Peter Wherrett was a breath of fresh air with his Torque series. Set the standard for automotive journalism. Enter the advertising dollar and things got wishy washy , because journo's lost integrity and didn't want to lose the revenue. Sad really, but not limited to just car journalism. Thankfully there are still sources of information where the truth can be found, and the modern day equivalent of Torque would have to be John Cadogan with his AutoExpertTV channel here on KZfaq. Check him out if you want no BS reporting !!

John Cadogan is in Peter's direction. Including fishnet stockings in at least one video I think.

Didn't his career come to a grinding halt when he was picked up by the breathalyser ? Poor bastard he wasn't that far over.

When you don't have advertises who pay your wages, you dont tend to speak freely..That's why 99.9 percent of car reviewers are shills.

He was a bit of a whinger

Liquid Audio won’t get anything but left leaning dribble on the abc these days unfortunately mate.

Back when Australia made cars, men wearing dresses could be referred to with male pronouns, Gillette sold razor blades, ABC provided unbiased factual news annnd the people presenting that news did not include a disproportionately large number of homosexuals.

@@kirkc9643 nice bit of homophobia.... You realise that your hero liked to cross dress in his spare time?

@@ollie2sik You can thank the right wing money grubbers for the demise of the Australian industry. They soaked up all of the subsidy money that the governments (both left and right) were throwing at them while providing cheaply made knock offs of American models. Wherrett showed quite clearly in this review just how crude and primitive the Australian cars of the day were and that was what eventually doomed the industry here.

Perhaps have a look at John Cadogan's youtube channel AutoExpertTV - he makes the same claim (No BS) and is technically literate.

He's great hey. Even reminds you how our overall culture, language, honesty was different back then. Especially TV/Media. Everything's so sanitised today, especially opinions.

@@CheapCheerful Yes he was great and honest. And had a very interesting private wardrobe as well. His father also had the same "interest' in clothing. However whilst an obsession, it was deemed harmless. No threat to anyone. And certainly not unique to him either, but back in the day it would have been a hard life "behind the scenes" so to speak. Sadly died in 2009 I think it was, but he always spoke the truth and told it as it really was, and not necessarily what people wanted to hear.

@@125sloth Interesting. Thank you.

You know Peter became Pip. Hard to believe but he changed his identity to a woman at the later stages of his life. He was the guru of Cars back in the day.

He was, and Torque was a good show it it’s day. On ABC of course

A failure engine. The Ford 250 six was better.

The V8 sound without the power !

@@simonf8902 Had an S pak cross flow in my XD wagon and it pulled like a tractor !

I had a slightly modded 4.2 in a VB commodore with touring car kit and 4 speed manual. Had cam, intake manifold, Holley, flat tops, new bearings etc etc and it pulled like a freight train. I also had a stock 253 and trimatic in a HJ and it wouldn't have pulled the skin off a cold coffee.

Same size as the Valiant 6's of the 70s & the big 6 in the Fords (the most common engine in them) But is limp compared to the Valianst & generally little better than the 1 carb Ford, not the 2V. Butt why? simple, cost & lack of development, thereof.(hence goes with the whole damn car) Want an old hat car of the era (& yes ther's charm in that) buy one of these (unmodded) or maybe a Datsun or an aicooled VW. Want a modern car of the era? try one of the then new VWs The 253 was the first Australian V8 in a Holden, in the late 60s, just before it's big brother and both replace the stopgap 5 litre Chev engine. This was an old and innificent engine, far removed from the bored out 253 the Australian 5 litre. Ok, so we have the first of the 253s, a limited release white manual Kingswood sedan. Only a little slower than the big old V8 it replaced and notably faster than the 186, the bigger of the 2 sixes @ the time. The S version of the 6 may still have been on the market between them. Soon the 253 was available across the board & as you can imagine, it would suit the power sapping Powerglide automatic, much more than the 186. So for the late 60s it wasn't unatractive @ all. Same with Falcon of the era, it's V8s apart from the GT were not overly powerful, but remember, the 6 was almost as undernurished as the Holdens. As Wherrett said, he is looking at a dated car in new clothes. Only if you buy a wagon and use it as such, does it make sense. you'll have a bigger and considerably more powerful wagon than say a type 3 VW, but forget sporty & check the power stearing belt.

Same. My dad used to call him Peter ferret but loved his honesty. My dad was also brutally honest with cars

These days he'd be fired in a jiffy - the moment he criticized a company and they pulled their advertising money. Sad, but true.

@@aussiebloke609 Thats why this show was on the ABC, no advertisers. Shows like Media Watch, Good Game, and The Checkout still work/worked in a similar way too. No gifts for good reviews, just honest reviews.

Those qualities apparently don't matter to the ABC. It's only their message that count's for them now

@@aussiebloke609 Since ABC doesn't have advertisers, they'd be free to do this still if we still manufactured cars or if this kind of thing was popular in any way...

@@FairladyS130 You're really describing EVERY channel with that broad brush, ABC is still the most balanced out of all of them. People choose not to believe that because ABC has a left wing, where no other channel does besides maybe 10.

