Holden HQ Kingswood 202

Introduction

If you were a child of the 1970s, chances are you spent plenty of time in the back seat of a Holden, Ford or Valiant. Of those three, the best seller was the fabulous HQ which launched in 1971. And, of the HQ model lineup, the most common variant purchased was the second tier “Kingswood” fitted with the 202 engine. Of course the Kingswood name came into being 3 models earlier, with the introduction of the HK Holden. The model lineup of “Basic” Belmont, Kingswood, Premier and Brougham had replaced the previous “Standard” and “Specials”. The Belmont was very much the domain of the fleet buyer – wheels, seats and steering wheel being the only consideration.

The Kingswood upped the luxury a little, both inside and cosmetically on the outside, such that you did not look like you were driving the poverty pack. Engine choices were plentiful too, and are detailed extensively in our HQ Specifications page. The base engine on offer was the 173 – but most owners stumped up the extra $60 to option the venerable 202 – a small investment for much better power. The disc-brakes, standard on the Premier, were a $60 option on the Kingswood – but dealer records show that the bigger engine could extract the extra coin from the Aussie buyer, but the disc brakes struggled to find the same desirability – which is a shame really, as the HQ was a much better car when so equipped.

The sales figures for 1970 show just how popular the Kingswood had become. During that year Australians purchased some 411,132 new cars – and of those, over a quarter, or 139,225 to be exact, were Holden. From that figure of 139,225 cars, some 109,294 were full-sized Holden’s – buyers back then preferring a larger car over the likes of the Torana – which sold approximately 55,000, or around half as many as the larger Holden’s. And from those larger Holden’s, it was the Kingswood that sold the best.

In the first year of the HQ going on sale, about three-quarters of buyers selected the 202 engine and most of the rest were happy with the standard 173 CID engine. A few went for the bigger V8s. At the time the General wasn't keen to talk about the sales figures for their products, but our research indicates that the majority of people stuck with the manual transmission – three-on-the-tree. But the Auto was not that far behind, with between 38 and 40 percent of the buyers opting for the Tri-matic.

There are so many things to like about the HQ, back then as there is today. The looks for one, identifying the quintessential big Aussie sedan. And at the time, it could be argued that, for the first time in Australia, a locally built car offered European standards of motoring in a regular consumer product. Certainly, the HQ Kingswood had all the handling ability any motorist would have expected back then, and the bonus was a price the average family man could afford.

Advanced Ride and Handling

Apart from the obvious new design features which included the smooth body shape, completely reworked interior and major new safety features, the car's strongpoint was its advanced ride and handling, You could enter corners fast and stay all the way with near-neutral handling. No dramas. And this was achieved without involving the passengers - there was little road shock, noise or vibration transmitted to the cockpit.

This great attribute was a rare achievement in an under-$4000 car of the early 1970s and nearly unknown in the mass produced family car field. All the credit had to go to the GMH handling team or engineers and the new suspension they devised. The HQ was fitted with coil springs all round, meaning that the possibilities from the engineering standpoint were increased a lot from the previous system. The trailing arm rear suspension replaced the leaf springs such that axle tramp was eliminated, along with and any signs of rear-end steer, both faults with previous model Holden’s.

Suspension engineers aimed to cut the NVH factor to a minimum. Quite simply this means noise, vibration and harshness. The then new system effectively cut this factor. Instead of the road irregularities being absorbed by the old leaf springs which were mounted in two places on the body, they were absorbed by the coil springs. Because coils are more compact they can be mounted behind the passenger compartment and isolated from it - helping cut the NVH factor.

Despite thorough engineering, the suspension men apparently selected a shock absorber that proved inadequate for some conditions. Dealers reported that early production run models suffered shock absorber damage when reacting to harsh bumps. Apparently the shock absorbers were over-extending and stripping the nut from the mounting thread. Cars which were discovered with this fault had the component replaced immediately.

At the front end, the HQ Holden had a partial frame with hip-type side bars. The body was mounted onto this frame with rubber mounts to reduce the noise levels and to cut the vibration being passed to the passenger compartment. This front frame acted like the old chassis and enabled the front suspension cross-member to be fixed to it instead of the old rubber mounting on the sub-frame. This new system eliminated the play in the member and increased the steering accuracy. Add to this the steering box mounted in front of the suspension cross-member, for greater stability and ride comfort, and the improved geometry produces better handling and more positive control. In one big swoop GMH had radically improved the ride, handling and stability of the range. But the most noticeable difference was certainly in the family Kingswood. It was now a very good car from these aspects.

