Holden Retirees Club

ERRATA FOR ‘THE FINAL CHAPTER’ (First Printing)

By Terry Bebbington.

 It is almost inevitable in a book as large as The Final Chapter that some minor errors will creep in, regardless of the efforts made to avoid them.

Terry Bebbington is a well-known and respected authority on Holden specifications, and author of a number of books including 45 Years of Holden, 50 Years of Holden, 60 Years of Holden, and now working on 72 years of Holden which will be a complete encyclopaedia of all Holden models.

Terry has kindly provided a list of those errors he has noted in the first print run of The Final Chapter.

They have all been corrected in the second print run.

A copy of this list may be downloaded here.

Volume 1

- Page 39. Peter Brock won the Bathurst race four times in a Torana (not three times). The 1975 win has not been included.

- P59. Para 2. It should read … and featured “hydraulic” valve lifters (an Australian first) – The word hydraulic is missing. Also there is nothing “massive” about the red motor’s crankshaft.

- P60. Para 4. S4 models did not get a fire extinguisher or lap seatbelt as part of its standard equipment. These were fitted to race cars as part of the safety gear required for entry to Bathurst etc.

- P64. Para 7. The LSD was announced at the HR release (April 1966) and actually became available 1 month later. The Opel 4-sp was released over a year later (April 1967) around the same time as the 186S. The LSD could be ordered on any HR whether it had a 4-speed gearbox or not.

- P67. Bad pic of an HT. Wrong wheel trims and badly repainted around grille and front guard area.

- P68. Para 3. “200,042 Kingswood sales in 1973 alone”!! Figure should be for all HQ, including Belmont, Premier, Monaro, Statesman and One-Tonners.

Also George Roberts was not the MD, he was Director of Engineering.

- P72. Para 2.  Both the Statesman Custom and the Statesman Deville were sold in Australia from HQ release (July 1971). The export model mentioned (with leather, buckets etc.) was badged a Chevrolet.

- P72. Para 3. The TH350 Auto Transmission wasn’t fitted to any Australian Holden until 1979. It was fitted earlier to some HJ export models for South Africa however.

- P72. Para 5. Cruise control was fitted to WB Caprice from Day 1 (April 1981), you didn’t have to wait until WB Series II.

- P73. The top pic is an HJ Statesman Deville (not simply Statesman). The pic on the lower right is a WB Statesman Deville Series I (not Series II).

- P75 Para 5 and 7. The Gen 3 and Gen 4 (LS1, LS2 and LS3 etc) are NOT Chevrolet engines but were made for several divisions including Cadillac, GMC, Pontiac, Holden and Chevrolet by GM Powertrain.

- P75. Para 7. The chronology of WM/WN Statesman, Caprice and Caprice-V is incorrect.

- P80. Para 1. The XU1’s front brakes were not GTS350 items “machined down to fit inside the 13-inch rims”. They were regular GTR rotors made 1/8-inch thicker. The stud pattern and several other things differentiate the smaller rotor from those from the GTS 350.

- P80. Para 5. The Torana TA model came a month after the LH. They were both announced in a GMH press release dated 4-March-74, with the LH available almost immediately, however the TA wasn’t on sale until May-74.

- P81. Para 1. An omission. Radial Tuned Suspension was first added to the LX range in November 1975 (on the Sunbird 4-cyl) and then on the L6 and V8 models in early 1977.

- P86. Para 4. The VC grille was not larger than the VB, they are both the same size and are interchangeable.

- P88. Para 5. The 4.9 litre V8 was introduced during the VK (Feb 1985)

- P89. Para 2. The VL Calais did not get an automatic ‘lights out’ feature. This did not appear until the VP-VS era incorporated in the body control module.

- P90. Para 3. The Holden EFI V8 was a 304 (not 308) but actually named the 5.0. Again the LS1 is a GM Powertrain engine.

- P91. Para 2 and 3. VT/VX/VY chronology is incorrect.

- P92. Para 7. The 175 kW V6 had the 4L60 4-sp automatic, the 5-sp auto was only fitted behind the 190 kW engine. Again the Gen4 V8 is not a Chev engine but a GM Powertrain engine.

Also the L76 and the LS2 versions of the 6.0 are different. HSV cars got the LS2 engines, while the L76 was fitted to MY06 regular Holdens.

- P96. Para 2. The base model Monaro trim level was the equivalent to Kingswood (not Belmont). The GTS was virtually a Premier equivalent (not Kingswood).

- P100, Top pic is an HZ GTS, they were NOT a Monaro.

- P268. Para 1. He says “For almost 60 years Holden cars reigned…” It’s actually almost 70 years.

- P268. Para 5. The HQ Holden DID NOT have “four-wheel independent suspension”. It had 4-coil suspension on sedans and wagons only.

- P268. Para 8. The 5.7-litre V8 was a GM Powertrain engine.

- P268. Para 9. The Pontiac was a GTO (not an SS). The NASCAR was a VF Chevrolet SS. The VE did NOT “continue the VY and VZ series”.

- P268. Para 10. The “very last” VF II was built in 2017 (not 2016). Also “60 years” comment should be 70 years.

- P286. Para 1. The 21.6 hp was an RAC rating system based purely on the bore size of the engine, it had nothing to do with “Rear Wheel HP”.

- P288. Para 4. The EH S4 179 engine itself was not “modified” in any way, although it was fitted with a larger clutch.

- P299 Para 6. The 186-S was standard equipment for all HK/HT/HG Monaro GTS models. It was quite a rare option on “entry-level Monaro”.

- P290. Para 3. Should include the UC Torana in the list of cars with 173 and 202 Red motors.

- P292. Para 2. The LC 186 XU1 engine developed 160 bhp, not 180 bhp.

- P300. Para 1. The LH and the return to V8 engines was in 1974 not 1973.

- P302. Para 4. BT1 is the ‘Police Pack’ option number. It has nothing to do with the turbo 3.0 engine. The turbo engine’s option number is LW5.

- P304. Para 4. By the 90s the 5.0 litre V8 engine was 304 cubic inches, not 308.

- P305 Para 7. The Spark Ignition Direct Injection (SIDI) engines did not appear until mid VE in 2009/10, not in VZ. The VZ (and early VE) used Alloytec V6 engines. The VZ also used the 4L60E 4-sp auto in most models.

- P307. Para 6. The Gen 3 V8 is a GM Powertrain engine and is 5.7 litres not 5.6.

- P308. Para 1. The VTII GTS (300 kW) was $95,400 RRP (not just over $100,000) and 117 were built (not 100).

- P310. Para 2. The 3.0 SIDI was sold from MY10 (VE I) and all VE II series, not just the VF.

- P310. Para 3. The 3.6 SIDI engine always had 210 kW (late VE I, VE II and all VF) not just the VF II upgrade.

- P310. Para 4. The Gen III V8 was a GM Powertrain engine.

- P310. Para 5. The 6.0 Gen 4 V8 was the L76 (not L77). Power outputs for Euro III did NOT “reduce slightly across the range”. Only the low spec 3.6 lost power (175 kW down to 172 kW).

Volume 2.

- P133. Para 5. Technically, Peter Brock won the Bathurst 1000 eight times, not nine). He won the Bathurst 500 once (1972).