Highly Dangerous, we used to call them

Yes I had a HD - they were a shocker, apart from a decrepit Simca easily the worst car I ever owned.

@@francodalpozzo7533 ...Simca - Vedette, or Aronde?

An XB was a much better thing at the time.

And the ugliest car ever made.

Think Mitsubishi did later on! Remember the Peter Wherrett Special In 1981?

@@mervynstent1578 When Torque was on he wasn't owned.

@@martintaper7997 That's because the ABC is taxpayer funded and they could make a program like this. The commercial networks couldn't because they rely on the advertising dollars and when you take (in their case) the advertisers to task over their products they get angry and refuse to allow you to show their adverts on your network which means your revenue drops through the floor as other advertisers may also pull their adverts from your network to prevent them being treated the same way. It's commercial blackmail and the same thing happens on the internet too with motoring journalists unable to truthfully speak their mind because of they do they will lose their job.

Cadogan is fine if it concerns Hyundai's and BMW's. The rest? Nah.

@@FairladyS130 Sheep.

@@FairladyS130 True that, and always comes across as a "holier than thou" tool. Wherrett is definitely classes above.

@@FairladyS130 Wherrett is several grades above Cadogan. Cadogan is always trying to be too clever for social media likes. Wherrett wouldn't have given a dam about that stuff and just got on to talking about the cars.

Cadogan can’t help but be smug and condescending. He’s nowhere near Wherrett

Big cars handled so badly back then, many probably went over cliffs unintentionally. Wanna hear a joke? The start of Roxy Music, Love Is The Drug, with this car. Or better still, the HX (how many takes before the can get it running?)

Imported shitbox, falls apart in 2 years, at least the holdens lasted . I don't even like holdens but those old cars are much better than the shitboxes of today.

Yeah, I'd like an example of how dated a poor motoring example from the mid 70s has become. Mk 1 Golf, Passat, Scirocco, Porsche 924 or even Honda Civic need not apply. But as a have a 2 stroke Suzuki 4x4, I already have that. It's far more primative than this holden, so it's all relative. & any of these barstards now cost big money, "FURRRK!"

Rip to the best motoring legend ever. I mean I love Jeremy clarkson he is also very good at being the modern equivalent of a guy like this

My mate, John Cadogan continues to kick arse...

I’d liked to find that video! He said the P76 is below average! Which killed the car instantly!

Yes Peter was a transgender legend before transgender was a word..

​@@trewqpoiutl9774wasn't a big deal tho

But Wherrett is far more rational and not just a extremist sensationalist seeking attention like Cadogan..

Cadogan doesn’t even deserve to be compared with something Wherrett evacuated from his bowel after a big night on the curry. Cadogan is a nothing but a bloviating clickfarmer.

Gold comment of the year.

what people do at home is none of my business.

So his cross dressing affected his ability to report honestly?

Their budget's been cut so hard they can't afford to review a bicycle

Roger Mouton.rather drive something from back then compared to the tin shit boxes of today

Because the SJW LBTQXYZ feminazi extremists who've taken over the ABC aren't into cars. They tend to prefer lycra and bicycles. Sad but true.

@Leonard Carr WTF are you talking about? Actually, why the fuck do i care

They were very ordinary & that is being kind. Thirsty, poor dynamics, one could go on & was still leaded fuel.Prophetic words at the end.

@@Geoffroxx well they should have spent that money on engineering and not cosmetics and that was always GMHs problem, they could have used that money on improving the brakes and handling.

Back then 1 new suspension arm was heralded as a major breakthrough. I don't think his review was out of context. The manufacturers were taking the piss of us and we deserved far far better. Anyhow, I wrote (above) about my experience of one of these Holdens (same model and almost identically specced too) and I loved it even though the review in the vid is correct. No counting for subjectivity.

Same now as then, it's about the look. Form before function and we still fall for it.

For a 6 grand basic car, that's uneconomical yet carries very little. Yes, a nice classic but not well suited too today (& many I say far from the best car of its time).

@@johnsergei by 1974 standards good but not great.it was a dinosaur compared to any of the stuff germany or italy was giving us at this time.they might all be weak 1.6 to 2.0l fours in the form of the alfa romeo alfetta,fiat 132,lancia beta and volkswagen passat and the audi 80 but in many areas way ahead of whatever rubbish australian cars were.in fact it took the arrival of the vb commodore to finally give from gmh a car australians wanted having been spoiled by europe.

The Commodore and falcon were more than adequate, piss off.

enigmaticx.car makers didn't have to listen to him because he talks crap

@@peterbarber7613 He was spot on. These were shit heaps.

Check out the Lima Agreement + The government (mainly the railways) was once the nations largest employer. Government debt has caused this. Check the debt clock & see if government debt is going down? Total debt, How the hell does Australia & its governments pay off 7 trillion $? How do we pay the interests ( taxes re gov debt) & maybe this debt is going down ? Ah, Sco Mo got is 300g a year payrise from beating the ex cop for PM, he's happy.

@Yuck Foutube What a load of utter rubbish. Please educate yourself on the matter before making more stupid comments.

It's hard to believe people were putting them together in an organised fashion in a factory.

