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By
EWAN KENNEDY
9 May 2005
Camira first came
out as the JB series in August 1982 and promptly received a car
of the year award, mainly because the judges loved its Euro-like
handling and feel. A world car in the General Motors empire, it
was built in Australia but carried a fair bit of imported
design. This meant that in some ways it wasn’t totally suited
to local conditions, particularly in the outback.
These mid-size Holdens have a good cabin with space for
four/five adults if they don’t mind juggling the seats to make
space for one another. There’s a large luggage area, with the
Camira station wagon being a particularly good load carrier.
In November 1984, while it was still flying high on the new-car
scene, the Camira received a rather controversial sloped-nose
facelift for the JD version. Holden backed off and the shape
became more conventional in style with the JE in April 1987.
Initially all Camiras were four-door sedans. In April 1983 a
spacious five-door station wagon was added to the range.
Interestingly, the wagon was an Australian design (the sedan was
penned overseas) and all wagon rear ends were built here, even
those sold in European markets.
The standard model range is Camira SL, Camira SL/X and Camira
SL/E. All these were available throughout the Camira’s life as
sedans and wagons. A Camira Executive first arrived in February
1986 and was aimed at the fleet market.
A semi-sporting Camira SJ was sold in sedan form only. It was on
the market from October 1983 until December 1984. Camira SJ had
a deeper front air dam, alloy wheels and was finished in a
choice of strong colours. Another sporty version, the Camira SLi
was sold only in the JE series from 1987 to 1989. It had a body
kit with side skirts and alloy wheels with an interesting
eight-spoke style.
All engines are four-cylinder, single-camshaft units. They are
transversely mounted and drive the front wheels. This engine
layout makes for excellent interior room, something that still
wasn’t all that common in cars in this class in the mid 1980s.
The Camira JB’s engine capacity was 1.6 litres and it was fed
by a carburettor. It performed well if revved hard but was
lacking in low down torque and really didn’t feel the way
buyers expected a Holden engine to feel.
The JD received two different versions of a 1.8-litre engine,
the first had multi-point fuel injection giving it better torque
characteristics than the 1.6, the second 1.8, released in
February 1986, was poorly re-engineered for the then-new
unleaded petrol, had single-point injection and is a bit of a
dog.
All was forgiven when Holden released a 2.0-litre multi-point
engine with the JE Camira. This engine is a real gem and is the
one to aim for.
Four-speed manual gearboxes were fitted to lower spec versions
of the JB and JD Camira. Five-speed manual was optional in most
of these cars but standard in manual versions of the
top-of-the-line Camira SL/E. All JE manuals were five-speeds.
Five-speed units aren't all that common in cars of this age in
this class, but are worth hunting down, especially if you’re
going to be doing a lot of country driving.
A three-speed automatic transmission was optional on all models
and standard on the Executive. It knocks a fair bit off the
performance but some people are happy enough with the way the
car goes.
Build quality was poor in the early Camiras, but improved
substantially over the years. Most of the real duds will now be
in the big caryard in the sky. The remainder have built
themselves a strong reputation as a solid used car that lasts
well and is cheap to keep on the road.
Repairs aren’t overly expensive, but as these are low-cost
cars, problems here could mean the end of its financially-viable
life. Unless, of course, you can do a lot of the work yourself,
in which case you will find Camira is an excellent daily driver
for those on a tight budget. Camiras are fairly easy to work on
having good underbonnet access to most components and
experienced home mechanics can do virtually any job. As always,
having a workshop manual on hand is a smart move.
Spare parts prices are generally reasonable, but some bits are
starting to become scarce at Holden dealers. Recyclers should
have parts for many years because Camira is one of the popular
older models.
Insurance costs are generally low and we don’t know of any
companies that load the premiums for the sporting SJ and SLi
versions.
Camira was withdrawn from the market in July 1989 and spent many
years in the wilderness, but it’s a tough car and there are
still quite a number of them on the road today.
WHAT T
O LOOK FOR
Poor factory quality control marred Camiras in the early
days. Look for body panels that don’t fit well, a sloppy
finish in the cabin and bits hanging off. Listen for squeaks and
rattles, all the more so on rough roads.
Look for a smoking exhaust, usually at its worst when the engine
is revved after it has been idling for more than a minute.
Listen and feel for crunchy gearchanges on a manual car. The
change down from third to second is generally the first one to
play up. Feel for a slipping clutch on during gearchanges.
In an automatic Camira, slow engagement of Drive or Reverse from
Neutral probably means trouble is brewing.
Front suspension problems show up as uneven tyre wear and a
tendency for the car to wander on the road.
Check the brakes pull the car up squarely without locking any
one wheel before the others.
Rust isn’t normally a problem but we have seen it in some
poorly maintained and/or badly repaired Camiras. Check the lower
areas of the front and rear mudguards; the bottom corners of the
doors, bootlid and tailgate, and the sill panels underneath the
doors.
CAR BUYING TIP
When considering buying an older car, shop around for spare
parts in your neighbourhood before buying it. There can be a
marked variation in availability.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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