Holden Kingswood

Holden Kingswood
Manufacturer	Holden
Parent company	General Motors
Production	1968–1980
Predecessor	Holden Special
Successor	Holden Commodore
Class	Full-size
Body style(s)	4-door sedan 5-door station wagon

The Holden Kingswood is a large family car that was manufactured by General Motors–Holden's Ltd. of Australia. The nameplate first emerged in 1968 with the HK series to replace the 'Standard' and 'Special' designations formerly used by the company. Kingswood took over from 'Special' and denoted sedans and station wagons; Belmont was the entry-level model. Premier denoted a high-specification model. During the HK–HG generation, there was an additional top-of-the-line luxury model called the Brougham. The Kingswood was offered in a large number of different body styles including a sedan, station wagon, ute and panel van.

First generation (1968–1971)

HK–HG

The first Kingswood was the HK, released in 1968. It was an all-new design that was larger and heavier than the previous HR Holden. It used the same six-cylinder engines, but introduced the first V8 into the Holden range, the 307 Chevrolet small-block. This engine only remained an option until midway through production of the HT, when the Fisherman's Bend engine facility began production of Holden's own V8, available as either the 253 or 308. Six months after the release of the HK saw the introduction of the Monaro, a two-door version of the Kingswood.

Second generation (1971–1980)

Second generation
Also called	Chevrolet Constantia Chevrolet Kommando Chevrolet El Camino
Related	Holden Belmont Holden Monaro Holden Premier Mazda Roadpacer Statesman

HQ

The HQ series of 1971 was regarded as the most beautiful Kingswood. Subsequent facelifts, which brought welcome mechanical changes in later years, never captured the HQ's then-modern, pure appearance. The HQ was a completely new design, introducing larger 173 c.i. and 202 c.i six cylinder engines, or 253 and 308 c.i. V8 engines from the earlier model. The Kingswood was also fitted with the Chevrolet 350 c.i V8 in 1973 upon release of the XW8 optioned Kingswood, better known as the Monaro GTS350 sedan. It was Holden's most popular car, selling 517,614 units, a total that Holden has never surpassed for any single model since.

1971–1974 Holden HQ Kingswood station wagon.

HQ was the most radically re-engineered Holden since the introduction of the marque. It featured a perimeter frame (semi-monocoque) construction, and was the first full-size Holden to have coil spring rear suspension. The standard of engineering and design reached a new height for Holden. This was confirmed in an unusual way in 1975, when Mazda commenced using Holden bodies to contrive their Mazda Roadpacer as a rotary powered domestic flagship. The HQ's main failing could be said to have been its ride. At the time, Holden's Managing Director, American George Roberts (whose background was engineering at the GM prestige Cadillac division), insisted that the HQ ride like a Cadillac and that the front suspension be engineered to make the car prone to understeer for "safety". Advertising of the car promoted its "Jet smooth" ride over rough roads. Notwithstanding persistent criticism from many motoring journalists, this policy persisted with the subsequent HJ and HX facelift models. It was arguable whether Australian buyers favoured this engineering philosophy. (The 1977 'HZ' facelift involved radical changes to the suspension to improve handling). Regrettably, as a cost saving measure, HQ was only engineered for right hand drive, hence it was not possible to sell the car on left hand drive markets.

HJ

Released in 1974, the HJ Kingswood received some major styling changes, including new guards, wiper cowl and bonnet. In 1975, some HJ-series Premier bodies were assembled by Mazda Japan, which fitted with the company's rotary engine. The car, sold as the Mazda Roadpacer was quite heavy and the rotary engine of the time was severely underpowered. To compensate for the lack of performance, Mazda loaded up the car with every possible electrical gadget, thus making the performance even worse.