What could they do... pull their advertising? This was on the ABC.

Manufacturers stopped supplying cars to reviewers that were honest.

They more likely got to the government who in turn pulled strings to get the show cancelled. It was a very popular series until the end. Why did it suddenly disappear for the 80s?

We should have listened to him . Spoken like a true prophet.

Not only the demise of car manufacturing, but also the environmental pollution by burning fossil fuels. He wasn't the first by a long way, but very aware of the facts. 👍 Peter Wherrett👍✔️

These cars shouldn't be worth the money they are today either.

@@Jo_Wardy they are part of aus culture, of course they should. Aus has sfa culture besides its car culture

@@distantcoff7391 don't start with the smug green bs, drive your prius and shut up

More like a look of rage. They knew their cars had unacceptable shortcomings.

JC says his not biased lol..how come he can get a great deal on a Hyundai or Kia & get given them to borrow for a road test 😅,plus he only seems to get an average deal on other brands

Plus, he gave the Sigma a good report. Lol.

Holden released Radial Tuned Suspension on the Torana in 76, the larger sedans were a year later. It was Chuck Chapman the new MD of GMH who was Chief Engineer at Opel before he took over at Holden that wanted to upgrade the handling & braking of Holden’s. Valiants for instance had almost identical brakes than the Holden with the single Wheel cylinder. It was only on the VB Holden when Holden introduced the new PBR brake Master Cylinder that brakes really started to improve.

I agree to an extent, but his review was still accurate.

Isn't that an emissions thing

Only if Mr Clarkson would let Wherrett do all the talking, driving and appraisals....unlikely I think! I like 'em both but prefer Wherrett.

So, you've heard that one too?@MichaelKingsfordGray

God help the catering if it's not up to standard?

A very poignant comment, Mathew. Peter Wherrett and his father were cross Dressers, Peter died from prostate cancer, as a woman in 2009!

the only thing I want to see Jeremy Clarkson paired with... is a pack of rabid hyenas who haven't eaten in a month

Back when Australia made cars, men wearing dresses could be referred to with male pronouns, Gillette sold razor blades, ABC provided unbiased factual news annnd the people presenting that news did not include a disproportionately large number of homosexuals. These days you can only call a spade a spade if the spade identifies as a spade.

@@kirkc9643 Do you need safe space? lol you send so triggered

The days when Australia was unafraid....now strangled by political correctness.

@@Kvasiir yes! I had some bigoted cisgender refer to me as "mate" today. They attempted to justify it on the basis of my having a long beard but my beautiful dress should have made it obvious that I don't accept male pronouns. And they did it in front of my young children! I've had to take the rest of the week off so I can recover and also see my lawyer about suing my attacker.

Kirk Claybrook quick! Run back to the daily mail page so you can feel safe 😭😭

This pillow biting ponce was always up himself. Unless he was up one of his very few mates.

I forgot to mention his cross dressing.

@@angeloparis7963 Did you know KZfaq is cracking down on hate speech. Just be very careful what you say on this site now.

What's to show? He explains it all

My father had a beautiful (not) dark green one of these but with a 202 L6. I was learning to drive in it and one day whilst entering the Tullamarine freeway remember pushing the accelerator flat to the boards and was amazed that so little was happening. I mentioned it to my father and his response was “oh you noticed”. It didn’t last long in the family.

Imagine delivering a pizza in a Plymouth Duster!!!!!

Maybe they eventually took heed.

...it was my second car. Ever slightly bump a gutter and have your thumb smashed by the steering wheel because of bump steer? 🙂 Bloody slow, thirsty, stodgy and bland...I don't miss it. (Miss my Datsun 1200, though.)

Try autoexpert John says it like it is

@@muzzafreef8250 but Peter did it in a polished way that was more incisive.

It's unusual by the time we got to the VC Commodore era he had lots of praise for that car except for the out of date six cylinder engine and the fuel economy problem.

@@franzchong9315 I would prefer the HJ over the VC any day though. Yea, and the 202 with the trimatic was sluggish.

@@zeniktorres4320 got worse with ADR27A law in all Australian cars after July 1976! Holden was the worst of the Big 3 when it came to applying it to their engines!

The early Commodore was way ahead in chassis dynamics to the HJ. The steering was renowned for its direct feel.

He's not Nostradamus. EVERYTHING ends eventually.

I think the 308 is great

To stop, you have to turn first (early automation, the car will turn for you).

The Peter Wherrett Sigma had an atmo 2.6. The Sigma Turbo was a different model.

Why not just have a 350 to start with?

@Jason Bouphasavanh oh yeah, 👏 I'm a poet and I don't know it ! 😋

Actually, I think the ABC is more cool now with a higher percentage of viewers. Love the A Bit Cool, even if it was accidental.

@@robertrivas3161 I was just reminiscing about a great journey mate...no need for the criticism of my comprehension skills, and yes I know the HZ was a different and better car...I had a lot of old fellas come up to me and praise the HZ saying they wished they still had theirs instead of the Commodores they'd replaced them with...

@@robertrivas3161 Thanks, I agree...

253 was a lacklustre performer but was solid.