Front cover of the sales brochure for the Holden 48-215. Wikipedia
GM Holden Ltd or simply known as Holden is an Australian car maker with its headquarters in Port Melbourne, Victoria. Holden is a subsidiary of General Motors which is based in the United States. Holden is currently active in the Australia and Oceana region and exports its vehicles to selected areas around the world.
James Alexander Holden came to Australia from England in 1852 and four years later he started a saddle making business and named it J.A. Holden & Co. In 1885, a German immigrant, H.A. Frost joined the company and it was renamed Holden & Frost Ltd. Edward Holden joined the company in 1905 and the company moved to automotive repairs and upholstery. 1919 saw the foundation of the Holden’s Motor Body Builders Ltd by Edward Holden and the company specialised in making car bodies for Ford and GM. Holden was successful in the car body business peaking at 34,000 units produced annually.
George Green of Eagers Motors (left) at the official launch of the new Holden with H. A. Cavanaugh, General Sales Manager of General Motors Holden. This first Holden was called the 48/215, but later became better known as the FX. It was powered by a six cylinder, 2.2 litre ‘Grey Motor’ driving through a three-speed column shift transmission. Sir Laurence Hartnett had worked on the idea of an all-Australian car since 1936, as Managing Director of General Motors – Holden, although he had left GMH by the time the first Holden was released. He then developed the idea of manufacturing a smaller, cheaper car in Australia, which was to become the ill-fated Hartnett. Information about State Library of Queensland’s collection: pictureqld.slq.qld.gov.au/
The Great Depression saw the decline in car production which in turn affected Holden. In 1931, GM purchased Holden and merged it with GM Australia to form General Motors – Holden Ltd. After World War II, Holden set out to make “Australia’s Own Car”. The Holden debuted in 1948 and was named after Sir Edward Holden who was the first chairman of GM-Holden. The official designation of the car is the 48-215. It was more commonly known as the Holden and was based on a Chevrolet that did not go into production for being too small for the US market.
The Holden 48-215 was a mid-sized four-door sedan with a 2.1-litre straight six-cylinder engine capable of producing 60bhp and 100 lb-ft of torque. The Holden can accelerate from 0 to 62mph in 18.7 seconds and a top speed of 80mph. The Holden had a three-speed manual transmission and rear wheel drive.
The Holden was designed to be rugged and economical.
The car could tackle hills and inclines at top gear and was dust proof. The cruising speed for the car was 65mph and could do 30mpg. The body and chassis were fused into one steel unit which as a new engineering innovation at the time. The interior was minimalistic and used a 6-volt battery to save on cost.
The Holden 48-215 was dominant in the Australian market with its ability to tackle the rugged and rural terrain of the countryside. In 1950, the 50-2016 was introduced as the first Holden coupe utility which became known as the “ute”. The Holden 48-215 was replaced by the Holden FJ in 1953.
Today, Holden is still present in the Australian market. The company is no longer the dominant car manufacturer in the market with the introduction of other brands. Holden will be closing its Australian car factories by the end of 2017 but will still be present in the market as a dealership for GM cars. With the end of production from both Ford and Holden, the age of the ute is coming to a close and the demise of Australian made cars.
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