I’m a Ford guy. And these are essentially gussied up Chevys. But yeah, it was felt around the world when Australia stopped making utes. Every enthusiast felt it. Even us Ford guys half a world away mourned the loss of Aussie auto manufacturing. Even the gussied up Chevys.
@@goracks69 Mate , they are Australian through n through. Not Chevy shitbox's. They were all made here and exported them to the US where the badge was changed to a Chevy badge. And don't say "yes but it has a GM engine" that's just a power plant. The chassis is the car not the engine and all the chassis were made here in Australia.
@@kers225abk2 agreed they only made 4 w1 maloos but just the standard gtsr maloo is the fastest production ute ever built pretty shaw they made about 500 of them
I actually get a sense of pride out of it. For years Holdens & Ford Australia, have been rebadging cars from overseas, i think it's great to see other countries rebadging our cars. Although i am a Holden fan i believe if Ford Australa had done same thing with Falcons they would also of generated interest overseas, shame to see both Commodores & Falcons disappear
It's a shame that HSV cars didn't take off as they should have in the US. They were a hidden gem and yanks love them. If only the people responsible for marketing did their job properly, this line of cars would have taken the world by storm! And Holden would still be a thing.
They arrived in America at the absolute worst possible time. The Great Recession of 2008 destroyed a LOT of car goodness. No amount of marketing was going to save them from that.
With Australian labor laws, Ford & GM felt like AUDM manufacturing was getting too expensive, even after GM took a huge government incentive to keep the Holden plant open. Holden died so GM could save a few bucks outsourcing to Southeast Asia, where labor laws are non-existent
@@ekscalybur Honestly I don't think they would have taken off in the US at all. Around the mid 2000s, American muscle cars came out with a retro style reminiscent of the 70s with the Mustang and the later the Challenger which boomers went nuts over, meanwhile the Pontiac GTO which was a rebadged Monaro, despite having over 100 horsepower more than the Mustang GT failed to meet even the low bar Pontiac had set as a niche sales car and the biggest reason was it just looked ordinary. GM then built the retro styled Camaro and released it in 2010 and it was an instant hit. For Americans, cars are an extension of themselves and they want to look imposing and want to have a significant presence on the road.
Peter Lee Dunno what the fun is in V8's. A stock Turbo 4Cyl WRX would kill a Stock N/A V8 in those commodores or Monaros or whatever. Especially on takeoff. lol.
aussiefirie Well of course a stock wrx is going to lose to a modified V8. Hate when people compare stock to modified cars 😂 A 5L V8 VS Commodore puts a bit less power than a Turbo 2L 4 Cylinder WRX (Not even an STi). My point is, why drive a piece of shit stereotypically bogan, unreliable, fuel guzzling car like that when you can buy a WRX that has a very reliable motor if looked after properly, is unique in culture and popular towards car people and worldwide enthusiasts and not just Aussie bogans, and is cheaper to run and has more power with half the Cyclinders and less than half the engine size. I had a stock 2000 WRX (Turbo back exhaust buts that's it.) and i never lost to a N/A V6 or Early model V8. Loved racing on the local highway :) Cops are never around in my state. It's like a local drag strip for us 😂
Australia is a land of CUB's (Cashed Up Bogans), and the automotive industry, much like our mining industry, was just a sea of jetski-owning CUB's who barely scraped through high school but wanted obscenely high wages for doing sweet fuck-all with all the automation that existed in those factories. You literally had 22yo factory floor workers at Holden pulling in higher salaries than 45yo blokes at GM in the USA who had 20+ years of experience. In the end, GM and the Australian government couldn't justify the salaries and the subsidies and they let the industry suffer the consequences of its own greed and fizzle out the way they truly deserved.
@@Funkteon your 100% right. I wonder if they could been the innovators of concepts like Tesla has such as die cast bodies which can cast front & rear vehicle underbodies in a single piece each - down from 70+ parts for same sections previously - perhaps they could of remaind competitive.
@68404 True, but as an American, I appreciate getting some of your vehicles built on the same platform under a different brand. I wish we could see Holden back. 🇦🇺💙
There are a few places over there that import Holden's and convert them to utes to make them legal in the states though I believe U are unable to import actual utes something to do with emissions.
@@tqless that could be either NSW plates where Sydney is located or WA plates which is on the other side of the country that has the most isolated capital city on earth Perth . Just a small geography lesson for U m8.
There are no words that can describe how much I want one of those... too bad that 1, they aren't made anymore, and 2, the were never sold in North America
im from singapore and when i went down under to visit my relatives there when i was 8, the first time i saw this beast start up in front of me and launch off with deadly intent i fell in love with them and i can only wish for it to be sold in singapore, what a unique type of car i dig it
Chevy would have sold WAY more units if they took these and rebadged them as El Caminos or something new rather than rebadging the Commodore as an SS. This is actually something that I think sounds worth $50-60,0000.
the problem with your logic is that Chevy didn't want to sell more Commodore's ("SS"s) in the U.S. They sold a predetermined number to help transition the Australian factories into their closure.
