1971 Holden HQ Kingswood - Reader Ride

By: Janine Farley & Family with Guy Allen, Photography by: Guy Allen

Date: 28.03.2021

This old HQ has been in the family since the seventies and has done pretty much everything

The car was originally a 202 six and was bought new in 1971 by a friend of the family, and it then went to Dad’s brother in 1973. He passed away in 1976, which is when Robert bought it.

This was the family car, so it was used all the time. He would drive it to work in the Hunter Valley each day, and then we’d often all pile into the car and go to the beach. There were four kids in the family, plus Mum and Dad. Seatbelts weren’t required back in the day, so you could have four kids in the back.

GTS mags and vinyl roof - rare

He was a sherrif’s officer and he used it for work. They got a car allowance – no company cars back then – and it was used that way through to the early eighties. He drove it very slow to save on fuel, which kind of preserved the car, and it paid for itself at the time.

It was going to be traded around 1978 for a local HZ with a V8, but it never went through.

Venetians were a big seller when these where new

He used to fish oil the Holden (against rust) every Winter. It always had a distinctive fish oil and vinyl smell to it.

Dad did eventually get a company car, so the Kingswood spent more time in the shed – though it was pulled out for trips. He ended up driving it all the way through to 1994-95, when he parked it in the shed because it was not worth registering again. It had 220,000 miles on it.

It was a six, now an eight

In the nineties HQs were worth nothing, so it wasn’t necessarily an object of pride to be seen in. But it was always a nice car, with the GTS dash, wheels and bucket seats.

There was a bit of rust in the heater box, so we decided to fix it up. And we’d bought a ski boat, so we wanted a V8 to tow it. Scott bought a spare car – an HQ premier for $1200 with 12 months rego – which we took the 308 V8 engine out of. We ended up rebuilding the HQ from end to end, with the V8 and power steering.

Surprise...it's got a GTS dash

She’s a city girl now, living in storage in Melbourne and getting out for the occasional weekend drive.

Our thanks to the Farley family: Helen (Mother), Scott (brother) and Janine.

From Unique Cars #449, February 2021

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