issuE ~~z Ho/deh Business September/October 2016 FRONT COVER —Gavin Smith's 2002 WH Statesman COMMITTEE: CHAIRMAN /EDITOR. Ken Garner, 39 Roebuck Rd, Chessington, Surrey, KT9 1JY. Phone. 020 8287 4932 [email protected] MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY /TREASURER. Guy Hardy, Rookholme Cottage 7 Gorsey Bank, Wirksworth, Derbyshire, DE4 4AD. Phone: 01629 820814 [email protected] The Register is recognised by GM Holden Ltd Spares Co-ordinator : Ken Garner. See above Club Website: http://www.holdenuk.co.uk Club items for sale: HOLDEN BUSINESS, Back Issues. N o. 1-3 50p the Three No. 4 -date 50p Each. Holden 1948-1962 Book £8 .. Stickers (With Club Logo) 50p .. Key Fob .. 50p .. Cloth Badge .. £7 .. Tie (Blue) .. £8 .. T Shirts(M/L) .. £6.50 + £2 p&p Metal Car Badge .. £10 + £2 p&p Binders for Club Magazine (holds 12) £6 + £2 p&p All cheques payable to Holden UK Register. (In Sterling) NOTE: Cash in Aus$ or €can be accepted. Also payment by PayPal Please contact the chairman for details Small items will be sent post free with next copy of the magazine, otherwise please add postage. 2 ET0~ NOTES. ,::. ~ ; ,wi-, ~!;'!!~1 Hi all, _; i.: =~ - .. ~i We have had some excellent ry~Y `1 sunny weekends recently, so hopefully you have been able to get out to some of the many shows around the country. On page 12 I have included a copy of an e-mail we Many thanks to those of you received from MJ Forwarding have renewed their who offering shipping services. membership for another This may be useful if you are year. If you haven't done so thinking of importing a this, I am afraid, will the yet, vehicle. last edition of the magazine just offer this for your receive. you will information, I can't endorse them as I don't know of Referring to the item on anyone who has used them. Bedford CF vans starting on page 8, these vans were once a common sight in the Regards UK, although only a few ambulance and caravanette versions were actually fitted with the Holden engine here. don't know whether or not Ken any of these still exist. 3 The last `ute' ~~~~~~ heralds end Total number of Utes to roll off the production line of Australian Source: Car Advice magazine country will rely on imported vehicles, many built in nations with lower manu- ~armaking facturing costs, such as Thailand. The ute had become a cultural icon, celebrated as the muscular, road-going Australia expression of the Australian working Bernard Lagan Sydney class. In a nation prone to perpetuating a notion of egalitarianism, even prime About80 years ago a farmer's wife from ministers —including the patrician, Gippsland,a spare,sinewy landscape in Oxford-educated Malcolm Fraser and, the southeast of Australia, wrote to the more recently, Labor's Kevin Rudd — head ofthe Ford Motor Company's out- would suddenly acquire a bruised ute post in Melbourne. during election campaigns. "My husband and I can't afford a car The design migrated off, shore in and a truck,"she said,"but we need a car the late 1980s and, in the hands of the to go to church on Sunday and a truck Japanese motor industry, turned into to take the pigs to market on Monday. high-riding, dual-cab four-wheel Can you help?" drives, such as the Toyota Hilux. Thefollowing year,in an enviable act Prized by revolutionaries,insurgents of consumer responsiveness, Ford and mass-killers the world over, the Australia built what the company ute's design is the motor industry's credits as the first utility vehicle: a half equivalent of the Kalashnikov AK-47: car, half truck created by Lew Bandt, a affordable, durable and effective. 23-year-old Melbourne engineer. Lower tariffs on imports, consumer It was 1934,and BaridYs creation was demand for small, fuel-efficient vehi- made from Henry Ford's pioneering cles and taxpayers' lack of appetite for Model A coupe. Brandt retained the the annual subsidies paid to carmakers car's front half and replaced the rear to keep their tens of thousands of seats and boot with a truck tray. employees injobs all contributed to the The utility design became known as industry's demise. the "ute';and has often been updated to Some lament the loss. Mark Sidoti, a incorporate modern design and tech- Ford ute owner, said: "It's a disgusting nology. travesty. I feel like an old friend has left On Friday, however, the ute finally my life." died, a victim of tumbling demand. At After Bandt retired he acquired.an Ford's Australian plant in north Melb- old Ford and recreated his original ute. ournethat is almost 60 