Onetrack says that local build quality fell below imported build quality.
That was what Holden wanted. My first job in Australia was as a motor mechanic at Pagewood factory in Sydney.
We were turning out a Holden about every minute or so.
We had a batch with faulty ring gears. I could replace one in 45 mins, but was only allowed to do 3 per day, because that was the allotted time. The ring gear had a steel ball enbedded in it to be used for timing the ignition. WEE found that the ball could be as much as two inches out of position, so what chance was there of getting timing correct. The manager used to take a car home every night at knock off. Next day it came back with a fault list. The one on Monday morning was several pages long. That would be the car to buy.
I had one with a noise in the motor. A nut had been dropped through the carbie, resulting in bent valve, damaged piston and valve guide. I was allowed to replace the valve. Someone got a Holden which had a damaged piston and it probably failed fairly quickly, before the warranty ended I hope.