A shame then that Holden didn’t fit the Kingswood with disc brakes as standard. Drum brake fitted cars would, when undertaking a panic stop, often lock one, two or three wheels with ease, causing the car to slew badly across the road. Disc brake fitted cars all but eliminated the problem. Worse still, the drum brakes were prone to serious fade after a number of stops, meaning you had to be kind to the brakes and always do your best to avoid cooking them. If any driver was a little heavy footed, or the HQ was going to do any towing, it would have been essential to fit the discs. Pedal pressures were quite light — they gave a heavy "feel" even for town use, and this sensation may have been caused by the bad leg angle when operating the brake.

In 1971 the cost of a basic HQ Kingswood was $2920. The optional 202 CID engine added $60 to the asking price. Reclining bucket seats added another $80, the seat separator $15, white walls and a push-button radio $110.

Why Option The 202?

With nearly a ton and a half total weight the standard 173 motor was a bit hard pressed to give much performance so the extra 29 cubic inches, 16 bhp and 17 lb.ft of torque offered by the 202 were really needed. Even with the bigger engine, the performance was hardly shattering. Although on a test bench the fuel consumption figures of the two engines differed, with the smaller engine coming off better, in the real world road figures ended up being about the same. Many people found the smaller-engined version of the same car used the same amount of fuel because it was driven harder to get the performance. This was well-proved in Taxi use.

We may look back on the bench seat with some fond memories, particularly at the drive-in, however the truth was that the bench seat of the Holden was not comfortable and the bucket seats were better – but not as good as you would have thought. To get a comfortable arm's length from the steering wheel, leg reach was too short. In the middle of the front seats was a long, narrow bin with a padded top - this was the $15 separator. It was useful for keeping cigarettes and other odd bits but enabled loose items to jam between it and the seat side. At the back of the bin was the seat belt holder which was quite accessible even for very short drivers.

The $22 white walls and $110 radio were a matter of personal choice, although we assume those that did not option the radio went for an after market job once the car had left the showroom. The tyres were personal taste and the radio a semi-luxury item. The radio was the normal push-button factory fitted model. The boot had a ton of capacity, but a big piece of the boot space was taken up by the spare tyre. GMH in deciding on the low profile body eliminated any possibility of the tyre being tucked away down in the wheel arch, so it sat near the centre of the boot taking a lot of space. However, it could be laid flat on the floor for big luggage loads.

GMH had put a lot of thought into the HQ interiors. The entire dashboard was lit by rheostat-controlled lighting. The heating and ventilation was good, and the controls were lit at night by the four dash lights. Through-flow was inadequate for Aussie summer conditions – some wise owners would option air-conditioning, or have an aftermarket unit fitted under the dash. Some controls didn't match the general high engineering standard of the car. The dipswitch was still on the floor and there was no headlight flasher. But there were some good points, like the indicator stalk which had four positions - extreme movement for the normal turn-indicators, slight pressure for lane change signals.

Choke and vent controls were under the top of the instrument shroud and were easy to operate as well as being safely out of the way in case of an accident. The driver wasn't drowned with information from the dashboard because there were only two gauges - fuel and speed - and four idiot lights. Oddly there were two calibration marks on the bottom of the fuel gauge instrument face. Even with the optional extra GTS instrument pack the gauge was changed so these marks were only for show although they did balance the face.

According to the handbook, the Kingswood was fitted with two twin-jet electric windscreen washers. Fuel economy was reasonable on the 202 Kingswood returning nearly 20 mpg under mixed driving conditions. This figure could be drastically reduced by lead-foot techniques and this was especially noticeable in the city, where some owners reported a 16 mpg average. The obvious moral with the HQ was to drive it quietly for the best performance and economy. Driven this way, the car had a sense of grace which was usually associated with the luxury cars. This was caused by the suspension and the smooth low-revving engine. Its good looks and style added to the picture. A genuine Aussie classic.