“The most way-out Holden of all time” was how Modern Motor described the 1969 Holden Hurricane, using authentic sixties-speak. This was an ‘ideas’ car (concept car in today’s language) designed and built at General Motors Technical Centre at Fishermen’s Bend, Melbourne. Those ideas included such 007 devices as a TV rear-vision monitor, digital tachometer and speedometer, impact-resistant bumpers and power-activated flip-top turret to allow entry and exit. It was the year of the moon walk and this thing looked like something NASA might have made in their spare time.
As GM-H engineering director Bill Steinhagen pointed out, this was strictly a research tool. But the mid-mounted engine in the Hurricane was very real. The Australian-made 253 cubic inch V8 was the same one used in the upcoming HT Holden series.
When it went on a tour of Australian motor shows the gold-painted Hurricane caused something approaching hysteria (well, minor pushing and shoving among car-crazy schoolkids). We’d seen nothing like this before. At 39 inches high, the Hurricane is one inch lower than the Ford GT40 and still looks futuristic nearly forty years later.
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