PRIZED PIAZZA

THE GENERAL ADDED CHIC TO ITS SHOWROOMS IN THE MID-1980S WITH THE GIORGETTO GIUGIARO DESIGNED HOLDEN PIAZZA

- DAVE MORLEY

When it was launched in 1986, the Holden Piazza didn’t have too many friends. Maybe it was a little ahead of its time, but it seemed by many to be way too complicated for its own good, what with that turbocharger and all.

And the stuff like the digital dash was – typically for the time – sketchy to read and the rest of the interior was just fluff. And let’s not forget there was a lot of rear-drive Gemini in the driveline and platform; a layout that was seriously on the old-age pension by the mid-80s.

Then there was the price. With $34,500 plastered across its windscreen, the car generated less than no interest. Maybe a handful of punters stepped up, but at about twice the price of an actual Holden Gemini, the Piazza was ignored. After a few weeks of tumbleweeds and crickets up the Piazza end of Holden showrooms, the General got the hint and sliced five-and-a-half grand off the price tag, bringing the Piazza back down to a still ambitious $29,000. How ambitious? Well, a VL Calais Turbo sharing the same showroom floor, was priced to give change from $29K ($28,250, to be precise). Everybody could see the problem. Except maybe Holden.

In the end, the folks who did front up at the original $34,500 were on a serious hiding to nowhere come trade-in time, so Holden did the only honourable thing and wrote each of them a cheque for the difference. Wouldn’t happen today? Maybe not, but let’s face it, it shouldn’t have happened back then.