While the museum has a varied collection, the thing that makes it stand out is the focus on Australian motoring history, and in particular, cars made in South Australia.  South Australia was vital to the Australian car industry when it still existed.  And seeing that shows what we have lost.

The best part of the museum for me was seeing the Holden Concept cars.  My favorite was the 1970 Torana GTR-X.  It was essentially Australia’s own competitor to the Datsun 240Z.  I personally think it could have sold really well, but from what I understand risk adverse management in GM killed it off.  It was supposed to be released in 1973, with three cars built.  Two survive, and the one in the museum was the promotional car.   Along the same lines was the 1969 Hurricane.  Unlike the Torana that was seriously considered for production, this was very much a concept.  It already had a reversing camera and an early satnav.  It is very striking, but I preferred the Torana.

There was also a WB Kingswood, a car that was cancelled after the launch of the VB Commodore.  The assumption being there wasn’t room in the lineup for a car between the new Commodore and the WB Statesman.  They were probably right, but Holden did loose sales at the time from people who wanted a larger car.

They also had concepts like a convertible Ute in in the same vein as the Chevrolet SSR, and a convertible Monaro.  I can’t see the Ute having done well, but the Monaro may have.  They also had a concept for a later generation Monaro that was never built, that probably would have done ok.

Along one wall they had a bunch of Holden Milestone cars, e.g. most of the Holdens made to celebrate each million milestone, the last being the 7th Millions in August 2008.  They had the last Holden from 2017, and I later learned that Holden Manufactured 7,687,675 cars.  An impressive achievement in a small country like Australia.

As well as the Holdens, they had a good section about pioneering motoring in Australia, and some early cars manufactured here that were not commercially successful.  Then there was a section of commercial vehicles, plus of course the general section.  Is a serious car museum complete without a Gullwing or a Bugatti?  Clearly the museum curators think not, as they have one of each.

I spent about an hour in there due to there being so much to see outside the museum.  Had I come on any other day I could have spent a lot longer.

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There were about 25-30 cars on display, and apparently there is another 25 or so cars that are part of the collection but do not fit into the museum.   I don’t know if they rotate it or not.   I’ve never owned a Holden, but I’ve always had an interest as they a really important part of Australia’s motoring history.  I would rather have a Commodore than most of the gormless SUVs on sale today.   Sadly the public didn’t agree.

The Museum is located on top of an old World War II bunker.  The Bunker was established to protect communications lines between Sydney and Brisbane.   The actual bunker houses the National Cartoon museum, which is included in a ticket for the Holden Museum.

The collection in the museum is quite varied.   Obviously it starts with an FX holden and then there are a few examples of the 60s models, 70s and quite a few from the latter years of Holden production.   Given the space they have, it is a pretty good coverage.

I don’t think you could make it work in a smaller location like Coffs Harbour, but I think it would be really interesting to have a museum that has an example of all the Holden Models parked side by side.  I went to a Corvette museum like that in the USA and it was really interesting to see them all together.

In any case I think my favourite was the HZ Caprice.   I think its important to support these smaller museums as it is not easy to keep them going.  They are mostly staff by volunteers.

I attended as part of a road trip up to Brisbane.  The plan was to drive up on Sunday, use Monday to take care of everything I needed to do there, and then return Tuesday.   I took my 560SEC on the trip and it went well.  The Holden Museum became my main stop in the middle of the day on the way up.   On the way there I took the M1.   It is the fastest way but its not a very pleasant drive.   On the way back, I took the more inland road via Warwick.  It adds another 45-60 minutes but I think it is well worth it.

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