First published in the November 2004 issue of Street Machine

Ever had to can a project because your partner thinks furniture is more important? Then envy Andrew Tribe: his wife, Jackie, is into it and she even thought up the FNTUF 1 number plate.

Like many tidy rides, this Premier started life as a tame old 308 which was grabbed as a daily. “I swapped it for a ripper of a ute. The thing had more rust than the Titanic so I was glad to offload it,” Andrew explains. The Premier was driven for a while but the 308 was showing its age.

Two years later Andrew’d had enough, so he took it to his own business, Werribee Brake and Clutch, to replace the engine. “All I was going to do was drop a thumping donk in it, but things got out of hand,” he says.

The car was stripped to a bare shell and taken to Kingsville Accident Repair Centre … where it was stripped back to bare metal, had both sill panels replaced and the back end converted to HZ. Then the suspension and chassis were sand-blasted.

Andrew left the engine with Eugene at Flowcraft where his exact instructions were: “Give it the touch.” Eugene is something of a Midas, you see. Andrew and Jackie had decided the car was going to be something more than a quarter-mile warrior, so the plan for the engine was to have something tough, yet not so crazy that it’d only run on special juice.

The original heads were diced in favour of ported and polished B-cast jobbies fitted with 1.5-inch inlet and 1.84-inch exhaust valves. The original crank was given a tickle and slipped into ACL competition bearings. With 11.2:1 compression thanks to flat-top ACL Duralite slugs, the standard rods were replaced by VN units to avoid any out-of-block experiences. A custom-ground solid cam (250/252 at 0.50) shifts solid lifters and Manley pushrods. A high-volume oil pump and High Energy sump lube it all.

A Holley Blue 750 double pumper and Edelbrock manifold pour the juice in; VH Commodore electronic ignition fires it. It hasn’t been dynoed but Eugene’s confident it’ll spit out around 420hp at the treads.

Andrew had a soft spot for the old ‘Trimagic’ and sent it to Tradematics for tricking up —converted to full manual, it copped an eight-inch converter producing a 4200rpm stall range. A heavy-duty tailshaft mates to a mini-spooled Ford nine-inch found in the Trading Post.

While the body was coated in PPG Raven, chrome and stainless parts went to Prahan Platers for refinishing, and Andrew sorted the 17-inch Centerline Fluted Stars.

Bushes were replaced with Nolathane, and 2.5-inch lowered Pedders shocks and springs were fitted all ’round. To pull the car up quickly, the HJ grabbers were replaced up front with a set of 330mm SV 5000 rotors clamped by two-spot Corvette calipers and, on the back, by a set of WB discs. All this is operated by a one-inch Commodore master cylinder.

Then the rebuilt 308 and Trimatic were installed. To keep the new donk cool he installed a four-core radiator and EL Falcon dual fan set-up. The engine exhales through a set of Pacemaker headers mated to a stainless 2.5-inch twin system, built by Exhaust Bros at Hoppers Crossing. All the factory wiring was removed and Neil from Romsey Auto Electrical was called in to rewire the car with a hidden loom. Neil also fitted an immobiliser and alarm, central locking and power windows. To complete the tidy-up, the oil filter was remote-mounted and the fuel pump, battery, washer bottle and alarm all hidden.

Next on the agenda was the interior. The factory foam jobs weren’t going to cut it so Andrew custom-made brackets to fit a pair of modified VS Maloo seats up front, while in the back he squeezed one in from a VN SV90. Once fitted, they were taken to David Blackman Auto Trimmers where they were covered in VY SS Commodore blue leather. For the dash, the decision was made to build a custom unit filled with Auto Meter goodies rather than upgrading Holden’s 30-year-old design. A shiny B&M Quicksilver shifter looks after the gears.

You can enjoy your favourite music and movies on a Kenwood system installed by Autobarn at Hoppers Crossing, with splits up front, 6×9 rears, three 10-inch subs and a TV in the boot.

When the car was completed Andrew and Jackie’s efforts didn’t go unrewarded; at Summernats 2003, the car made the Elite Top 60. Since then it’s earned a Top 10 and Best Undercarriage at Easternats. It placed Top 10 at the Holden vs Ford Nationals and got Top HQ-HJ; it won People’s Choice, Top Sedan ’71-’79, third Street Machine ’71-’79, and placed Top 10 at the Extreme Horsepower show in Adelaide. At Summernats 2004 it again slotted into the Elite Top 60. But when the sun is shining you can see the Premier cruising the streets of Ballan — as Andrew says, there’s no point building a great car if you’re never going it drive it.

How about an HJ then?

Released in October 1974 and reported by Holden at the time as “a major refinement of the HQ”, the HJ was more than a new grille and lights. Although the wheelbase remained the same, the squarer front sheetmetal resulted in a longer car overall.

For some added protection the bumpers protruded further out from the body but only the higher spec models got the fancy bit of black rubber. Cooking model Kingswoods, as well as the GTS, made do without — obviously a weight saving for the race-inspired GTS.

The Statesman now came in super-luxo (for Holden) Caprice model, and the 202 was standard fare for the Kingswood. For even less power you could opt for a low compression 173.

In another sign of a world gone mad, Holden dropped the 350 Chev from the line-up but it did bump up the compression from 9.0 to 9.7:1 on the 308 for a 10hp gain, taking it to 250hp. The 308 also got the Turbo 400 instead of the struggling Trau-matic.

There was sad news for those who prefer their cars with only two fire escapes — the coupe was dropped during the HJ production run. The HJ coupes that made it out alive were actually HQ bodies modified to take the new front sheet metal but, as most of you know, retaining the HQ-style tail-lights.

Back in the mid-70s you could pick up a brand spanking new Kingswood for $5,330. The Premier would set you back $7,040, and if you had a really nice bank manager he might lend you the $12,400 for a brand new Statesman Caprice. All up they made 176,202 HJs until the introduction of the HX in July 1976.

Andrew & Jackie Tribe
1975 HJ Holden Premier