Holden
From Calibra Wiki - Vauxhall, Opel and Holden Information and Technical Resource
James Alexander Holden immigrated to South Australia from England in 1852 and in 1856 established J.A Holden & Co, a saddlery business in Adelaide. In 1905, Edward Wheewall Holden, James' son, entered the firm and was interested in automobiles. The firm evolved through various partnerships and in 1908, as Holden and Frost, moved into the business of minor repairs to car upholstery and manufacturing hoods and side curtains. In 1913 the firm began to produce complete motorcycle sidecar bodies, and Edward Holden experimented with fitting bodies on different types of carriages. From 1917, wartime trade restrictions led to Holden & Frost commencing large scale production of car bodies. H.J Holden incorporated a new company in 1919, Holden's Motor Body Builders Ltd (HMBB). Holden's Motor Body Builders Ltd made bodies to suit a number of chassis imported from different manufacturers, but particularly Chevrolet. They also built Buicks. In 1931 General Motors purchased the business and formed General Motors–Holden's Ltd. In 1998, it was renamed Holden Ltd and in May 2005, it became known as GM Holden Ltd.
Between 1968 and 1976, GMH sold a two-door variant of their full-size Holden sedan as the Monaro, a car popular with the general public and in the hearts of many - although it did not quite set the sales charts alight. A revived Monaro, based on the previous model Commodore, has attracted wide attention since being shown as a concept car at Australian motor shows, and a large waiting list after it was put into production. The revived Monaro was released in the Australian market in October 2001 and starting with the 2004 model year, the Monaro has been exported to the United States, rebadged as the Pontiac GTO, and the Middle East as the Chevrolet Lumina Coupe. It is sold in limited numbers in the UK as the Vauxhall Monaro.
Holden Special Vehicles (HSV), formed in 1987 in partnership with Tom Walkinshaw, is a company that manufactures extensively modified, high-performance Commodore variants (including the Monaro and the Statesman). Holdens have been a staple of domestic touring car racing since the 1960s, and the quasi-factory Holden Racing Team (HRT) has successfully participated in V8 Supercar racing. To further reinforce the brand, HSV introduced the 'HSV Dealer Team' into the V8 Supercar fold in 2005, under the naming rights of HSV Toll Racing.