HX–HZ

The later HX and HZ releases made only minor updates to the exterior, notably the grilles and badgework. When the HX was released, government emissions controls had been tightened and Holden needed to make significant changes to their engines, which resulted in a loss of performance across the range. The release of the HZ (October 1977), when the lower-end Belmont was absorbed into the Kingswood range and a higher-specification SL model was released, saw the introduction of what Holden termed RTS (Radial Tuned Suspension). RTS, on all models, made significant changes to the suspension of the car, greatly improving the handling. The Kingswood passenger cars were cancelled after the 1979 model year, replaced by the downsized Holden Commodore.

WB

The last Holden to wear the Kingswood badge was the WB ute released in 1980. Although the WA and WB projects at Holden were meant to have resulted in all-new full-size cars, the 1973 fuel crisis and cost-cutting meant the scope of changes became more limited each time. Eventually, the WBs were updated HZ commercial models with new front headlights, tail lights, grilles and the updated Holden "Blue" 6 cylinder engine (4.2 L V8 optional). There were no passenger car versions, their place in the Holden range being taken by the Commodore. Production finished in 1984 when Holden announced they were vacating the luxury and commercial vehicle fields - due to economics - to build more variations of the lighter, smaller Holden Commodore. They would not release another car-based ute for six years.

Exports

Early Holdens were manufactured in New Zealand at the General Motors New Zealand plant in Petone until 1967, and Kingswoods were later assembled from complete knock down (CKD) kits at the new car plant at Trentham Upper Hutt further up the Hutt Valley from Wellington. Other Holden models like Monaro were imported Completely Built Up (CBU) from Australia. From the 1960s Australian-made models were exported to South East Asia, and also to the Caribbean - the Kingswood was assembled in Trinidad and Tobago. South Africa's Chevrolet Kommando and Constantia were based on the HG and HQ Kingswoods and used Chevrolet engines, notably the 250 CID 6-cylinder and 308 CID V8. The Constantia name was in reference to the grand wine estate in the Cape, Groot Constantia with its world famous gabled Cape-Dutch homestead featuring as the model's emblem. Kommando referred to the commando squads employed by the Boer forces during the Anglo-Boer War, or South African War. In the early seventies, a De Ville was sold as the top end Chevrolet in South Africa. Essentially, the De Ville was a slightly tweaked Constantia, with more chrome trim and striking bulging hub caps. The De Ville was powered by the 350 CID Chevvy small block V8. Some of these HQ-series models - assembled in Australia - were sold in New Zealand as the 'Chevrolet 350' from 1971 to 1974. They differed little from the locally-assembled 308CID V8 Holden Statesman apart from a new grille with Chevy 'bow tie', badges and hub caps and effectively replaced the Canadian-sourced Chevy Impalas last sold in 1969. In South Africa, in the mid-seventies, updated models were introduced, again as a Kommando - with 250 CID straight 6, Constantia, with 250 CID and 308 V8 and the Caprice Classic, with 308 CID V8. The Caprice Classic vaguely resembled the Cadillac Seville and was a favourite of mayors and government officials. In 1978 the Kommando, Constantia, Caprice Classic and El Camino bakkie (pick up) were replaced by the Rekord, Commodore and Senator - ever so slightly modified Opel models with Chevrolet engines (2500 cc, 3800 cc and 4100 cc). Earlier in the decade, Opel-sourced Chevrolets were built locally and known simply as the 2500, 3800 and 4100. The 4100 was the best selling car in 1977. Interestingly, the El Camino bakkie was not the only Holden Kingswood Ute-based bakkie to be sold, a somewhat downmarket version, the El Torro was also available. In the early seventies, the Holden Monaro was available locally as a Chevrolet SS. In 1982, the Chevrolet name was dropped and vehicles were sold merely as Opels. The Rekord continued well into the nineties,with the top-end model featuring a Holden six cylinder engine. In the late sixties, the Kingswood and Premier were sold in South Africa as Holdens, before the emeregence of the badge engineered Chevrolets following the demise of Canadian-sourced Chevrolets, the Impala and Chevelle.