Holden Hurricane restored to former glory

10/20/2011

Engineers at Australia's Holden brand recently put a lot of work into restoring a true classic: the 1969 Holden Hurricane concept car.

As vehicles become older, they require a lot of auto maintenance to keep them in working condition. Fortunately, Holden had the very best working on this project, and the Hurricane is as good as new. The vehicle is notable for predicting many of today's modern features decades before they were popularly available, reports The New York Times.

For example, cars are just now starting to come equipped with rear-view cameras for extra visibility during parking. But the Hurricane had this more than 40 years ago. The original designers attached a camera to the back of the car and wired it to a black-and-white television monitor (sorry, no touchscreen).

The team behind the car also envisioned an early GPS system, called "Pathfinder," to keep drivers on the right track. Their idea was to install magnets at every intersection, along with a compatible system in every car. The Hurricane supported this feature - when driving through an intersection with magnets, the car would be able to tell which way the driver should be going.

If you've got a car that you want to keep running for years and years, be sure to keep up with things like oil changes and brake service.