1972 GM Holden E'wet

[Oracle of Delphi]

I was surfing the web looking for some 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge photos last night. However I ran into this photo of the 1972 GM Holden E'wet, which borrowed the GTO stripes and honeycomb wheeels. I thought some of you would be interested in seeing the E'wet and the Sandman.

Link: http://www.sandmanowners.com/sandmaninfo-decals-evo.htm

Edited April 3, 2008 by Pontiac Custom-S

[Camino LS6]

Interesting, thanks for posting it PCS.

[ocnblu]

Holden and Pontiac seem a good fit. Looks like it's been a loooooooooong relationship. Here's hoping for a continued collaboration for decades to come!

[Blake Noble]

Holden and Pontiac seem a good fit. Looks like it's been a loooooooooong relationship. Here's hoping for a continued collaboration for decades to come!

Agreed.

[Drew Dowdell]

Interesting, thanks for posting it PCS.

You are sooooo getting one of these decals for the ST. Even if I have to sneak into the barn at night to do it.

[Camino LS6]

You are sooooo getting one of these decals for the ST. Even if I have to sneak into the barn at night to do it.

You like to live dangerously, don't you?

[Camino LS6]

You guys know I love Holden, but those stickers need to stay firmly in the past (and off of my ST). :AH-HA_wink:

[Jamie]

The 71 HQ series Holdens were styled using the '70 and '71 GTO as the styling inspiration, with some of the original GTO stylists being directly involved with the HQ design. At the time the HQs had the thinnest A pillars of any production car in the world.

The Sandman series of Utes and Vans had a very strong cult following in Australia in the early 70s.

[cyclonic]

Hell yeah! Go the Sandman baby.

I actually had a father one one girl I was dating telling me point blank to not turn up to his house in one of those....

[Guest aatbloke]

Holden and Pontiac seem a good fit. Looks like it's been a loooooooooong relationship. Here's hoping for a continued collaboration for decades to come!

I think they're a very good fit - it's good to see that they're more individualistic again after thirty years of largely rebadged Opels, Nissans, Daewoos and Toyotas!

Edited April 8, 2008 by aatbloke

[balthazar]

>>"The 71 HQ series Holdens were styled using the '70 and '71 GTO as the styling inspiration..."<<

Yeah, I see it; 4 tires, 4 headlights, 2 doors!

E'Wet looks like it drew a hellva lot more inspiration from a 4-yr old Ford Torino wagon in the rear & next year's Torino up front than a GTO; apparently the Pontiac stylist was only able to contribute the wheels & some interesting period graphics, and nothing else exterior-wise. James- do you believe this factoid is verified (Pontaic designer/s contributing to the '71 Holden HQ) ??

[Camino LS6]

Can someone explain the name E'wet?

I'm not even sure how to pronounce it.

[Guest aatbloke]

Can someone explain the name E'wet?

I'm not even sure how to pronounce it.

Sounds like a Yorkshireman on the Maid of the Mist.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Can someone explain the name E'wet?

I'm not even sure how to pronounce it.

Isn't it pronounced UTE, just as Ewing is pronounced Uwing? But what do I know, English is not my 1st language. :AH-HA_wink:

[Camino LS6]

Isn't it pronounced UTE, just as Ewing is pronounced Uwing? But what do I know, English is not my 1st language. :AH-HA_wink:

As Australian isn't mine. :AH-HA_wink:

But I am learning.

[Jamie]

Can someone explain the name E'wet?

I'm not even sure how to pronounce it.

It's simply pronounced Ute.

Ewe (as in female sheep) pronounced "U" plus a "T"

[Jamie]

>>"The 71 HQ series Holdens were styled using the '70 and '71 GTO as the styling inspiration..."<<

Yeah, I see it; 4 tires, 4 headlights, 2 doors!

E'Wet looks like it drew a hellva lot more inspiration from a 4-yr old Ford Torino wagon in the rear & next year's Torino up front than a GTO; apparently the Pontiac stylist was only able to contribute the wheels & some interesting period graphics, and nothing else exterior-wise. James- do you believe this factoid is verified (Pontaic designer/s contributing to the '71 Holden HQ) ??