I'm fairly sure they came to the states just as GM split. Top Gear Aus did a segment on it. I remember cause the dumb ass american chick was like.. "they sell pontiacs in Australia" 😂😂😂
A Holden Maloo Ute in highest performance W1 spec, one of four made, is at auction online currently. Current bid $1,040,000 with nine days to go. HSV build date 29/12/2017. Already a record for an Australian built car.
Angus W, if you look closely, the Holden Special Vehicles Maloo is rebadged in the UK as a Vauxhall VXR8. See the dragon logo instead of the Holden lion? It has a racing helmet just like HSV does with the lion.
You mean it's a Chevy. Holden and Vauxhall are Chevy. Chevrolet bought Holden 1931 when they were making saddles and coach body. The company is actually called General Motors Holden . The only reason GM used Holden was to make he Ausies think it was their car. Every engine and transmission that went I to every Holden came from GM in the U.S.. If a Ford is built in the UK is it a UK or American car? American. Just like Toyota's built in the U.S. are Japanese.
I only ever met one guy who used his maloo for work. An older bloke, an engineer, was interesting to see 6" stainless bar in the back, tub all scraped up, liner cracked everywhere, swarf and slings, bits of wood everywhere. Most people bought them to have fun in or to cruise around, usually someone in the market for an expensive ute got a landcruiser, nowdays youve got the vast quantities of dual cab with a canopy pointless 4wds like rangers, tritons hiluxes etc for the wannabe offroaders who never get on a gravel road let alone a track, and then people with 79 series landcruisers doing work with them, i wish the station wagon would make a comeback. Mines from 2001 (australian ford falcon) its got 1.4 million km on it, the engine is very tired, probably only makes about 60-80hp now and uses a litre of oil per 600km (tank of fuel) but thats no issue i was going to replace the engine, but the poor rustproofing of australian fords has caused alot of "hidden rust" rust you cant see from the outside, till one day the passanger footwell is wet and you look up under the dash to see a gaping hole above the heater below the windscreen. I'll have to restore it. For the $1600 the car cost me a million km ago, its earned it. A radiator, an o2 sensor, some shocks, ball joints and bushes and some wheel bearings are all ive had to replace on it besides oil, filters, tyres and batteries over the years
I’m still daily driving my 2012 VE Z Series ute. It’ll retire before its 10th birthday and get a museum-quality restoration & an engine rebuild. The OG drivetrain is good for 550kw and that’s what it’ll produce. Then it’ll go out on sunny Sundays until I’m dead, after that who cares.
@@stepha5926 Yes, Melbourne. I recently discovered from Holden that its radiator was first filled at the factory on my birthday. So since l effectively share birthdays with it I really can’t see ever selling it.
I had the VF r8 maloo. Spent another 40k on a 2.9 whipple blower exhaust ect. I paid $79,990. Plus the 40k. It was black in colour. I got sick of the shopping parking dents. So I sold it back to Holden for 55k total. Now they’re selling for 120k plus. 😢
Not really mate , the demise of our motor industry was mostly political , you could see it coming from 70`s , every year our pollies made it easier and cheaper for imports to come into Australia , and more expensive for us to manufacture anything . And if you have been around long enough , you can see over the decades a bunch of other industries in Australia that went down the gurgler too . A sad bit of trivia , every mass car manufacturer that was in Australia either went broke or left for greener pastures . I used to work in the motor trade in my younger days , and ended up in my last job carting parts mostly for holden , and a little bit for ford and toyota , even carting b double loads of cars on occasion , all those companies are now null and void in Australia . No one political party was responsible for this , they where all responsible , although in my book one party started the ball rolling for their demise and other industrys too ..
I had it in the wagon so I wouldn’t lose my hay bales 😉 plus everything was conveniently piled at the rear for easy access. I tuned my and got 4.5s 0-100km. No one beat me off the line. No one. 😆
Matthew Conway it’s a Ute cause there’s no weight over the ass end that’s where you put shit in the back it’s a work horse come to Aussie see for your self
Beggars cant be choosers. I suggest you eat a spoonful of cement powder once every day before bed until you harden the fuck up you stupid fucking wimp.
Yeah, I really like them, but, really totally impractical for a trade ute or for family transport with single cab, most owners don't want to scratch them so never actually used as a ute.....
@@Squashed8Ball , it's true, in order to make them handle they used independent rear suspension. Coil instead of leaf spring rear suspension, they handle well but will take very little weight in the back.
Wild Woodbine 500kg is hardly an insignificant weight. Thats a shit load of work tools. So no, its not. A Suzuki Mighty Boy only weighs between 530-550kg. So for a short trip over good roads Id have no problem sticking one in the back. An SS Ute takes 665kg. No problems at all to carry a Mighty Boy assuming it fits in the tray.
you have not lived in England I am guessing - these 3 boys are from very privileged backgrounds - on TV they come across as English versions of "Aussie bogans" but they are far from it. They have all grown up on the privileged side of the Brit "classed society" and all three have been given life on a silver platter.
