Driving Enthusiast has covered some obscure Holdens and Fords lately, from the 2.0-litre, VN Berlina export special, to the three-on-the-tree manual Fairlane Custom seen for sale recently. The sublime to the ridiculous.
This time around, we thought we’d cover an oft-overlooked subject: base model Holden Statesman models and Caprice variants we didn’t get in Australia.
China and South Korea received plusher versions of the Caprice, with more amenities in the form of rear seat adjustments, an i-Drive-style HMI controller, seat heating and other things we didn’t get here.
But we want to focus on the weird, base model versions of the Statesman and for that, we have to travel back to the inception of the long wheelbase luxury sedan.
After the ill-fated Brougham – a cynical attempt to compete with Ford’s Fairlane by extending the boot – the Statesman debuted with Holden’s HQ series. Like the Fairlane, there was a low-spec, bench-seated model with a manual transmission – such as this example up for sale on Just Cars.
After that, both Ford and Holden determined that their long wheelbase flagships should focus only on luxury, with automatic transmissions and all the bells and whistles you could throw at them – at least locally.
The story continues with the 1999 debut of the VT Commodore-based WH Statesman and the highly-successful left-hand drive (LHD) export program. Middle East-bound Statesmans were sold as the Chevrolet Caprice, but here’s where it gets interesting; there was an Executive-spec model in the form of the Caprice LS and there was even a Caprice SS.
A look at the WH-based Caprice LS reveals an Executive style centre stack, with manual HVAC controls, a basic radio and glass black plastic trim. This theme continues into the WK/WL models, which use the low-series interior of VY Executive/Acclaim. Even more bizarre is the sight of black side mouldings of the fleet hack on the long-wheelbase model – a bit of cognitive dissonance since we in Australia associate the Stato and Caprice with luxury.
Australia received some of the body additions of the Middle Eastern Caprice SS in the form of the limited edition Statesman International, with body-coloured grille, sportier wheels and coloured leather interior.
With the 2011 debut of the VE and WM Series II, it gets harder to distinguish basic pack from luxury, with Holden using one dash for economy of scale from Omega to Calais, but the only clue to these export versions is cloth seats.
As we wind up the history here, the final chapter is no doubt the US-bound Caprice PPV police vehicles, which in the latter years, introduced a column shifter – not something available on any locally-produced Holden at the time.
And this list wouldn’t be complete without the Buick Royaum – a car which extraordinarily was exported to China from Australia. The first batch were broadly similar to Statesman, with the 3.6-litre Alloytech, but the second tranche featured the HSV Grange front clip, but instead of a volcanic LS V8 power plant, it received a 2.8-litre Alloytec — essentially the Insignia VXR engine sans turbo.
It had a comparatively modest 150kW and 264Nm for coping with China’s gridlock without incurring a capacity tax for engines over 3.0 litres.
Have you seen any interesting Ford or Holden derivatives while travelling overseas? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below.
