HQ Statesman

GM-H, caught unawares by the success of the stretched Falcon that was the Fairlane, tried but failed miserably with its initial attempt at a prestige car, the 1968 HK Brougham.

Buyers saw it for the Premier with a longer boot that it was.

So the 1971 Statesman followed the Ford by being based on the 2895mm wheelbase HQ Kingswood station wagon platform, for increased rear-passenger legroom.

A quad headlight, twin mesh grille and elongated vertical wagon tail-lights identified the Holden.

The engines (in gross power output figures) were a 99kW 3.3-litre OHV inline six-cylinder unit (202 cubic inches), auto-only 136kW 4.2-litre V8 (253ci), 177kW 5.0-litre V8 (308ci) and 202kW 5.7-litre V8 (350ci) – mated to a three-speed auto or four-speed manual transmission.

The basic Custom offered a radio, heater and not much else, while the luxury V8-only De Ville featured more chrome, improved seating, better audio, power steering and plusher trim.

Despite this, Statesman sales could not catch up to the Fairlane.

Vague steering and roly-poly handling from Holden’s first coil-spring rear suspension set-up garnered poor critical reviews.