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Just sharing a recent great driving experience. I had the opportunity to drive a standard spec 350 4 sp Ht GTS over 800km in a day + 6 hours up hwy 1 or it would go on a trailer. Before leaving I was talking with an elderly guy and he said it will be awful! No comforts, noisy crap handling etc. The trip was broken up in 2 with a sleep. it was the very very best drive of all time for me. Despite rain every 30k, and juicy campers driven by backpackers. Pure magic and not because of any scenery just the sweet old car and nothing else...as the exit came up for the end it was not relief but sadness that it was almost over� Never had that sensation when exiting in the VE daily driver�
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g'day hk307 .. every day i drove my HQ GTS350 was a special day.....she was my daily driver till i parked her up....and that was 26 years ago !!... ...i'm only 53 and not in a hurry to get her back out, but the day will come.... and i guess after a fair bit of sorting her old age issues , all the sounds and smells will be like yesterday....cheers mate Edited by user Wednesday, 15 May 2013 3:30:21 AM(UTC)
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I must say that getting into my HJ Premier is fun, it only has 108,000kM on it (10,000kM less than my 2002 CV8!), and it drives like new. I think the right words are "fun" and "agricultural". The car is a beauty and pleasure to drive, but it has about the same go and ride as my 2011 SR5 V6 Hilux. It is beyond compare though, you can't beat the old girls! |
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I have fun everyday. I drive a HT Belmont with drum brakes all round, no floor coverings, no door trims, no fuel gauge and no radio, nearly every day for the past seven years as my work van. I wouldn't dare replace it with a commodore ute or a Great Wall just for the comfort. It's probably the roughest looking car on Adelaide roads and I couldn't care less. I drive it with pride and it's my way of giving the bird to everyone who gave in to cheap Korean imports or Prius's because they think they're saving the planet. A 186 HT Holden in 2013 is still a practical, safe, reliable, economical and value for money car in my opinion.
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The HKTG Garage. The Home of HK HT HG Holden. |
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G'day
For most of last year my HK GTS was my daily and I loved every second of it. Now that I walk to work and the car is off the road for a wee while I'll have to hold onto that feeling for a bit until I finish the 186 HG Prem.
Looking forward, Simon to the pano rebuild, are you going to document the build somewhere so we can check out its progress?
Cheers
Al
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When I had a head on in my SR5 Hilux about 18 months ago, the car was written off. I remember saying to my Mrs that if i'd been in my HJ Premier, HK Monaro or even my old Overlander that it probably would have been me getting written off as well as the car. I did have pretty bad whiplash but the curtain airbag saved me from a pretty nasty head injury. I was only doing 50kM/h but the idiot P-plater who lost control coming the other way was closer to 100. No amount of defensive or other such driving was going to stop me from getting hit. This incident has worried me ever since about using an old girl as a daily. |
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HK 1837, I know what you mean. Had one recent near miss in the Buick.
Not my fault- a U turn in front of me. Why she didn't see my car is a mystery- its hard to ignore.
But if we let these ****wits put us off driving our toys, what's the point all the hard work & passion we pour into them?
I make allowences for for my cars lack of modern safety features. Alas, we can't make allowences for ****wits.
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Attn camry drivers. The accelerator is the skinny pedal on the right. |
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I agree you have to wonder about how you would fare if you had a big incident in an old girl.
But I always argue that anyone riding a motorbike is taking a bigger risk still as they have no external protection from idiots.
Bikers know this and accept the risk because they love what they do. Same goes for us I guess.
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True, I ride a bike sometimes, but I probably could have avoided my crash on a bike as there was an escape route available. I couldn't go there in the Hilux as a power pole blocked the route, interestingly enough if I hadn't been where i'd been the VZ that hit me would have hit the power pole passenger's side on. He hit me with the top of his LH front wheel directly on the nose of the RH chassis rail - he had come around a LH bend and lost it then over-corrected, spinning clockwise straight on at me. The force of the crash at that angle caused me to spin anticlockwise and then the cars hit again with his LH rear wheel leaving a huge indent in the driver's side rear door, and then both cars spear off the road. It was this second hit when my head went out the driver's window and the curtain airbag smacked me in the LH ear! |
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I use my HT Brougham as a daily driver. I live in a country town and work FIFO so I guess I dont do many miles and am not so concerned about getting snotted by another driver. I do prefer to take the VE when I'm running my kids around though.
Regarding great driving experiences, I'm lucky to have the Brougham as an every day car, and even luckier to have my HG GTS 350 as a toy. I did a 1200km round trip to a car show in the Monaro last year with a mate in a GT XY, we had a blast. They are noisy and harder to hold on the road than a modern car but the smile says it all.
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I certainly would not want to crash into anything. I think that over the whole journey driving an old and precious car makes you alert to the situations around you. But you will have little say in the matter when idiots loose it in front of you. watch in horror this clip on u tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joMK1WZjP7g I saw an HJ after it hit almost head on with a VE and think the same applies to our aussie cars as the US test shows.
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Apparently the belair didnt even have a motor in it!
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Check out the #1 crash on this, right near the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x3UTROQajk |
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I have a slight problem with these videos. Firstly, the old cars they use in many cases are full of rust in important structural areas.
Some of these safety organisations seem to think that is fair enough as most old cars are rust ridden anyway, and therefore the test is representative of how a typical old car would perform.
As enthusiasts though, a lot of our cars are not riddled with tin worm.
I'm ok with my family travelling in my HQ because it is structurally sound, but that is not to say that I would be happy with them travelling in one that has been sitting rusting away outdoors and exposed to the elements for the last 15 years.
Back in the 80's a friend of mine driving an HZ ute was involved in a head on crash. I can't remember what the other car was, but I remember him saying that the HZ did its job and bent in the right places to allow him to walk away.
I'm not saying that they are as good as today's cars as that is just not realistic. That said, I like to think that provided the structure is sound, they are not quite the death traps these tests make them seem.
As for the VB Commodore in the compilation of worst crashes, this video is not a real crash test. It was a trial done at the test site. The engineers took the drive train out and filled the boot with concrete to create the spectacular explosion you see. They were just testing the rig.
A lot of Americans who have seen this video on Youtube think it is real and representative of how Australia makes cars.
No real VB Commodore would behave like that!!
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