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06/11/2011
REVIEW by EWAN KENNEDY
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The National Museum of Australia in Canberra has proudly unveiled one of its most prized automotive possessions, the first Holden ever sold. General Motors Holden has the first car built, this one was the first to be retailed.
The 48-215 Holden is very close to being original in appearance and mechanically. Though it didn’t come into the custody of the Museum until 2004, it’s known that it had a fair bit of restoration work done by TAFE students, probably in Wangaratta in the late 1980s. It had been sitting at the back of a panel beating shop for most of the intervening period. This resulted in a fine dusting of overspray that took a huge amount of hard work to clean off.
Paddock bashing is a sad fate that many old cars had to endure. This Holden had hit something very hard, so hard that the engine moved forward on its mountings and the suspension was damaged.
However, the engine and gearbox have been scoped internally and are still in good running order. The clutch had to be replaced, as did most of the brake components.
The first mass-produced 48-215 Holden left GMH’s Melbourne factory on Monday 29th November 1948. So important was the new car to Australia that Prime Minister Ben Chifley was there to welcome it. On first sighting it Chifley exclaimed, “It’s a beauty”.
A six-cylinder engine was used as a compromise between British cars, which were mainly fours, and US models, which usually offered V8 power. The Holden six, which had its block painted grey, had a capacity of 132.5 cubic inches and put out 60 bhp, about 45 kW. It was a low stress unit which was flexible, tough and easy to work on. It was mated to a three-speed manual gearbox with a column shift.
Australian roads were rough and rugged in 1948 and the Holden coped with them admirably. You could hammer Holdens down dirt roads without everything shaking apart and without the suspension continually.
The first Holden’s official name of 48-215 was never in popular use, the car was simply known as ‘the Holden’. The following models were given the names FJ, FE, FC and so it was later assumed that the first model must have been an 'F-something'. So the title FX came into popular use, the 'X' standing for unknown.
Unfortunately, the Holden 48-215 featured here isn’t on permanent display at the National Museum, but rather will be brought out from time to time to feature in other displays. Tours of restoration facility in Mitchell, ACT, where this car and many other automotive items are stored and maintained are carried out from time to time. Contact the National Museum of Australia in Canberra on 02 6208 5000 or through www.nma.gov.au/. Admission to the museum is free and it’s open from 9am till 5pm every day except December 25. |
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