Early GM Holden Promotional Movie
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- A two-minute snipped of a GM Holden Movie that goes back to the beginning of the "All Australian Car" - the 48-215, also referred to as the FX Holden. Viewers are taken through the newly erected plants at Fisherman's Bend, and Port Elizabeth. Soon this will all be a bygone era...
The first 48 -215 (FX) was designed, engineered and prototyped in Detroit, based on an earlier rejected Chev design, before being shipped to Australia for evaluation and testing.
I sympathised with Sir Lawrence Hartnett when he wasn't invited to the first Holden
Launch....
I consider it damned unforgivable that the Australian motorcar industry is no longer producing their own cars.
I agree, sad for me. I was an apprentice at GMH plant 3 experimental 1955 to 1960 The FJ was still in production and we were building the FE prototype.
My father was working at Fishermans Bend during the war and after and took me to the release of the 215 in 1947.
@@rongumley7741 I agree. I don't get why any car company would pull the plug on something like this. Particularly considering how long they've been Australia.
Here Here...A National Disgrace....
@@fredfungalspore It's worse than a disgrace.
Sir Laurence Hartnett's team at Holden designed a much better, stronger car to be the first Holden but GM Detroit vetoed the plan and found a pre-war compact Chevrolet prototype that could be adapted to fit the bill as required in Australia. The 48/215 we finally got was the American car modified with a new body to supposedly suit Australian conditions. When the car was shown to the public Larry Hartnett was not even invited to attend. He had resigned from the company in disgust a few months before and I don't blame him one bit.
Although Holden designed some really outstanding cars in its day, the GM connection always seemed to stifle development somewhat. Australians wouldn't be allowed to get power steering, disc brakes, automatic transmissions or air conditioning until well into the 60s when these things had already become commonplace in the US. In fact the thing which forced GM America to let Holden have more options was the fact that newly imported Japanese vehicles had all these niceties and their sales were eating into Holden sales numbers.
It's fucked up how that is.
I don't think it's fair what you say about "Australians wouldn't be allowed to get...". You're implying that GM didn't allow its Australian outpost access to these items. You have no proof that that was the case. These items were not commonplace in the Australian market at the time. Yes, they were in the US, but the US was much bigger and richer than Australia was in the 1960s. Few cars in Australia offered air conditioning, for example. When when Holden did begin to offer air conditioning from 1968, take up was low. It wasn't for another 10-15 years before it became the norm.
There can be no question that Holden knew its market, it had over 50% of the market in the mid-1960s. If Holden thought the market wanted air conditioning, it would have offered it.
@@pullformore Hmm.... I am a Holden aficionado and have studied its history extensively. If Holden had introduced air con and the other niceties with, say, the FC then word of mouth would have boosted later uptake. Nowadays no Australian would accept a non air con car. Proof of being stifled? Do some reading about Larry Hartnett, the EJ debacle and how Peter Hanenberger became disgusted about how GM US treated Holden. Also read Joe Hockey's assessment of how GM US funnelled government subsidies for Holden. If you are an American I suggest you go and do more research, mate!
@@pullformore PS...Holden had no real competition in the 50s and early 60s until Ford and Chrysler challenged them. When the Japanese arrived the 50 percent share was but a distant memory.
@@tripsadelica you’re forgetting that the industry was heavily regulated back then, with strict local content rules. Manufacturers had to have a high level of local content or else taxes and tariffs were imposed which of course led to higher sticker prices. Holden couldn’t therefore simply import parts from the US, as much as it might have like. If you know your Holden history, then look at automatic transmissions: Holden used imported Hydramatic then Powerglide (a step backward, but I digress) throughout the 1960s. Take up was moderate because of the cost. It was only when Holden introduced the locally made Tri-Matic that sales really took off - by the 1970s most Kingswoods were automatics.
All The past federal government politicians
You are a disgrace for seeing the demise of the Australian car industry...All Australia has now is One Million coffee shops..
And then we still got a prototype small chevy they already had designed with sheet metal to make it look like the Aussie design, the great con that doesn't get talked about, that's why Hartnett resigned and why he wasn't invited to release
Im looking for a video where prototypes were tested in ans around melb suburbs and Dandenong ranges.
And yet not on single penny was provided by the americans to build the factories and all the other facilities need to produce the car right from the very beginning.when Sir Lawrence Harnett first approached the GM executives with the idea to build a car right from scratch here in Australia they told him no...as they wanted to build all the cars there and ship them to Australia to sell instead of making them here. when he was at last able to convince them to build a vehicle here they reluctantly said yes but told him straight out they would not be providing any finance whatsoever for the project. fortunately the Prime minister Ben Chifley stepped up to the plate and helped organise all the finance needed to get things underway. then once the americans knew it would be going ahead they then stepped back in to the room and took over all the design and control of the project.
catey62 its all about economics, not hearsay. Remember the Ford tyre plant in the middle of the Brazilian jungle. GM produced some robust metal during WW2, and were what Australia needed to open up its vast outback.
catey62 australia should have gone alone,and told gm to shove it
Yes when it comes to America
Australia has little back bone and kowtows to their needs and requirements...take a look how well American Politics are run in America
By Power obsessed lunatics and geriatric fossils....🤡🤡
I love those dust coats every one would wear and British upper lip narration..Toddle Pip..😆🇭🇲
Absolutely brilliant, wish I had a brand new one
Rip Holden you will never be forgotten and as a fitting end the w1 will be the pinnacle of automotive excellence unlike ford that built nothing but outdated shit.
Ford, First On Rubbish Day F'ing Old Rusty Dunny God Built fords to keep F-wits out of holdens
Ask any aussie taxi driver if Ford built shit. They pull a million kms all day every day.Long live the barra!
where does one find the second part to this video????
+Brett Murray Hi Brett, I'll see if I can find it somewhere and post it here.
@@Fyawnym
Did you?
great vid !!