I would like to share with you to my progress of working on my late father's HZ Kingswood SL wagon which is now repaired and painted, although still awaiting final polishing which will occur over the weekend.
Firstly to paint the picture, my father was a Maintenance Plumber at the Holden's Woodville Plant from 1969 until 1985 when when the company offered workers the option of moving to the Elizabeth plant, or the option of a generous "package". For those of you who were either not born or too young to know, the company was forced to restructure during the mid 80's due to massive losses which almost spelt the end of Holden as we know it. At one stage the company "almost" had a plant in every mainland state in the country which proved unprofitable in the end.
Dad accepted a package in 1985 and effectively retired at 55 years of age, after this time he mainly worked performing odd jobs around the place as he could earn decent money and not have to work full-time.
Prior to retirement in 1985 dad had always wanted to purchase a decent car as he has mostly owned older cars since immigrating to Australia in 1963, like an old 40's Vanguard, although in 1969 he did buy a 1967 "XR" Falcon wagon which was only a couple of years old and he kept this car until 1978 when it was "written off" in an accident.
In 1980 whilst perusing the list of company vehicles offered to staff, an” executive" vehicle was advertised for sale which dad took a liking to, the car was a 1979 "HZ" Kingswood SL wagon with 11,000kms. This car had been heavily optioned and featured many things which were unseen on a "Kingswood SL" at the time. The car featured a 4.2 V8, Auto, Air, Fact tinted windows, Pwr Steering, Electric Tailgate window, 4-wheel Disc Brakes, Cloth inserts, Statesman wiper dwell and a remote drivers side mirror. The car was finished in Dark Carmine Metallic paint and the interior was finished in "Buckskin", this was a diffrent yet "striking" color/trim combination back in the day.
To cut a long story short, dad enjoyed many years of motoring in the Kingswood, which he continued driving until 1997 when he lost, he license for DUI. Dad used to enjoyed catching up with his mates at the local pub and afterwards would drive home; at times he came to grief with various objects in the Kingswood, which placed a few war wounds around the car. After he lost his license dad placed the Kingswood in the garage where it sat idle for many years until he passed away in 2007.
I had always planned on "freshening up" my LC GTR I purchased in 1994 but after dad's passing I really became focused on dad's car and returning it to it's former glory, this was the only link I had left to dad and his life other than photo's.
In 2010, I decided to ask mum if I could take the car on behalf of the family and attempt to return it to it's former glory, mum was ecstatic as she wanted something meaningful done with the car. I took the car home and proceeded to strip the car so I could begin the gentle process of removing the paint, which had been neglected towards the end of dad's life . Once I completed this process I moved the car to my brother in-law's home who is a painter and "agreed" to paint the car for me. A word of advice, don't entrust family to do anything for you, my brother in-law failed to lift a finger and the car sat idle for a lengthy period. Winter was fast approaching so I decided to take the car back home to safeguard it. This is where a friend of mine, Darryl, well known here on the forum's "BullitLJV8" etch primed the car so as to keep it's "raw metal safe. After a little while I managed to locate a "decent" painter who took on the job.
I have included pictures of the car prior to, during the stripping process and now in its final state where it will return home within the next few days. I still need to take care of the mechanical side of things and do some interior work, this will hopefully take place during the next year or so.
My plans for the car is to enjoy it, and also for other members of my family to do the same.
I have all the books an reciepts from Holden's and the car also come with the original Production Broadcast sheet which dad told me was fixed to the window when he purchased the car.
I can't p[ost too many pics in one hit but will try more one this thread has been posted.
"Cheers"
Alf
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