CC Capsule: 1989-92 Holden Apollo – Small Things

I used to bounce myself out of CC every time I came across it. And that happened quite often.

Time was, I started off my internetting at Barnfinds.com. Great hosts in Jesse and Josh, great chat amongst the commenters. And great cars to chew the fat over.

So when I started to research my comments, I would keep coming across this site called CurbsideClassic.com. Quite often. There was always interesting stuff buried in here, but the homepage also invariably featured the totally and utterly meh like this Holden Apollo.

So as soon as I got the information I needed, I’d bounce myself out of CC.

Then I started to wonder why something like this moribund slice of superbland held anyone’s interest. And slowly, inexorably, I got entangled in the CC web.

I mean, this Holden is just a rebadged Toyota Camry. And that’s about it from me.

But someone here on CC is going to have something interesting to say about this car, however small that tidbit may be. Or someone else could have a belter of a story involving adolescent hijinks.

It’s that randomness that makes CC a more holistic universe. Out there, news is being commodified into dripfeed, algorithmically optimised to confirm your previous point of view. But not here.

Make no mistake, this image says everything about why I’m here. The 20th century’s greatest artform alongside popular music. Pure, perfect, dynamic shape. I love looking at it over and over. I love reading and writing about it. And I love chatting it with real-life superheroes like Lt Dan.

But I don’t want an echo chamber, I need a perspective multiplier.

Through the words and images of Ed Stembridge, Edward Snitkoff, Yohai71, Joseph Dennis, Tatra87, Jon7190, William Stopford, Big Paws, Johannes Dutch, Jim Klein, JJ Powers, Brendan Saur, Kyree S. Williams, J P Cavanaugh, Tim_Finn, Jason Shafer, DougD, Jim Brophy, and Vince C (just to go through the last few homepages of CC), I get a fantastic random feed around the general subject I love.

And then there’s Paul, who seems to be posting with more vigour. Watching him ease away from classics without giving them up is a real example for me.

I’ve enjoyed CC Newsstand lately; that conversation has been good. Heated sometimes, but really robust. I think it signals a great shift in focus without CC having to discard its heritage. Quite the opposite in fact.

It makes me want to write about current stuff as well – which I haven’t really been motivated to do before. But there’s so much shade to be thrown at the automotive scene right now. Dark, dark shade. And I want to start with some love.

So next week I’m putting out a QOTD for top five best current shapes and sharing mine.

I’m starting to figure things this way; the day after a car is launched, it’s yesterday’s news.

And from that moment on it can bear scrutiny as a classic. Or otherwise.

Further reading

William Stopford touches on the badge engineering between Holden and Toyota here.