She’s a Beauty
The Story of
the First Holdens
Don Loffler
First published
1998, this version reprinted and expanded 2009
Wakefield Press
Reviewer: Bob Estreich
This is the updated and expanded version
of Don Loffler’s original book on the classic 48-215 and FJ Holdens,
Australia’s first locally-made cars. Discovering and publishing the history of
these seems to have become Don’s life work and he manages to communicate the
enthusiasm he has for the vehicles. His books are richly detailed, comprehensively
illustrated and thoroughly researched.
In this reissue he tracks the history of
General Motors in Australia and the story of Laurence Hartnett’s enthusiastic
attempts to get a car designed and built locally. Australia was a small market
for General Motors and being pressured by Hartnett, their local managing
director, did not sit well with the GM Board. It eventually cost Hartnett his
job but the project went ahead. The first Holdens were not an Australian design
as we simply did not have the skills. Loffler describes the competing
priorities between Australia and the US, the financial problems as Australia
came out of World War 2, and the problems of setting up a production line style
of manufacturing in a country that imported most of its cars from Britain in
pack form and simply assembled them here. That General Motors – Holden
succeeded in producing the car is a tribute to the vision of the men of the
company and the politicians who helped. Left to GM we would have had another
American design that would have been dropped into the market with little
thought for its suitability or otherwise. The success of the Holden concept
decided the format of Australian cars for the next half a century and proved so
successful that Holdens are now exported and rebadged to many countries
including the U.S.
I was fascinated at some of the names
suggested for the new car. We could have had a GMH Southern Commando, a Pangali
or a Pargi – even a Canbra. Finally Harold Bettle, the current GM-H manager,
decided on “Holden” to honour the family whose earlier negotiations had brought
General Motors into Australia.
Loffler covers the story of the
development and launch of the car, and does not try to cover up its defects.
Like any new product, quality control was a headache and it took decades for
GM_H to iron out problems of body panel fit, accurate machining of parts,
electricals and quality of trim. They
succeeded, though, and the public loved the car. It was just as well because it
took years for manufacture to catch up with orders. Even advertising the car
was a problem as newspaper was still rationed after the war.
It wasn’t until 1953 that the new look FJ
was released, which is a tribute to the popularity of the old “FX” body style.
As usual Don includes chapters on “special
“ Holdens, rare models and the oddities that slip out from the factory from
time to time. All these are well illustrated in the Loffler style with vast
amounts of press material and photos. He also includes a chapter on “Stories
From The Production Line” which puts a human face on some of the thousands of
workers who built the cars. There are all the statistics that you could
possibly want, details of colour schemes and extras, the lot.
Subtle Hint: Christmas is coming. Do you
know a Holden owner or fancier?
Reviews appear on the Synergy website with
a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with
multiple images and with expanded content. We recommend you download the free digital edition (or buy the print edition) to get the most from Synergy Magazine.
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and
print edition of Synergy Magazine.
If you came to this page directly (and
missed our menu), click here to go to the
front page of Synergy Magazine Website or click the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com