This Calais was saved twice, from Singapore’s scrappage and abandonment in Australia.
[This is a continuation of the previous entry: SG Archives: Holden’s Singaporean history]
It comes with great pleasure to bring light to one Singaporean unit that escaped the inevitable scrappage from Singapore, and saved a second time after it was abandoned in Australia.
This Holden Calais was found in a farm in Rockhampton back in 2024 where it had sat for ten years by the current owner’s friend. It was non-runner – crank angle sensor broken, dead coilpack, unusable fuel tank and the fuel pump and sender unit.
Presumably a very rough start, it was found that even the injectors was also clogged. The interior was in as bad a condition.
The owner commented, “If it was a domestic car, it would have been pulled down for parts.”
For us in Singapore, its a different story. Cars here no matter the rarity are not safe from being scrapped for parts. Alpina, Audi RS, Lotus; you name it, gutted. Malaysia sees a similar trend, going as far as to reverse-import Proton Satria GTis from the UK to halfcut for parts.
Sufficient checks like chassis tags and foreign labels proved it as the 2.6-litre inline-6 motor, a different breed from the V8s in domestic models.
The interior was taken apart for cleaning.
Below are photos of the interior refitted and cleaned – looking much closer to its former glory:
The broken crank sensor as mentioned above, seen below. The owner brings an interesting point; because the motor is an export-only unit, the replacement had to be ordered overseas instead of domestically.
Inside the crank sensor was a little piece of memorabillia, not a Singaporean coin but an Indian rupiah coin.
The Calais went on stands to extract the fuel pump. As the owner recounts, “I was in for a surprise..”
The fuel pump and sender unit was completely perished. A side by side comparison of the old and the new shows the degradation that the old unit suffered.
As for the beforementioned fuel tank.. cleaning may not always be the right option, and certainly not easy. This is another comparison between the old and new fuel tank.
A lot of restoration done to get the car sit-able and running. Provided is the car starting up for the first time.
Given parts were difficult to source for an export-variant engine in a domestic country, the owner took injectors from a local 3.8-litre 3800 V6 and transplanted it for use in the 2.6-litre Dual-Ram.
It was “a nightmare job”, as the injector rails couldn’t be removed. The job was eventually done, and this survivor Calais was now able to move on its own again, the only major itinerary left was the gearbox (slipping).
One crucial item found with the car was a letter for the change of address/ownership, showing the car had likely been sold to its first or second owner in 1994. The plate number is a September 1994-issue and the vehicle was purchased in November of the same year.
The Singapore plates were not present on the vehicle when the owner’s friend collected it. After restoring the car, he had a set of plates made in Singapore and shipped over, thus reuniting the car’s original status after possibly 22 years.
The car’s original fate is unknown, as we cannot pinpoint exact details of when the Calais was deregistered and exported back into Australia and when it was re-registered.
Acomplete car is better than one crushed into a bean can.
Singaporean media is sadly typically lost media – given its cultural exports are not common, especially regarding automotive trivia. As such, cars like this Holden are often surviving only in the memories of those who have owned or seen one. We thank the owner of this Calais for allowing us to feature it, and preserving this long-lost combination of number plate and car!
If anyone is still reading this and would like to share their picture for our editorial use, do contact us! Be it on Messenger or on Instagram, we’re open to community support and feedback.
Do inform us if any of our facts are wrong – we aren’t the most knowledgeable with Holden and may be bound to make mistakes. Thank you!
~SatriaRX & Linus
Read more: Archival: Holden Calais 2.6 Dual-Ram (1993) (Singapore)
