Harvey's Rare EH Holdens - Classic Restos: Series 46
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- čas přidán 10. 01. 2021
- As Fletch moves his way through Canberra and the ACT, he discovers an incredible EH Holden.
Owner Harvey Miles talks of his history, shed, memorabilia and love of cars.
Particularly EH and EJ Holdens, around 40 years ago he found a really rare EH, the rarest in the world.
Harvey’s EH Holden gives Fletch goosebumps, nicknamed “Blondie” by the assembly line staff in GMH in Adelaide, South Australia. It was commissioned for GM’s general manager in America, who was coming to run the plant in South Australia. The management at Woodville requested the car to be painted “DuPont Cadillac Pink” to resemble the Cadillac he was driving back in America. The car was also fitted with power steering and automatic transmission, the trim is spec-c46 specially ordered bone leather and vinyl from Germany and the paint is #5680000.
In 1964 the car was presented to the general manager at the Royal Adelaide Show. Upon his return to America, the car was then sold to Freeman Motors. Freeman Motors then sold the car to Mr Ray Wright a local from Adelaide for around £1,300 which equates to about $2,300. In June of 1966 “Blondie” was resold to a work colleague, Ron Wells for £1,000 which equated to about $1,800. In 1983 Harvey saw the neglected car for sale in the Canberra suburb of Western and purchased it with its original South Australian plates 345-040. Harvey didn’t believe that Cadillac pink was the original colour and after a lot of investigation, he eventually contacted the original owner who confirmed it was. In 2011 Harvey and Bob Harris commenced restoration of this extraordinary car, however, it was put on hold until his Holden S4 was completed. In April 2018 the restoration of “Blondie” finally recommenced and was finished in December 2018. Incredibly history and background making this EH, the only one in the world.
Harvey expands on the love of his shed and the collectables, memorabilia and parts. As Harvey says “The importance of having a shed, is you’ve got somewhere to go... I’ll come out here look around and I’m always tinkering doing something. If I’m not cleaning, I look at the cars and I have smile on my face and it’s great. You’ve got to have something to work on and live for and that’s what it’s all about for me.”
Harvey's other cars include a left-hand drive 1954 Chevrolet Pickup out of America and a Holden EH S4.
The S4 is another very rare Holden, it was technically the first muscle car that rolled off the factory assembly line from Holden. Fletch and Harvey discuss the incredibly minor changes from the standard 179 EH, and the feeling Harvey gets driving such an iconic car as this S4. Harvey knows there are approximately 13 of the cars left and you’ll never see them again. He says these cars have got to be preserved and looked after, you get so much satisfaction out of showing them and talking about them. That’s what it’s all about.
Fletch comments on Harvey’s attention to detail and wealth of knowledge, it’s fantastic. His pink EH and the S4 both preserved beautifully. Harvey is known to be the first to offer assistance, information and help to anybody with their EH. It a great skill to have. A very humble Harvey acknowledges he is still leaning and he has received a lot of help over the years.
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Harvey you're a national treasure mate good on ya for looking after our motoring history
Good stuff Fletch...I recon I've seen that Pink EH and thinking WTF.?..But now it makes sense.
what an awesome story and a great man with the most spectacular EH , love it
A classic Aussie. Thank you for sharing.
I enjoyed this episode, Mr. Fletch.
What an amazing old Aussie man and to have all those amazing old holdens
He knows so much and I wish I could have any one of them
I do miss my old eh wagon 😍😍👍👍
A great story... 👌
I enjoyed this Fletch. Good on Harvey for an amazing collection 👍
Very beautiful amazing looking cars beautiful amazing colours thanks friend have a very nice day
Hi Fletch, Thanks for introducing us to this amazing Aussie 'Gentleman' & his absolutely 'Stunning' EH's
Top stuff Fletch and Harvey.
The best episode yet I'd say.
I was lucky enough to see 'Blondie' at the Royal Adelaide Show in 1964 as a school boy, living opposite Holden's Woodville.
'Blondie' was stunning then and more so now.
Kudos to you Harvey.
You are a legend amongst legends (in the true sense of the word).
🇭🇲👍🍻
Talked to Harvey years a go on the Phone to help find out some info on my GTR Torana and he told me about the Pink EH Holden he was doing up and Wow here it is. Great Job Harvey.
What a character. Typical Aussie bloke. I was smiling throughout the entire story. What a great journey.
I remember my late father picking up our EH 179 manual station wagon light brown with white roof from Ian Jones from Smith's In Port Adelaide.. Great to relive memories sadly of Australia in it's hay day of Car Manufacturing.....
Great story. I love the old EH Holdens.
