Holden HR Premier Reader Ride

By: Graham Cowley

Date: 27.12.2016

Graham Cowley's HR Premier is more than meets the eye

Graham Cowley's HR Premier

I bought this car as a rolling shell in 1981, I then started the restoration, did the engine swap and all the other modifications and by 1983 it was finished and on the road. The modification list to this car is very extensive, but I tried to keep it looking reasonably stock. Other than the paint, all the work to the car has been done by myself and most of the parts I custom made.

The rear of the car is made of two wagon quarter panels, and a wagon tailgate all joined together. As a result the car is quite a bit narrower than is should be, and three inches longer. It’s making about 290HP at the moment, which isn’t a lot, but it’s only got a small-inch motor, I’ve got a 6.6-litre for it which I’ve been reluctant to put in, but now I’m pretty committed to twin-turboing it and installing it. That’ll be a big chunk of metal to fit, but I’ve got the room in the engine bay seeing as it has no inner guards.

The only real off-the-shelf parts are the doors. The windows in the b-pillar I made myself out of spare parts, if you have a close look most parts of the car have been changed in some way. It’s a good car to drive; it’s surprisingly forgiving considering it’ll easily do a 13-second quarter with wheelspin. The car has a 38 per cent overdrive so at 100km/h you’re looking at about 1450rpm, so it cruises on the highway nicely.

Valuation: Good original examples range into the $30k zone.

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