I'm happy to answer questions on Aussie cars.
The HT Holden was a facelift from the HK and came long before the Mk111 Cortina. The HK, HT, HG series was actually styled in Detriot in the mid-sixties. (My in-laws have a HK they bought when it was 2-3 years old). I can't see any styling cues it shares with the Cortina. It certainly doesn't have the Cortina's Coke-Bottle look.
The first Holden Torana (HB) was a locally produced, rebadged Viva. The LC and LJ series that followed differed significantly from the Viva but retained some of the Viva floorpan and suspension. The pictured LH/LX series cars were completely Australian designed, styled and built. Allegedly not one single component came from overseas and it was the first Aussie car to achieve this. There was a choice of a 1.9L four, several sixes and 4.2L or 5.0L V8 engines that were Aussie designed (althougth the four was quite awful.) The Torana is a firm favourite with the Street Machine scene.
The Ford Fairmont is (was) the luxury version of the Ford Falcon. The first Falcons were a US design which was developed here after the US dropped the model in the late sixties. You can still buy a new model Falcon today. The Fairmont has always used the same shell as the Falcon with better trim and engines. The pictured model (XD) could be ordered witha 4.1 six, a 4.9 V8 or a 5.8L V8 with as much as 300hp. There is a family resemblance because it was designed at roughly the same time as the Granada and Ford were just starting to use that style worldwide. The XD Falcon again was Australian designed and built, although it used V8 engines from the US. It shares no components with any Granada or Cortina. The Cortina was sold here in Mk1 to MkV forms. The MkIII onwards Cortinas could be ordered with a 2Lt pinto, a 3.3L six and later a 4.1L six.
The EH Holden is widely loved in Aus and again uses uniquely Australian compnents and detroit styling. The Valiant was a US-derived model with some styling changes.
The traditional Aussie was of developing a car is to use an overseas design as a base and then develop it in a different direction to the original to suit the Australian market and local content laws. As the overseas model develops one way, the local one develops in another direction, so two cars with the same nameplate can end up completely different. If you park an Aussie 78 Mini next to a UK 78 Mini you could spend all day picking the differences.
If you really want to see some weird stuff, look at the BL products like the Leyland P76, the Austin Tasman, the Austin 1800 Ute, Marina six cylinder and the Morris Nomad.
Cheers,
Brett.