The Australian Monaro was reviewed and tested on the show as a GTO Pontiac, as an Aussie I can tell you there's no such car a (Baaartherst Vauxhall), The R8 Maloo was badged as a (Vauxhal), talk about (GM) and American engines for a bit, show an (Opal) emblem, insult the fantastic original design and functionality, compare it to another that is double the price tag, then agree that they are great, then ask an idiot in the crowd what he thinks about pineapples... No wonder nobody knows what a HOLDEN is back in stonehenge pommy land of the jeep driver.... Yes, I drive a HOLDEN ute...
Settle down mate. At least they showed them in the uk, and sold some of them. Remember Holden was part of GM, an American company. Circles and roundabouts.
It is all by design. In 1969 a guy named Dr Richard Day who was head medic for the department of Planned Parenthood and Planning gave a very revealing speech about the future world system. Day was privy to the plans of the top of the pyramid and he told, he did tell the audience that he was free to speak now as there was nothing anyone could do to stop them/ He also told them not to take note and or record the speech. Day spoke on many varied topics and made many predictions for the future. He has been too accurate about too many things for it to be a coincidence. He did say that American cars would be made poorly and that Japanese cars would be made better and that American would eventually prefer to buy Japanese cars than American cars. He also said that there would be cars that are the same, except for a bit of chrome being different or so. Think of the Commodore and the Lexus or the Toyota 86 and the Subaru BRZ. He also said that America would lose most of its heavy industries. Well Australia is in the same boat. Day spoke on many other topics. He did say that people will be given permission to be homosexual and that they took great time an effort in deciding to call homosexuals Gay, as the word gay has positive and colourful connotations. That homosexuality would be promoted and encouraged in the future and those who were stupid enough to fall for the propaganda didn't deserve a place in the new world system. That they had the power to make homosexuality and abortion morally right and the power to change it back if they choose. He also said that girls would be playing soccer, instead of playing with dolls. Sex education would be taught in schools and contraceptions would be sold in service stations and supermarkets on full display. They wanted to break down the family unit. They wanted to rewrite history. If you are interested look up Dr Richard Day's New Order Of The Barbarians.
@@billpreston2162, I know what you're talking about, If you want an insight into it all just look up the "Lima agreement", a united nations policy that all UN signatories signed in 1975. It was basically a pact that was to wind down manufacturing and farming in the western world and transfer it to the third world...needless to say it was extremely effective. Since then there has been "Agenda 21", signed in 1992 and the "2030 agenda development" signed in 2015. They are hard to get your head around but what's outlined on them is rapidly coming true.
@@billpreston2162 Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ are derived from the ft86 platform the Manufacturers co-developed. It's not a conspiracy against the people dude.
@@shane707 Shane, they are exactly the same care except for a few minor surface differences, just like Day said they would be in 1969. That isn't a conspiracy against the people, it is another thing that Day said would happen that has happened. What is a conspiracy against the people is that the first world countries were always going to lose most of their heavy industries and American cars would be made poorly and Japanese cars would be made better and then many Americans would stop buying American cars and buy the Japanese cars instead. Day was right again. I reckon you should take the time to listen to what Day has to say in 1969.
@@wildwoodbine5149 Wild Woodbine. I am familiar with the Lima agreement, but I should have closer look at it. I am also familiar with agenda 21 and agenda 30. The most significant things that I have come across are The Protocols Of The Learned Elders Of Zion (Full Audiobook) that is 3 hours 38 minutes duration and Dr Richard Day's New Order Of The Barbarians. I have done extensive research into 9/11 (the official story is impossible), The New World Order, Secret Societies etc. In the last 3 and half years I have come to learn/believe that Jews are the ones who are at the top of the pyramid. I believe they have control of the secret societies, Vatican, most western countries, the world's media, education systems, Hollywood, Radio networks, Facebook, RU-vid, Google etc and they are using all of the resources they control to work towards destroying our societies from within and working towards their Jewish supremacist goals and objectives.
Was that sent to the UK by GM or a 3rd party company? But Opel & Vauxhall will soon be run by Peugeot. I'm an American living in Germany and think it would be cool to have this brought here in LHD.
Jefff yes. GM sent it to the UK. I have not seen an Opel edition and you probably won't since they end production this year. but I have and left hand drive ute. and since you're American, when you go home you can buy this: m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vmpCWEAapQY.html it was a great video to make with Doug Demuro!
I'm a Ford fan and the Barra is an amazing tuning engine, but that's what it is. An amazing *tuning* engine. Price to performance the Barra is the clear winner but a stock FG-X XR6T (you can't compare the XR8 because that uses the Miami not the Barra) vs a stock Maloo would get absolutely destroyed. The Maloo has over 100kW more, it is literally the world's fastest ute.
Oh I miss GM. I really really do. Now it's just Chevrolet and Cadillac, with Buick virtually based in and supplying China for some reason. I miss Vauxhall here. I lament Opel going. PSA isn't the same. It's a travesty that Holden was cancelled. Pontiac and Oldsmobile too. They had a warm, familiar presence. Basic, blue collar. But it's GM's fault. They shouldn't have dropped so many balls. It was once a big global family.
Let’s be honest, that Audi gave it a run for its money. Quicker off the mark and kept a couple of car lengths ahead for the first 100m. I little bit of tinkering and that Audi would have had him.
