure up an image of a partially balding man with a Southern Cross tattoo, revving his engine in the main street of town and hitting on the teenage girls working the McDonald’s drive-through.

BARINA

Another popular first car choice for Aussie teens everywhere, the Barina has been dubbed by some cruel critics as little more than a “glorified shopping trolley”.

This is the only Holden vehicle I have ever directly encountered, as it was my older sister’s first car.

My first car was a purple #Holden Barina I named ‘Betty’. It had no air-con but it did have hot pink car seats & me driving - what a sight in 40’C in western NSW.

— Teela 🐨 (@teelareid) February 17, 2020

With a very noticeable lack of functioning airconditioning and a heart-shaped muffler so deafening it alerted me to her arrival home when she was still on the other side of town, a ride in “Shaq’s” front seat often left you in fear that the doors would fly off if the driver accelerated over 40km.

ASTRA

For Astra owners, the disappearance of Holden is quite devastating. Judging from the widespread consensus of the model’s drivers, it actually was a pretty good car (even though to me, it sounds like a type of star).

It’s also one of the few models still in production.

“My first car was a Holden Astra. She’s still running,” wrote one Twitter user.

My 2004 Holden Astra is still going strong! It's taken me more than 60,000km across Australia and has never let me down.

— Leonie Thorne (@leonie_thorne) February 17, 2020

“My 2004 Holden Astra is still going strong!” wrote another. “It’s taken me more than 60,000km across Australia and has never let me down.”

CAPTIVA

“Just last week I came to the realisation my Holden Captiva was actually a ‘Craptiva’,” one driver of the model has written, in a touching ode to their SUV.

The model had a solid 11 year run, produced in 2006 and being taken off the market in 2017.

Vale, Holden Captiva.

GEMINI

Ah, the Gemini. Up until this very moment, I’d always associated that word with the horoscope – likely because this car encountered its entire production lifespan more than a decade before I was even born.

The “compact car” was produced by Holden between 1975 and 1986, and behind its wheel many a teenager of the 80s learned to drive.

My first car, the luxuriously appointed Holden Gemini! Who else had one of these treasures? #firstcar pic.twitter.com/cbm1FMwSsC

— Ryan Park MP (@RyanPark_Keira) February 17, 2020

Despite the fact the Gemini stopped being made 34 years ago, the announcement of Holden’s axing has prompted motorists to wax poetic about the car on social media, sharing fond memories from their time in the front seat and thanking “Uncle Don” for “sowing the seeds of hoonage”.

“My first car was a #Holden Gemini,” one user wrote. “I put a huge stereo in the boot and contraband inside the door. We drove it on footy ovals. It pulled sick handbreakies. The car was so light I got blown across three lanes of the Westgate by strong wind. Good luck doing that sh*t in a Kia.”

Now, doesn’t that just bring a tear to your eye?

Originally published as Cars we’re farewelling with the disappearance of Holden