1978 Holden HZ Ute – Today’s Tempter

By: Alexander Affat

Date: 14.01.2019

Arguably Holden's highest watermark from the pre-Commodore era

1978 Holden HZ Ute – Today’s Tempter

Holden’s HZ was the finale for Holden’s traditional full-size sedans.

It was arguably the highpoint for the era, with the driving experience transformed by three magical letters: "RTS", or ‘Radial Tuned Suspension’.

Gone were the days of white-knuckled understeer, with the newly tamed suspension yielding far more precise and predictable dynamics.

The HZ range saw the Belmont name dropped, with a more luxury-oriented Kingswood SL introduced. Statesmans, Sandmans, Premiers, as well as utilities and of course the Monaro GTS Sedan rounded out the range.

This 1978 HZ Ute for sale here is fitted with Holden’s 253ci V8 with TriMatic gearbox.

It looks like an honest and affordable workhorse with a life well lived, but could be a good base for a resto.

The seller points out that the air conditioning "needs compressor", and the car has been lowered over aftermarket wheels but has a GTS dash and guards fitted.

There’s reportedly minimal rust with plenty invested in mechanicals.

At $12,000 it looks like a solid starter, with the seller stating that the car is ready for the next stage of restoration.

For anyone looking for a solid base for a rolling resto – the car is based in Victoria, and you can check out the full listing here!

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