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Nov 30, 2023

Holdens in Japan? Rare Aussie experiments emerge at auction

Being a General Motors sub-brand, it is no surprise that Holden’s product line-up was always rife with rebadging, whether it was the ‘Isuzu Bighorn’ Jackaroo, the ‘Toyota Camry’ Apollo, or the swathes

Being a General Motors sub-brand, it is no surprise that Holden’s product line-up was always rife with rebadging, whether it was the ‘Isuzu Bighorn’ Jackaroo, the ‘Toyota Camry’ Apollo, or the swathes of Daewoos, Chevrolets, and Opels that appeared Down Under.

But, it wasn’t a one-way street. Some of Holden’s Australian-developed products were sold by other brands, too. The Toyota Lexcen, for instance, was a thinly veiled Commodore. The final Australian-engineered Commodore appeared in the US as a Chevrolet SS.

Perhaps the most intriguing Holden rebadging project, though, was one that took place in the 1970s. And two sought after survivors were auctioned off in Japan earlier this month.

Almost five decades ago, General Motors took a keen interest in Mazda’s rotary engine technology, and Mazda was in need of a large, premium rival for the likes of the Toyota Century. The Holden Kingswood-based Roadpacer AP was the result.

The Roadpacer is different from its Kingswood and Premier cousins in several ways. Of course, it gets Mazda badges throughout and traditional Japanese fender mirrors. The biggest difference, though, was under the bonnet.

The ‘AP’ in the Roadpacer’s name stood for Anti Pollution. Instead of being powered by a GM Holden straight six or V8, the Roadpacer was shod with a 1.3-litre 13B rotary engine. A unique pairing that ultimately proved to be a market failure.

Considering the current day shift to smaller engines, the thinking was arguably ahead of its time. Mazda’s tiny 13B made similar power to the Premier’s standard straight six. Unfortunately, it also made half the torque (138Nm versus 260Nm).

Not only was the Roadpacer an uncompetitive slug in a straight line, it was also very thirsty for petrol – undermining that ‘Anti Pollution’ moniker somewhat. The Roadpacer was also enormously expensive, priced from 3.8 million yen in period, or about twice the price of an equivalent HJ Premier in Australia at the time.

The Roadpacer project survived just two years, with Mazda reportedly selling a mere 800 examples. A large portion of these, it is claimed, were sold to government officials – supposedly meeting the crusher when they were no longer required. That only makes surviving examples even more rare today.

Enter the two reasonably straight Roadpacers that went up for auction earlier this month, one purple and one red. Australian grey import company Nippon2U shared photos and auction results of two examples that went under the hammer on July 14.

Both cars appear to be in good condition for their age, but have some obvious defects. The purple one in particular features a rough interior desperately in need of a restoration, and both models don’t run. Both were listed as ‘ungraded’, meaning they both likely need plenty of TLC.

Nevertheless, both cars sold for a decent chunk of change. The rougher purple Roadpacer sold for ¥2,000,000 ($22,800), and the red Roadpacer ¥2,565,000 ($29,300). Not too bad a price, when you consider that a sound equivalent Kingswood or Premier is worth between $40,000 and $60,000 today.