Holden's first concept car, the Hurricane, has been bvrought back to life by a team of Holden engineers and designers.
The Hurricane is a mid-engine, rear-drive sports car featuring a digital instrument display, station-seeking radio (Hooray, no more fussing with dials!), automatic climate control, rear-view camera and an automatic route finder. The route finder was called "pathfinder" and it relied on a system of magnets embedded at intersections in the roadway to guide the driver. It all seems like basic stuff now (except for the magnets) but in 1969, this was pretty radical. Powering the Hurricane was an experimental 4.2-liter V8 cranking out 262 horsepower. Oh, and then there's that crazy hydraulic canopy instead of doors and the seats that rise up to let you in and fall back once you're seated.
Code named RD 001, the restoration project began in 2006. "The entire team has done a fantastic job in bringing this beautiful concept back to life. The Hurricane plays a crucial role in Holden's story and the company has such a great sense or history and heritage that it was very important to bring RD 001 back to life. It's been a challenging but incredibly rewarding process," said Paul Clark, manager for Creative Hard Modeling at Holden.
Check it out at the Motorclassica car show at the Melbourne Royal Exhibition on October 21 -23. But if you're not in Australia, the pics and video after the jump will have to do.
mazdamike17 says:
09:50 AM, 10/19/11
This thing looks pretty awesome, cant believe a concept that awesome appeared in 1969.
evodad says:
09:56 AM, 10/19/11
pretty cool, thanks IL for sharing something that I would have never knew existed.
stylepergallon says:
11:02 AM, 10/19/11
Great post. This car looks so awesome with the canopy raised.
sniperruff says:
11:54 AM, 10/19/11
More V8 soundtrack, less adult movie music please!
csubowtie says:
11:58 AM, 10/19/11
That's a pretty sweet car. I dream of a return to the "Autorama" days. It was cool when the OE's where really pushing the boundaries of well everything. Turbine powered cars, canopies, mid engined this, nuclear powered that. If someone could dream it, they would explore it, and best of all, take it around the country and show it off to people in the flesh.
stovt001 says:
12:56 PM, 10/19/11
you're right, it seems like we don't dream as much anymore. Everything seems more geared towards "what will sell right now" rather than idealizing the future. Obviously that's a business decision to maximize sales and profits, but what was different in the 50s and 60s? Look at Tomorrowland at Disneyland back then compared to today. It was a display of science advances that would make tomorrow awesome. Now it is filled with movie franchise-based attractions. Are we more cynical about the future?
litewerk says:
11:08 PM, 10/19/11
@csubowtie
I greatly miss the Autorama days, too. Never knew about the Holden Hurricane before, but I sure do like the looks of it.
Although a bit different, it somewhat puts me in mind of the Dodge Charger III concept car/show car of 1968. It was also a low, 2-seater with a lift-up canopy in place of doors. And, a 426 Hemi engine.