Tailor-made Adventure: Holden Overlander #blogpost

Cast your mind back to the late 70’s, and you wanted something that could be driven around town during the week and able to tow your boat along the dunes on the weekend. What would you get? You’d probably be looking at something like a Range Rover, Chevy Silverado, Ford F-Truck, Nissan Patrol or a Toyota Landcruiser. Depending on where you live, some of these might not be available without bags of money. For the average Australian, a Silverado or F-Truck fully imported and converted to RHD would cost upwards of $120 000AUD in today’s money! The Land Cruiser and Patrol were known for a rough riding spartan nature, offering little in the way of creature comforts. Which means that the Range Rover is the only remaining contestant. But thanks to an $80 000AUD (again, in today’s money) price tag and a waiting list of 12 months thanks to supply shortages, it wasn’t a very viable option either.

Tasmanian engineer Arthur Hayward had this very dilemma. All he and other like-minded Aussies wanted during a huge boom in recreational vehicles was a comfortable V8 4x4 that was actually affordable, and unfortunately nothing fit the bill. So, armed with a typical Aussie can-do attitude, he set about building one himself. He equipped a factory in Launceston, Tasmania with the name Vehicle Engineering and Modifications P/L, complete with ‘Second manufacturer’ government approval and ADR (Australian Design Rules) compliance. All he needed now was a vehcile to base his idea on. His searching didn’t take very long, as the Holden HJ ute was used for testing purposes.

Hayward chose the Holden HJ ute and panel van because not only did it have a strong and dependable Holden 308ci V8 and Turbo 400 automatic transmission, but crucially because it employed a traditional body-on-frame construction, a strong steel box-section chassis and a front cross-members ideal for a leaf sprung live-axle front end. It should also be said that the Turbo 400 transmission was favoured over the 4-speed manual transmission because the gearing was too high in the lower gears, which was not up to scratch for Arthur’s liking. Furthermore, the TH400 offered excellent smoothness in power delivery, making it perfect for off-road and heavy towing capabilities. It was begging for this conversion and it didn’t even know it.

The Overlander’s design and build quality was nothing short of outstanding. Hayward’s background in heavy industrial engineering made him the perfect man for the job. His chassis upgrades consisted of 6.5mm thick steel plates along the front chassis rails, 63mm hollow-section steel front cross-member and reprofiled engine and transmission cross-members. Driveline upgrades such as a Dana transfer case, heavy duty Dana diffs front and back and tailshafts also from Dana ensured the 308 could power up and over the roughest terrain. These tough driveline upgrades weren’t for nothing, as they resulted in a crazy 75% increase in axle strength over the standard borg-warner diff.

With all these extremely strong and heavy duty parts, you’d expect it to be unbearabe to drive on the road. Not so the case. In actual fact the Overlander was marginally louder on the highway than a standard 2WD HJ ute. This was partly due to the centrally mounted Dana 60 differential, which provided a perfectly in-line power delivery. More importantly, the power would travel from the gearbox straight to the tailshaft when driven in 2WD mode, bypassing the upgraded Dana two-speed transfer case and letting it sit idle, greatly reducing cabin noise. Most other Off-Roaders employed a setup with unequal length axles, which deliver power to the rear wheels through noisy offset transfer cases.

While Ford also made a similar vehicle based on the XW and XY ute, it was nowhere near as rigid and robust as Hayward’s HJ. For starters, the powertrain offered was a lackluster inline-6 with a 3-speed manual transmission. The unibody construction was also another drawback, considered marginal for serious off-roading. Ford’s engineers also had a major headache in the form of a huge sump getting in the way of where the diff would go. The HJ ute was much better suited for a 4x4 conversion, because the sump on the V8 had it deepest section at the back of the engine, well clear of the new front diff. The Australian army had to keep their old and slow Land Rovers. If only they’d knew about Arthur Hayward.

Hayward spared no expense in testing his new creation, bringing his HJ ute prototype to the harsh Australian outback. With a fully loaded tub, Hayward drove 8000km through Australia’s harshest environments to try and find any weaknesses in his design. At the end of it, it came through without any problem whatsoever, giving Arthur the confidence to start full-scale production.

But even with this insanely rugged nature, it was also decently comfortable. Standard options included power windows, brakes and steering, full interior carpets, full instrument cluster and bucket seats. VEM also offered extras such as a roll bar for the utes, nudge bar, tow bar, mud flaps, front and rear built-in flares and a spare set of Dana front and rear diff assemblies. General Motors-Holden was so impressed by Hayward’s work that they offered their 12 month/20 000km factory warranty on all OEM Overlander parts with VEM taking responsibility for the ‘aftermarket’ components. However not a single claim was brought to either Holden or VEM’s attention concerning the Overlander, further proving its ruggedness.

"A luxurious, tough, up-market 4×4 truly deserving a place alongside the best available from overseas manufacturers." - Off-Road Australia magazine

VEM produced Overlanders based on the ute (HJ,HX & HZ), panel van (HJ,HX & HZ) and also one-tonner and station wagon (HZ) body styles. The station wagon was the most popular variant, as it offered strong off-road capabilities with practicality and comfort. All in all, VEM produced 80 Overlanders between 1977-80: 20 utes, 30 panel vans, 24 station wagons and 6 one-tonners.

Sadly, all things must come to an end, and the Overlander was no exception. Its demise was a combination of stricter ADR rules, the rise of Japanese comfort-oriented Off-Roaders such as the Patrol and Land Cruiser,shortages on Dana shipments from the US, and most importantly the end of the Holden H-series range. Hayward knew that with the station wagon and the 308 V8 engine done away with in the new WB Holden range, the Overlander had not much of a future ahead of it. VEM shut its doors in 1980.

This is the point where you think the Overlander story is over. But it isn’t. Hayward continued producing Overlanders out of customer-delivered vehicles from 1982-1989 from a huge workshop under his house. Unofficial records were kept but according to Hayward another 40 Overlanders were built, making a grand total of 120 Overlanders.

Sadly, Arthur Hayward passed away on the 23rd of September, 2012. His legacy lives on however, with his family still supplying parts to Overlander parts to customers. Arthur was also very down to earth, personally offering mainland customers trips down to his Tasmanian factory so they could see it built. He was a true-blue Aussie legend, a pioneer in the Australian auto industry while being a proper down to earth bloke.