1979 Holden Gemini TD square lights review from Australia and New Zealand

Well now heres one thing ill never forget, when I first got the car I decided to take it for a long trip, I ended up doing a three hour long mountain climb from Mount Beauty to Omeo on a hot day, it overheated badly. Stupid me wasn't watching the temp gage, and what do ya know I heard a massive explosion under the bonnet and then a very loud sound of mincing metal screaching together and the car came to a slow stop (auto). It turned out that the carby managed to catch alight and explode, melted the butterfly and jets and good knows what else and it all got sucked through the engine and completely stuffed the engine. This would not have happened quite so badly if the bolt holding the fuel lines onto the carby wasn't loose, god knows how it became undone.

I then found another old engine in the trading post and decided to make sure I knew everything had been seen by my eyes, by rebuilding it. It was blue printed with a lumpy cam, advanced timing, ported and honed out (capacity is now 1680cc) this is now THE most reliable engine me and most of my mates have seen. It has a lot of torque, I am running 16inch rims and can now beat WRX's!!! I am happy! The odometer readings are original K's!

This car is by far one of the true Aussie greats even if it is imported, Australia "made it". In my view the Gemini is the best all round small car NOW and then, no more needs to be said about the car. What would we have done without good quality vehicles like the Gem. Our economy struggles when companies put rubbishy vehicles on the market, these cars may boost it for six years, but then the car is practically useless because of poor build quality, how old is the Gemini? Too many money hungry managers and not enough input from engineers. Bring back the simple four cylinder rear wheel drive cars, they clearly have many more advantages, and if they were more expensive to make they would still cost less than other newer front wheel drive cars in its entire life. I'm not saying that car companies should start making Geminis by the million, but to take the success and good public view of the Gemini as an example for a small economical car. When you take a Gemini and update it completely with the latest technology going, but still keeping the basic concept, you have something that will kick the S@#$! out of any other car. Take for example the new Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon they both sell like hot cakes, why? They stick to the experience and design data built up for generations, you always see them beating other cars in there class. I am using these newer vehicles as an example as they are the only new cars presently that have a similar design to the older Gemini, apart from the RB model Gemini, which is a perfect example to what I'm talking about, If the RB was any good they would have sold a lot more, but they didn't because of the need for holden to make MONEY at the time, thankfully Nissan saved them. (And thankfully for my argument, that the Gemini had nothing to do with Holden going to the brink, it also helped holden, little did they know at the time when it changed from TG to RB). And basically the RB is what all small cars are today, small cheap front wheel drive "cartridge cars". If car companies want to make money AND stay honest and build long term friendships with there customers, they should build quality SMALL cars. A small rear wheel drive car with all of the latest technology WILL sell very well. I have heard many many people telling me about how great there lil front-wheel drive car is and frankly I don't care, If you take the performance specs from, say a Daewoo lanos or a Holden Vectra and matched them to a Gemini setup with the same gear (forgetting the value of the body) such as suspension, wheels tyres shock absorbers, engine and drive line (neglecting the original Gemini parts, but keeping the rear wheel drive concept, basically rearranging a front wheel drive into a rear wheel drive) you will have one very competitive vehicle. Maybe Holden should take that up with Opel in changing the Vectra into a Rear or All wheel drive vehicle called AWDAB (All Wheel Drive Aussie Bus!) or even Vectra Kangaroo, in a later model range! Something at least for us small car buyers that crave the handling and performance of a coomodore, but the running costs of a vectra. Car companies can obviously see the benefits of this setup, since most large cars are based on the front engine rear wheel drive layout.

So get out there paint your banners, put on some fluoro coloured clothing and protest this case because I know that you all agree!

I rest my case.

Ben.