It is a fact. The designer that brought the GTO cues was John Schinella who at the time was on loan to Holden. Some of the 70/71 GTO cues that he brought to the HQ models were the the pronounced 'tumblehome', the horizontal bulges above the wheel arches, the headlight surrounds on the quad headlight models, and the styling of the rear deck with the tail lights inserted into the bumper. The cues are hard to see on the Van and Ute, but have a look at the Monaro and 4 door models and you'll see them.

The first HQ update was supposed to add an even more Pontiac like soft nose piece, but market research (AKA focus groups) indicated that the HQ design was too far ahead of the competition and before the HQ styling had a chance to gain public acceptance, a decision was made to abandon further Pontiac styling cues and graft an upright Chevelle styled nose onto the HQ body for the replacement.

John Schinella was also involved with the Oldsmobile Toronado styling cues at the rear of the first generation (HK/HT/HG) Monaro.

[Camino LS6]

It's simply pronounced Ute.

Ewe (as in female sheep) pronounced "U" plus a "T"

Thanks James.

Painfully odd spelling.

[Robert Hall]

It is a fact. The designer that brought the GTO cues was John Schinella who at the time was on loan to Holden. Some of the 70/71 GTO cues that he brought to the HQ models were the the pronounced 'tumblehome', the horizontal bulges above the wheel arches, the headlight surrounds on the quad headlight models, and the styling of the rear deck with the tail lights inserted into the bumper. The cues are hard to see on the Van and Ute, but have a look at the Monaro and 4 door models and you'll see them.

The first HQ update was supposed to add an even more Pontiac like soft nose piece, but market research (AKA focus groups) indicated that the HQ design was too far ahead of the competition and before the HQ styling had a chance to gain public acceptance, a decision was made to abandon further Pontiac styling cues and graft an upright Chevelle styled nose onto the HQ body for the replacement.

John Schinella was also involved with the Oldsmobile Toronado styling cues at the rear of the first generation (HK/HT/HG) Monaro.

Fascinating...I always wondered if the HQs had any relationship to the early '70s GTOs and LeManses... I have this big 'pictorial history of cars' book from the late '70s, and I remember as a kid seeing a color pic in it of an HQ Monaro and thinking it had styling cues similar to the early '70s mid size Pontiacs. For those who know Monaros of that era, what size were they relative to an NA A-body? Did they share any dirty bits with NA platforms?

Those 'Super Chicken' and Sandman decals are 'groovy', to use the slang of that era..

[Jamie]

Fascinating...I always wondered if the HQs had any relationship to the early '70s GTOs and LeManses... I have this big 'pictorial history of cars' book from the late '70s, and I remember as a kid seeing a color pic in it of an HQ Monaro and thinking it had styling cues similar to the early '70s mid size Pontiacs. For those who know Monaros of that era, what size were they relative to an NA A-body? Did they share any dirty bits with NA platforms?

Those 'Super Chicken' and Sandman decals are 'groovy', to use the slang of that era..

There's a long history of Holden using design cues from GMNA vehicles.

The original 48/215 (aka FX) Holden from 1948 was designed in the US and both it and its replacement FJ model had strong Buick styling cues, and used a 2.2 litre six cylinder engine that was developed for an abandoned post-war Chevrolet compact car project (Earle MacPherson's revolutionary Chevrolet Cadet).

The "all new" (except for the engine) FE and FC models from the mid to late 50s were essentially a 7/8 scale '55 Chevrolet, and the follow up FB and EK models from the early 60s were the earlier FE/FC models re-engineered to resemble a 7/8 scale '57 Chevrolet.

The mid-60s EJ and EH models had some Chevrolet styling cues but were locally designed, with the EH model receiving a new engine that was very close to a scaled down Chevrolet inline 6 of the era.

The US design studio hated the EH design, and was a bit wary of the Australian stylists, and when they saw the clays for the proposed EF replacement model, they called a halt to the model and sent US stylists (mostly from Oldsmobile) to Australia to take over the Australian design section and the HD model (nicknamed "Hastily Designed") was the end result of the GMNA stylists work. The HD is probably the most unloved Holden model.

The US stylists ran the new Holden's Technical Developement Centre, that was established in 1964. It's worth reading this page and some of the following pages on the Monaro development to get a feel for the work of the US stylists and the GMNA styling cues that they incorporated into to the Holdens of the era.