The Isuzu Gemini was one of the most popular of GM small cars during the late 70s and early 80s with versions produced is Japan, Australia, Brazil, and the UK to name a few. While most of these models started life as a carbon copy of each other some did get a unique from end treatment to suit their own market. As the South Korean Daewoo version progressed along its lifespan it obtained a Opel Rekord or Holden Commodore looking frontend with a dashboard that looks remarkably similar to the Holden Camira dash (that was proberbly derived from another GM J car). The Daewoo Maepsy in the commercial above is dated around 1985, it was about then Gemini’s in the rest of the world moved to an all new front wheel drive platform.Â
The ad above is for the 1982 Statesman by Holden, its interesting to note that the Statesman brand was a luxury marque created by Holden but most Aussies still just refered to it as a Holden Statesman even though Holden went out of their way to drop the Holden name from marketing material. We like the WB as it shows how a company (who had very little money at the time) could take an outdated model and do some clever design changes to make it into an all new model. one example is the huge rubber strip down the side that is almost hollow in some parts in order to hide the huge bulge above the guards left over from the 1970’s Kingswood. Â
The Paykan is a car built by the Iranian company Iran Khodro, based on the 1966 Hillman Hunter, the Pakyan came about after the Iranian government set up the nationally owned car factory to produce cheap cars for the Iranian people.
A deal was struck with the British Rootes group, who owned Hillman, to send CKD kits of the Hunter to Iran for local assembly. In 1978 Chrysler who now owned Hillman was in financial difficulties and sold out their European operations to Peugeot. In 1979 Peugeot Shut down the Hunter production lines and sold the tooling for the bodies along with the rights to the design to Iran Khodro allowing the car to be fully built locally in Iran.
With the engine getting outdated, Peugeot agreed to export their 504 engine for use in the Paykan, from the early 90s the 504 engines were being made in Iran bring the total of locally made parts up to around 98%.
The Paykan is still being sold as a ute in Iran with the sedan version phased out early in 2005 after 38 years, very little changed with the Paykan over the years, despite this it is the most popular car in Iran with 40% of the population owning one perhaps due to its $7700AU price tag.
Tha Paykan has been replaced by an all new Rover designed car called the Samand that features some Peugeot 405 mechanicals. They also produce the Peugeot 405 locally in both front and rear wheel drive as well as a model with an updated 406 style front and rear. Iran Khodro is signing up export deals and setting up factorys in China, Africa and former Soviet states with plans to sell 1 million cars a year by 2011.
Plenty of car companies have been known to buy back some of their historic models in order to preserve their history and display them in their museums. When Toyota tried to find their first car (the Toyota AA) they found there was none left possibly due to Japans love of crushing outdated cars for the latest model and the fact that only 1400 were build from 1936 till 1943. The next plan was to create a replica of the car but as a full set of plans were not available the replica was built from what plans could be found from over the models lifetime. Today the replica that was built for Toyotas 50th anniversary sits in Toyota’s automobile museum in Nagoya Japan. While the car may not be exactly like the one you could buy in the late 30’s to early 40’s it is pretty darn close to what the real thing would have looked like if there was still one around.
In 1948 Oldsmobile launched this classic series of commericals highlighting how simple it was to drive their new automatic car. How simple was it? Well it was that simple even a woman could drive. They don’t say this exactly but we all know what they were thinking. Take a look and enjoy a classic bit car advertising from a bygone era.Â
The Deutsches Technikmuseum or Museum of Technology a enjoyable and educational journey with some amazing examples of German technology on show. Built in the former goods yard of Anhalter Guterbahnholf a railway yard the museum has huge pavilions of planes, trains, cars, boats a planetarium and even a brewery. The museum also features some interesting production areas where you can see actual craftsman make suitcases, rolled jewelry and printing. The museum is set over four sites all within a few minutes walk and only about 10 minutes walk from Potsdamer Plaz. The vintage car depot is a must for any car buffs, here you will see a collection of over 100 historic German cars, some very rare while others familiar. The railway yard has dozens of beautiful examples of railway stock all magnificently restored to their former glory while the aviation and space flight atrium has some very interesting military and civilian aircraft.
Situated in the beautiful wine country of South Australia lies the National Motor Museum at Birdswood. This incredible collection of vehicles traces the importance of transportation in Australia over the last 100 years. Opening in 1965 the centre is not only a museum but a research centre, a place of preservation and an important education tool for the young. The new Holden Pavilion of Australian Motoring offers 3700 square metres of some of Australia’s most important motoring icons including a 45 metre long road train and some very impressive fire engines and commercial vehicles. The centre has traveling exhibitions and some of very interesting examples of important Australian automotive milestones including the a prototype Mitsubishi Magna, a prototype VN series Holden Monaro and the Torana GTR-X developed for the Sydney Motor Show a few years ago.
Official Website:Â http://www.history.sa.gov.au/motor/about.htm
One of our favorite car ads from the 80s was the Tron inspired marketing campaign for the Holden Camira. The Camira was Australia’s version of GM’s J car program and when first released was a huge success, it even won car of the year. Holden’s marketing line for the Camira was “Supercar” and the early purchasers of the Camira soon found out the only thing that the Camira had in common with a real supercar was poor reliability. The issues that dogged the first model (the JB) affected sales on the whole series, so much so that the New Zealanders refused to take the follow up JD model and imported the Japanese version instead. Some people claim the later models like the JD or JE were fantastic but you still have trouble even giving them away.
As part of our series featuring old car ads we thought we thought a look at a car you may not know but looks all too familiar. The Daewoo Royale was based on the European Opel Rekord that was also produced in England as the Vauxhall Carlton. Australian’s will also note the uncanny resemblance to the Holden Commodore as it too was based on the Rekord design. Many people don’t realize that Daewoo has had a long relationship through a joint venture with General Motors dating back to the early 70’s. In 2001 GM and its partners bought 66% of Daewoo’s assets, today most of Daewoo’s exports are badged engineered as another GM brand like Holden or Chevy. The Royale was produced from 1975 untill 1991 when it was replaced by another Opel derived car the Daewoo Prince. Â
The Zastava 101 is a car built by Serbian car maker Zastava Automobili sometimes better known as Yugo. The 101 was based on the Fiat 128 that first hit the roads in 1969 with the Zastava version going into production in 1971 and also spinning off a hatchback variety not found on its Fiat cousin. While many people pointed out the more popular Fiat 128 was a bit long in the tooth when it was finally retired in 1985 the Zastava 101 is still produced today as the Skala 5 door hatch with a 55-horsepower, 1.1-liter engine on its one trim level. The Skala is available for around 4000 euro’s and is popular in its home country of Serbia and a few other eastern European countries. These cars were once exported across Europe and along with its bigger brother the 45 but the Balkan war put trade sanctions on the company with NATO later blowing up part of their factory.Â
Official Site (not in English but good pics of it anyhow)