Awesome collection of cars. I also love the automobile memorabilia.
When people review these beautiful decked out EH Holdens, they seem to forget that beautiful NASCO CLOCK!!
I'm a true blue ford man, but it was great to see Aussie old school engineering and know how. Kinda always liked the FB/C HR and EH 👍
Absolutely Mark - I think it comes with maturity and time. I am not so "brand specific" these days, but more a general respect and appreciation of the bike, car or truck. Thank you for watching ! Cheers, Fletch
Excellent car and presentation. Wish I had one myself. There were quite a few variations on EH holdens . One model of EH had a 149 which was low compression to run on standard fuel instead of super . It was sold as a fleet car for the PMG and other government agencies.
You're a man of your word Fletch! You told me youll get down this way one day, & you made it. We got some nice cars next door in Queanbeyan aswell.
Just Beautiful
Lucky enough to see Blondie down here in Cooma at the local Motorfest a couple of years ago. Good onya Harvey, what a great collection. I hope we might catch up one day and I can show you my couple of toys...
The EH was my first car at 19 years old, i absolutely loved that car, 4 on the floor with a 202 it wasn't orginal but it was a rocket. It's on the list to get again rain hail or shine. Beautiful cars mate.
I did read about anothet rare EH Holden in some Australian car mag one time a few years ago and it had all the NASCO accessories on it and power steering and owner claimed that it had a factory fitted balljointed front suspension .was this an experimental car for the developement of two year away balljoint front end wich came in mid production of the HD Holden and chev , ford chrysler and many other cars had balljoints by 1955,56 i think the holden was one of the last cars or even may be the last cars in the world to use a trunion king pin front suspension and that technology was well and truly out of date when the FE was released in 56. The best mod swap in the old days was to put a HR front end in those early holdens to overcome those ware and rattle problems with kingpins. I remember growing up in the 70s and 80s on all those old holdens we would put on deep dish chromies, yella terra head , exstractors , 3 or four speed with a speco shifter and the usual HR disc brake balljointed front end swap and you had a great budget streeter of all time and a bit has changed since then , keep the old school knowledge and cars and stuff on older cars alive ,keep up the good work to all you classic car enthusiasts, great cars great people.
great..
Good episode love EH's and most Holden's my first car was an FJ Holden. I had a hd Holden Ute with a 179hp with a 350 holley seemed fast at the time but I think any current 4 cylinder would blow the doors off it. Good memories though
Holey Moley it is great to see that pink EH I remember seeing it in Adelaide many years ago and always wondered what happened to it it was usually parked in the Parkholme Shopping centre in Adelaide near me good to see it again . Last time I did see it ;it surely needed a resto .Glad to see it was not made into a Toyota boot lid . Cheers
ive been chasin a reasonable boot for an eh for many years these parts are hard to find ya just gotta be in the know
Punch plate in the floor for the gear stick ? had one
Wow the elusive S4, Our family car in 1974 was a Chocolate Brown/White roof & Red interior 179/3 on the tree EH, Bought from Suttons Holden at Chullora for $500, someone traded it in for a new HJ Kingswood. 🇦🇺👍
Hope Australia starts building auto motive stuff again
Great stuff history researeach
3 speed Automatic, what would that been. Powerglide was used I understand by Holden . That was a 2 speed transmission. Trimatic was introduced about 1970 from memory . I remember a lot of stuff on his shelf at a garage I worked at as a kid.
Bloody good joker, good on ya Harvey
Great collection. The opel 4 speed came out with the HR 186s not X2.
Yes I can remember my teacher parked his pride and joy in the school car park and us 15 year old lads would drule all over the factory 4 speed and console and black front bucket seats I think it had the four in one gauge oil temp fuel and amp. And red flashing brake red light.the Hr was white with I think black vinyl roof and rear venitian blind....oh those we're the days...
@@fredfungalspore I worked at a Holden dealer in Sydney when the HR was released. I got my license a couple of months after the 186S 4 speed was released and I was lucky enough to take the new cars to and from the panel shop. The 4 speeds were very easy the light up the rear tyres, not that I did it on purpose LOL
@@bpr50 I worked at the Chrysler dealership in Adelaide got offered all the hot trade ins One RAAF guy was being re posted to Perth traded in a VH 6 pack charger took it for a drive put $5 of petrol in it the fuel gauge fell out the door ,,Thought i cannot afford to run this ..Turned it down for $1500 was mint and today $$$$$$$ LOL
Fletch a bit out with his pounds to dollars conversion
Still one Australian pound is two dollars exactly.
