HOLDEN STATESMAN HQ-HZ

Sometime prior to 1968 a decision was taken behind executive doors at Holden to drop expensive, imported Chevrolet and Pontiac models and fight Ford’s Fairlane with an elongated version of the HK Premier.

The ploy wouldn’t work for long, but it did buy Holden the time needed to develop a home-grown luxury sedan that would be called Statesman.

At the launch in 1971, GM-H worked hard to distance its newcomer from the mainstream HQ range. The car carried no ‘Holden’ badging whatsoever – although there were GM-H emblems everywhere – and publicity material referred to the new ‘GM Statesman.’ Cars