Diecast Detective

Hurricane: Holden's First Concept Car

Plus: All of Holden's Other Concept Cars

Mar 04, 2024

The Holden Hurricane, unveiled in 1969, was Holden’s first-ever concept car and a bold leap into the future of automotive design. Known internally as RD 001, the Hurricane featured a striking wedge-shaped design, with a futuristic canopy-style roof that opened upwards. Built with lightweight fiberglass, it stood just 990 mm tall, giving the car a spaceship-like appearance.

In 2015, APEX Replicas launched their 1:18 scale version of the Hurricane (AC8001). With a generous production run of 798 models and a relatively moderate demand, many of these replicas remained available for purchase long after their initial release. Sadly, unathorised releases out of China are flooding the market with the only difference to the APEX official release being the lack of a COA. As we will investigate in a future article, unauthorised releases have a material (negative) impact on offcial releases.

Unlike the V8 Supercars released around the same time by APEX, the Hurricane was crafted to a remarkably high standard, despite being a sealed resin model.

[GRAPH-AC8001]

Holden's Other Concept Cars

73431 - Holden Coupe Concept (Blue/Black Metallic)
AUTOart/Biante proudly holds the distinction of producing the first Holden concept model—the Monaro concept, which debuted at the 1998 Australian International Motor Show in Sydney. Released in January 2001, this iconic model saw a production run of 8,520 units, making it the Holden concept model with the highest production run.

73432 - Holden Coupe Concept (Mustard Metallic Gold)
Following on from the release of the Blue/Black Metallic Monaro concept, AUTOart/Biante released the gold version in June 2001. Production quantity was slightly reduced over its predecessor with 8,004 units.

18221 - 'EFIJY'

Deserving of its own spotlight is arguably Australia's greatest concept car, EFIJY, debuted in 2005 at the Australian International Motor Show. Released by Classic Carlectables in June 2007 in 1:18 scale, its real life popularity was reflected in a production run of 6,600 units, making it the most produced Holden concept car by a significant margin.

Additionally, it was made available to members of the Classic Carlectables Club, with this exclusive version (18221M; just 300 produced) featuring a mounting plaque signed by Richard Ferlazzo, Holden chief designer.

18370 - Coupe 60
Built to commemorate Holden's 60th anniversary, Coupe 60 was unveiled at the 2008 Australian International Motor Show. Classic Carlectables released their 1:18 scale version in May 2010 in a quantity of 4,550 units. It runs neck-and-neck with EFIJY for the most traded Holden concept vehicle, although its values pale next to the Soprano Purple beauty,

18050 - Holden UTEster
Unveiled at the 2001 Melbourne Motor Show, the UTEster was produced by Classic Carlectables and released in February 2004, marking the company's first Holden concept car. Production totalled 2,500 units.