FEATURE – Rare Spares Part 1 – Holden and COVID-19
Words: Mike Ryan and Rare Spares
Photos: Rare Spares
The announcement this past February of the termination of the Holden brand was a body blow for tens of thousands of Australians.
Many of us who grew up with Holden – and the fierce tribalism of Ford vs Holden – would have rightly thought the brand would be around forever. But now, as we approach the end of 2020, Holden dealerships around the country are either closing their doors or reinventing themselves under new franchises. Holden will officially disappear from the Supercars grid at the end of this year, too, even though ZB Commodores are likely to keep racing into 2021.
So where does all that leave the Holden faithful? Not in a great place, admittedly, but there are those who are devoted to keeping the Holden name alive in the memories of Australians and keeping Holden cars on Australian roads.
Chief among those is Rare Spares.
Holden Now. . .
Founded more than 45 years ago, Rare Spares was dedicated to Holden from the beginning. As evidenced by their early slogan “Old Holdens Never Die, ‘Coz Rare Spares Cares”, Rare Spares was the go-to place for classic Holden NOS, refurbished and reproduction parts.
Initially, the focus was on parts for FX and FJ, but that soon expanded into FE/FC, FB/EK and all the H Series Holdens, as well as Toranas and Geminis.
The company’s devotion to Holden saw the Rare Spares team work closely with GM-H in recent years, developing the Holden Restoration Parts programme, amongst other initiatives.
Lance Corby, Managing Director of Rare Spares and a veteran of the company who can trace his history with Rare Spares to its earliest days, recently shared his thoughts on the Holden closure and what it will mean for the brand, as well Rare Spares, into the future.
“There were many people disappointed when Holden made the announcement to close down their Australian operations by 2021,” said Lance. “However, the reality is, Holden as an Australian-supplied car was shut down in October, 2017.”
Lance added that the end of Holden certainly won’t mean the end of Rare Spares.
“Rare Spares are fully committed to ensure the life of these Aussie-made cars continues for many years to come. We continue to commit millions of dollars each year to the development of new products for the range. This will help our current and emerging customers to keep their pride and joy on the road for many more years.”
Like many of us, Lance and the Rare Spares team had some inkling the end was coming for Holden after the end of local manufacturing operations, but having those suspicions confirmed did little to dampen their impact.
“Anyone with a love for either of our iconic Australian Holden and Fords will be disappointed with the end of this era in Australian motoring history.”
We’ve had many other car brands come and go from this country in the past, but losing Holden is different. Few car brands, and arguably none, have had the impact on the Australian character like Holden has, which makes Rare Spares’ job in “carrying the torch” for the Holden brand into the future - by continuing to manufacture and supply reproduction parts for the Holden faithful - all the more important. It’s a responsibility that Rare Spares feels strongly about and one they carry with a certain sense of pride, too.
“Our team is largely made up of car enthusiasts, so they take a lot of pride in what they are sourcing,” Lance added.
. . . and Forever
While the Holden closure will see a spike in desirability of already established Holden classics, Lance says it’s too early to tell if the end of the brand will see a wholesale growth in the popularity of some of the more recent – and unloved - Holdens, such as the Barina, Camira, Nova, etc.
That said, as time marches on, so too does the landscape of the Holden enthusiast market. When Rare Spares started, it was all about the 48-215 and FJ. Lance has seen the shift in that market over the decades and, with the embracing of early Commodores as historic cars and even the likes of VL to VS Commodores considered classics nowadays. he expects that trend to continue into models most of us regard to today as “used cars” and not “classics”. A VF II Commodore as a classic? Rare Spares will be ready for it when it happens!
“The scope for the future is quite large,” Lance said. “We are already seeing a push toward Commodore VL to VS. We’re currently producing parts for that range and have a concentrated focus on increasing the range, too.”
That focus and commitment to not only keep the Rare Spares range of Holden parts going, but to also expand it, will be soothing words for Holden enthusiasts in these dark times.
Customer Car under COVID-19
Within a month of the Holden closure, Rare Spares also had to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Sure, that’s impacted the rest of us, too, but being a Victorian-based company, Rare Spares has been hit harder than those interstate, especially under Stage 4 lockdown restrictions.
Fortunately, Rare Spares’ well-established online ordering processes ensured the impact of COVID-19 hasn’t been as severe as it might have been if they were purely a bricks-and-mortar retailer.
“Not a lot has changed in relation to day-to-day operations,” Lance admitted. “But obviously, the team at head office and all of the stores have had to adopt a more conscious approach to health and safety and set up steps to follow all the new restrictions set in place.”
While there are few good things to come out of the pandemic, there are no doubt many JUST CARS readers whose enforced isolations have given them time to tackle those resto and repair projects that were constantly being put off. Rare Spares have seen the effect of that, too, with a noticably steady stream of online sales.
“It would seem there are a lot of people with more time on their hands to get stuck into their project or improve what they have already built,” Lance added.
To help the backyard mechanic make the most of their time in isolation, Rare Spares will expand the range of ‘Shed Talk’ videos already produced to cover more topics that the DIY repairer and restorer can tackle at home.
“Rare Spares are also very mindful of the need for the public to try and minimize exposure to others. We understand the health issues associated with COVID-19,” Lance explained.
“To keep both our customers and staff safe from the virus, we provided all customers the opportunity to order their requirements by phone or online from the comfort of their own home.”
Rare Spares are also supporting their customers in a more direct way by providing free shipping on phone and online orders over $100.
To find out more on this customer-support initiative, call your local Rare Spares distributor, or go to: https://www.rarespares.net.au
Rockynats Rescheduled
Another impact of COVID-19 is the cancellation of countless car shows and automotive events around the country. One of those was the first-ever Rockynats in Rockhampton.
Bringing all the full-throttle action of Summernats to Central Queensland, the Rockynats were scheduled to take place in June, before the pandemic forced its postponement to 2-5 April, 2021.
A blow to revheads far and wide, the postponement also impacted Rare Spares, who had signed on as naming rights sponsor for the inaugural event.
“When we first heard the event was going to be on the calendar, we thought it would be a good fit for our marketing strategy. We were contacted by Andy Lopez from the Summernats regarding getting involved in some way as a sponsor, which lead to us agreeing to take on the major naming rights sponsorship,” Lance explained.
“Despite the delay, the Rare Spares Rockynats is a very exciting event for us to be involved with. We are pleased to have the opportunity to be at this level of sponsorship and are very much looking forward to Easter 2021 in Rockhampton.”
For more info on the Rare Spares Rockynats event programme – that includes burnouts, street drags, drifting, a show ‘n’ shine, street parades and plenty more, go to: https://www.rockynats.com.au
