Thursday 20th October 2011

1969 Holden Hurricane Concept Restored

Aussie firm's first concept looks more 'mega' than ever

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The 1969 Holden Hurricane - the Aussie firm's first ever concept car - has been restored to fantastic motor-show ready condition by the in-house design and engineering teams.

Described as a 'labour of love', the restoration will be showcased at the Melbourne Motorclassica show that starts tomorrow. It appeared first in public at the 1969 Melbourne motorshow.

Back in its hey-day, the Hurricane concept was created 'to study design trend, propulsion systems and other long range developments'. It's a mid-engined two-seater, powered by a prototype 4.2 litre V8 which was a precursor to the production Holden V8 programme.

Fascinating features include a pre-GPS navigation system using magnetic studs in the road, and a rear view camera. There's loads more to read about the Hurricane here.

[thewheelman]

Very cool, it reminds me of some old Hot Wheels car

[LuS1fer]

Nice. (VW-based) Nova meets Stratos. Very clean design.

[Chris71]

What a fantastic car! Very un-Australian in its outlook; I was expecting a live axle and some flames down the side. Must have seemed like rocket science in 1969.

[alexaras]

It looks amazing and futuristic even in 2011 !!

[Ollieb7]

Nice Vauxhall! ;-)

[Fetchez la vache]

alexaras said:

It looks amazing and futuristic even in 2011 !!

It does!
If they want to sell flippin' hybrids they should put it in a mad & beautiful car like this! (Plus obviously give some other engine options for those less green-challenged )

[rudecherub]

thewheelman said:

Very cool, it reminds me of some old Hot Wheels car

I'm so sure there was a die-cast toy so like this.. maybe matchbox. Maybe it's just the iconic shape look.

[pSyCoSiS]

Very cool car.

Reminds me of a Miura from certain angles?

Maybe just me!

[swd]

pop down lights! they are brilliant.

[DazBock]

Great looking thing and a great project but why on earth did they paint it like a dodgem?!

[Fluffsri]

I like that as concepts go. Not as nice as the efijy but still different.

[thewheelman]

I found some more info on the Hurricane http://www.supercars.net/cars/2969.html a very interesting car, that made Holden very popular.

To think, back in '69 Holden were making the Monaro HT GTS 350 <pictured below>, which makes me think we were short changed in our little country.

[Justayellowbadge]

Very nice. Has hints of the AMC AMX/3 to it.

[dave stew]

It would have gone down a storm in a late sixties Sci Fi film. AFAIK there's a GT40 and another LeMans racer in THX1138, a 1971 George Lucas film.

[cookie1600]

Much better than Vauxhall's prototype efforts 3 years earlier:







'The car is built on a custom chassis with all-independent suspension, disc brakes and a VX4/90 engine. In total three cars were made'

VX4/90 engine just doesn't have the same ring as a 4.2 litre V8!

[dbanes]

Chris71 said:

What a fantastic car! Very un-Australian in its outlook; I was expecting a live axle and some flames down the side. Must have seemed like rocket science in 1969.

Having just spent 17 years living in Australia, and now back in the UK, I can say that the stereo typical Aussie is a dying breed, most younger Australians are just like Europeans, with a splash of Yank thrown in.

I think global media and the internet has been a great leveller.

[geoffracing]

Exactly the Ferrari 512S prototype idea.
But perhaps even better-looking!

[ARAF]

dbanes said:

I think global media and the internet has been a great leveller.

Educator? Or did you mean that t'internet has dumbed us Europeans down?

[thewheelman]

dbanes said:

Chris71 said:

What a fantastic car! Very un-Australian in its outlook; I was expecting a live axle and some flames down the side. Must have seemed like rocket science in 1969.

Having just spent 17 years living in Australia, and now back in the UK, I can say that the stereo typical Aussie is a dying breed, most younger Australians are just like Europeans, with a splash of Yank thrown in.

I think global media and the internet has been a great leveller.

A girl i used to date is from Australia, she recently moved back there for her business. When i told her i liked Holdens, she couldn't stop laughing, then told me all about the huge "bogan" culture over there. So the stereotypical Aussie is still going strong. Until then, i'd never heard of the word "bogan".

[marcosgt]

cookie1600 said:

Much better than Vauxhall's prototype efforts 3 years earlier:







'The car is built on a custom chassis with all-independent suspension, disc brakes and a VX4/90 engine. In total three cars were made'

VX4/90 engine just doesn't have the same ring as a 4.2 litre V8!

Each to their own... The Vauxhall looks like a car they could have productionised very easily, unlike the, admittedly very cool, Holden.

M.