Holden Brougham

The Holden Brougham was a large, luxuriously-equipped automobile made by General Motors–Holden's Ltd. of Australia between July 1968 and 1971.

It was based on the mainstream Premier of the same years, but with a lengthened rear body. The boot was simply extended by 8 inches rather than increasing the 111 inch wheelbase. Norm Darwin, 100 Years of GM in Australia, 2002, page 246] The Premier's 4-headlight grille was also kept. The model was a hasty response to Ford Australia’s successful Fairlane.

The HK series Brougham was launched in July 1968 with the new Monaro coupes, six months after the HK Series Holden Belmont/Kingswood/Premier models. The Brougham then followed the model cycles of these mainstream Holdens: the HT series was announced in July 1969 and the HG series in August 1970.

Because of its luxury positioning, the Brougham was only available with an automatic transmission, first a two-speed, then a three-speed after the HG's launch.

The only engine available in the original HK Series Brougham was a Chevrolet 307 in³/5.0 L capacity V8. The HT Series was launched with the same unit but this was replaced by a Holden designed 308 in³/5.0 L capacity V8 from September 1969. [Norm Darwin, 100 Years of GM in Australia, 2002, page 250] The 308 was carried over to the HG Series Brougham. [Norm Darwin, The History of Holden Since 1917, 1983, page 170]

Throughout its production life the Ford Fairlane outsold it by a large margin. The Brougham was replaced by the long-wheelbase Statesman models in 1971, on the redesigned HQ platform.

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