You may have noticed there’s something not quite right about this Firebird. That’s because it isn’t a Firebird but, rather, an Arcadipane Imitator. It’s a Holden Monaro dressed up with parts designed by former General Motors-Holden and Ford designer Peter Arcadipane, the man who designed the Mad Max Interceptor.
Thank you John Lloyd for this old press photo which, sadly, seems to be the only photo I can find of the Imitator. There’s very little information out there about it. John has suggested it was merely a display model for all the add-on bric-a-brac Arcadipane was selling. It’s not terrible looking but it’s not Arcadipane’s best work.
For context, this is what the 1971-74 Holden HQ Monaro looked like–simplicity itself!
(ED: No, a genuine F-Body front clip will not bolt up to a Monaro, as we proved here)
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1976 Holden Monaro LE – Beginning of the End of an Era
It’s not his best work but in this case he built upon and merged other people’s work; it wasn’t all original.
He is not only original but a forward-looker. Some of his work for Daimler-Benz took over ten years to win over the higher-ups, and now that he runs the styling department at Beijing Automotive Group in China, I’m looking for some innovations rather than imitations coming out of China.
Damn… now I need to pour some bleach into my eyes!
Very interesting. Although it’s a true hardtop, as god intended (lower case g intentional), the body in the lower photos look like it was originally a Mustang.
Now that is all wrong!
Sorry, but Holdens are/were goofy-looking to this guy.
Best looking Holden for many years the HQ, styling went downhill from there.
Although the hardtop coupe is the least interesting HQ variant they could’ve put this nose on. How about a “Firebird” four-door, wagon or ute?
To my eyes, the Holden HQ Monaro resembles a Ford/Mercury Capri, albeit an oversized one.
It’s not the first time I’ve seen hints of Ford’s design language in GM’s Australian offerings.
I think the red one looks a bit like a 2nd gen corvair in that picture
But I can see why you would say Capri when looking at the green one
And now that you pointed it out (and I’m not browsing from my phone), I DO see the Corvair lines in the red one!
As for the green one looking like a Capri, part of it must be the wheels.
And I think the general shape of the grill and headlight set up look similar.
But yeah the wheels add to the effect
Camaro and Firebird kits were quite popular for HQ Munros at one stage in NZ and were used in one local car chase movie, cheaper to destroy a cheapm old Monaro than an expensive imported Camaro/Firebird.
Do you mean Shaker Run Bryce? I remember seeing that years ago.
Something looks a little off about the headlights, like seeing someone without their glasses.
They’re the large size. I’m not sure that the smaller size square equivalent of the DOT sealed beams were a thing outside of the US. Scale wise, imagine a car with 4 7″ rounds instead of the smaller ones.
Good call. I can’t quite place what the source would have been, but there were smaller rectangular lights available.
When I very first looked at the lead photo, I thought it was a go-kart Firebird. 🙂
?
Why didn’t he just import a real Firebird? This thing is a crime against nature!
Probably more expensive, and the Australian government is a bit funny about LHD.
I’ll take a WAG (wild-assed guess) that a real Firebird would have cost double putting a fibreglass front on a Monaro.
It looks like something you’d have expected to see at the 1977 Shanghai or Beijing Auto Show, had the Chinese been building cars back then that almost look like their Western “inspirations” (Google the Landwind X7 and Geely GE for examples).
They probably would have called it the “Powhatan,” or the “Pontious,” or something like that…
Or how to ruin a gorgeous HQ Monaro coupe in one foul swoop.
This was another more successful design by Peter –
KJ in Oz
They did a similar front end for Valiant panel vans
https://www.whichcar.com.au/features/1977-chrysler-cl-valiant-panelvan-disturbia-simon-major
Looks like something that would’ve fitted well in Mad Max. The “Niiiiightriidah” in the opening scene even drove a Monaro.
Great find William
At least it gave the driver the thinnest A pillars I’ve ever seen past, and a well located coil spring rear end.
Looks to be a HQ from what I can see of the dash pad. These days, it would be worth way more as a HQ, not this Firebird wannabe
Arcadipane’s work became more original, but in early times it was pretty derivative. I remember him selling Baha-style beetle guards and bobbed engine cover in early 70s Oz hot rod mags, and the front end of the Mad Max Interceptor owes a lot to Wayne Cherry, GM designer (later at Cadillac) who was then with Vauxhall in the UK, he did the “droop snoot” nose cone for the Vauxhall Firenza/Magnum, a corporate follow-on for the UK Chevette T-car. Arcadipane also did a droop snoot front end for a Holden Torana hatchback, a car that looked a lot like a Vega, and fitted it with box wide-body guards that were a lift from Euro Ford X-pack Mk 2 Escort items that made the Escort look like Zakspeed European touring car racers. The Torana was built with funding from Recaro sports seats, who hoped to convince Holden to build more with their seats, and they called it “Mystere”. The original HQ version was a lovely, pure design that looks a lot better than its contemporaries now, big glass area that made the car look smaller the reason. There was a “facelift” HJ (it wasn’t really, it looked worse) four-door version that Mazda fitted with its rotary engine and sold 400-odd examples in Japan as the Mazda Roadpacer too.