METRES from the beach, surrounded by Norfolk
Island pines and perpetually kissed by a gentle
sea breeze, Glenelg’s Wigley Reserve is a prime
place to be on a summer’s day. Add about 300
Monaros, Kingswoods, Commodores and a lone
Camira, and you’re in Holden heaven!
Holden was cranking out family sedans and muscle
machines by the hundreds just north of here until October
last year. How had the demise of locally built Lions changed
things for Holden fans? Would the 8th All Holden Day be a
car show, or a wake? Street Machine
went along to find out.
The FB/EK Holden Car Club of SA runs the All Holden
Day, originally establishing it as an event for early Holdens
only, before expanding to all of the General’s Aussie
offerings the following year. “People love this event
because it’s so casual; that’s why we don’t do trophies,”
said organiser Roger Beale, custodian of an awesome,
rat-spec EK wagon. “And it’s the cheapest all-day parking
you’ll get down Holdfast Bay!”
Despite the still-raw realisation that Adelaide will never
again churn out Holdens by the thousand, Roger reckoned
the vibe of the event remained upbeat. “There’s been no
change to the atmosphere. You see the guys with VF GTSs
up here, and the FEs and FCs over there,” he said, gesturingH O L D E N
TI
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O
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REHT
ACBOrganiser Roger Beale
ended the day with
a broad smile, and why
wouldn’t he? The weather
was great, the event was a
wild success and he gets to
drive home in a super-cool
EK wagon survivor riding on
vintage ROHs!We spotted this
balls-out HQ ute from
across the oval and had to
learn more. “It was on the
cover of the first issue of
Street Action magazine,
back in the early 90s,”
said owner Adrian Long.
“I bought it more recently
pretty much as-is, but it’s
never really been on the
road. It’s running a blown
383 with twin 850cfm ProSystems carbs, a Crane roller
cam and Pro Line heads. It
should have about 750hp”Chris Haddon’s LJ
Torana is a fresh
build. How fresh? “It was
actually ready last year, but
I had a bit of a transmission
fire which, uh, took out the
whole front of the car,” he
said. It’s a genuine GTR,
but it has been re-shelled
at some stage. “The tags
didn’t match the chassis, so
I didn’t hesitate to tub it.”
Chris tackled most of the
build himself, though he left
the 383ci small-block to the
experts. “It should be good
for 500hp. I plan to chuck it
down the quarter at some
point – it should do 9s”ABC