A much harder sum is to allow for spending power with an average 1964 income then about 20 pound per week before tax. So many weeks income to buy a Holden Premier even if you did not spend on anything else.
my first job in 1966 5 pound per week. thats 25 cents per hour at 16 years old and kids think they have it tuff today lol.
Cheers John, it was just an example mate, more than pin-point accuracy. Thanks for watching ! Fletch.
@@classicrestostv1fletch764 Just doubling the Australian pounds to get aus dollars was chosen by the government back then to be simple for everyone.
Interesting to know where your harder conversion came from.
Forgetting that Fletch is too young to remember the 14th of February 1966 conversion day and the lead up.
Good show as always anyhow.
@@johnd8892 the figures quoted in the episode were supplied by a Holden spec sheet. It was a prospective example only. Cheers.
How much difference performance wise between the S4 and the X2?
Dad bought a new EH Special Wagon with the Hydromatic in early 64, would that have had a higher diff than a manual ??
There was a fire at home, on the way to that fire he hit 105 mph, just saying.
damm that black chevy truck is sexy
What i find really sad is they would build this one of with all the bells and whistle for a boss and the rest of Australia had to wait donkey's years for it. No wonder they went broke
Was Holden icon or just a con?
Hi Jim. lol - well, not so much went broke, but more a culmination of International economic decision. Keep in mind, Holden kept on building 60 years past the EH...not a bad innings. As for the "bells & whistles" cars, that just went with the car business. You should see some of the executive's cars that were optioned by the big three in the United States back in the day, the public had no chance. Thanks for watching, Cheers, Fletch
Power steering was optional in the HR which was the model after this. Not many around. I’ve only seen a couple. Of course the HK Brougham in 1968 had power steering and automatic as standard.
I think it all comes down to affordability. Auto manufacturers were trying to make cars that were affordable. Sales says it all. People could have opted for European luxury cars but they didn’t. It all came down to what people wanted.
@@fortunateson7852
No next model was the HD than HR
in 1967, 3 years later.
They didn't put those luxury parts on because they could as the general public didn't complain about it they just kept on manufacturing the same shitty components, but with a new grill or tail lights.
European or Japanese cars had a tariff on them ( more expensive) so no competition there to worry about.
We had a 74 model Peugeot with
4 wheel disc standard, when did Holden/ Ford do that with standard cars??? . That's the point I'm trying to make
I like the EJ better, but it is nice...
I beg 2 difer! Flog fk out of em! And if they brake, fix em and do it agen! 🤗
Having been an EH nut in the past the color is a one off, to me bloody terrible color!! Parchment leather? Quite common. Auto? Most Prems were, Power steering an option EJ and EH option.
My first EH was an S4, they had sintered metal brake linings, gearbox was less terrible?, bigger fuel tank, bigger tailshaft [that all subsequent 179M EHs had] Better tool kit!, carby. 8.6 clutch, the same as all sunsequent 179MIn reality a failure as the broke stub axles and wheels and probably the piss weak little handgreanade of a gearbox.
The S4 came first, many of the comonents came std on the subsequent 179M EHs which were just under 1300 quid new.
And S4s came in most EH Colors, not just Winton red!!
EHs as a road car were the best balanced best handling 60s Holden thoough HRs with ball joint steering and suspension drove nicer.
Junk the crunch box and install a 3 speed all synchro or Aussie 4 speed, use ball joint steering from HR and 6" rims and decent radials and they will do most things better than any other 60s Holden. And look good too!
There was a S20 model proposed? that never happened that was to be discbrake and 4 speed with probably the X2 engine.
7424200 is a 179 block part no. Auto or manual. That block though seems to be meatier around the corners? As for 4 speed the Opel box is a tiny thing for a 1.9 Opel 4 so did not require a heavier block. Mebbee GMH were experimenting. S4 was 3.55, auto 3.36 which I always found as better.
EH S4 with the stock cam may be 98 mph, no faster with a 3.55. 4800-4900 rpm was it!
AS for single carb??? HQ racecars are around 130mph into the Chase with a single Stromberg but rev over 6000 rpm. As afst as an XU1!
The ONLY passion shannons have is for your money.
Hi Tasman. Interesting comment. Firstly, how is that different to any other company in the world, and for that matter, even yourself trying to obtain an income? We all need to survive. Secondly, Shannons was started by the late Robert Shannon many years ago. The reason he started was to offer insurance to enthusiasts at a time when other insurance companies wouldn't - or were too expensive. These days, we need to look at more than just a "cheaper" premium. Anyone can sell something cheaper. Shannons give back to car clubs & events like no other insurance company - and have their cheques in the mail to you quicker than most come claim time. Cheers Tasman, thanks for watching, Fletch.