years old, a pri- He crashed it and was killed. The wreck vate ceremony for staff marked the last was rebuilt and is still kept by Ford, a ute to roll off the production line: a testament to a strange vehicle that was white Falcon. born to serve a dual purpose for genteel It heralds the end of Australia's car farmers and grew into a symbol for a manufacturing industry: Ford, General shrinking blue-collar Australia. Motors and Toyota will close their plants by the end of next year and the THE TIMES ~ Monday August 4 12016 Holden Engine plant to close t year after stockpiling final run of Commodo By RON HAMMERTON GM HOLDEN is planning to stoc thousands of Melbourne-made Commodore engines before closi~ engine plant late this year, thus t it over for the final nine months of Commodore production at Eliza South AusValia. The demise of the 13-yez Fishermens Bend engine factory .bring down the curtain on 68 yet Holden mam~factwing at the i~ Victorian site, where it built its Holden-badged car in 1948. Australian arm. sales in recent years, even as overall Aug 3, 2016 Although a firm date for the Holden GoAuto expects the MY17 sales of the Australian-developed large Engine Operations plant closure has Commodore to go into production car have declined on the back of falling not been confirmed by Holden, it is directly after the annual summer fleet sales. Las[ year, Holden sold just expected to come after Holden quits shutdown at Elizabeth, running until 34,010 Commodore sedans, wagons . Cn~ze small-car p~oduclion at Elizabeth the fourth quarter of 2017 when Ho)den and utes and Caprices in AusValia — in October. will close local production entirely, well short of the 107,515 sold in 1998 The VG engines to be stockpiled more or less simulta~ieously with when the Commodore and its variants will meet the latest Euro 5 emissions Toyota Australia. topped the sales charts. regulations that come into force in Holden has already stopped From 2018, the Commodore will be Australia on November I this year. production of LPG gas and E85 replaced by an imported model, thought However, Holden has been given ethanol-compatible engines in the latest to be based on the next Opel-built special dispensation by the federal VF Ii Commodore that was introduced Insignia in Gertnauy. goJecnment to defer introduction of the in October last year. More Uian a million VG engines have Curo 5-compliant V6 until early 2017. Its US-made 62-litre V8 engines in been built for Australia and export The company says it wants the latest vehicles such as the Commodore SS, markets at Holden's Global VG Engine engine to coincide with the introduction Calais V and Caprice V are already plant since it opened with great fanfare of the 3017 model-year Commodore Euro 5 compliant. in 2003. that is likely to be the subject of a These V8 engines have Veen takinb concerted send-off campaign by GM's an increasing shaze of Commodore FULL STORY: CLICK HERE INDUSTRY WELCOMES SA JOB-CREATION MOVES By TERRY MARTIN when the factory will close. THE SAMotorTradeAssociation(MTA) At the time of the announcement in has welcomed the South Australian December 2013, Holden said total job government's budget initiatives designed losses would be around 2900 positions, to boost employment and business with 1600 of those from Elizabeth and confidence as the state faces significant 1300 from Victoria, where Holden's Port job cuts with Holden's manufachving Melbourne engine plant will also close. wind-down and closure next year. South Australia's 2016/17 budget, Jul 20, 2016 Earlier last week, Holden confirmed handed down by treasurer Tom that production of the Cruze small car Koutsantonis this month, includes a would end at its Elizabeth factory on $109 million grant scheme for small October 7 this year —the same day and medium-sized businesses —those that Ford Australia officially closes its with a payroll of between $600,000 manufacturing operations —and that and $5 million —that offers $10,000 for 320 jobs would be axed at the Adelaide every extra person they employ over plant as a result. the next two years. Commodore production will continue as planned until the end of next year, 5 .;~t , ~,_., ~ oath &Trim ~-~~ ~ o~io Classic car trim specialist ~,,.,._ — DISCOUNT TO CLUB offerering retrimming '`~ ~ MEMBER service encompassing all aspects of classic and ,~ ~~ modern re-upholstery. - ." ._.1 Complete retrims Hood repairs Headlinings Seat repairs Carpets etc. All work is carried out to the highest quality and at very competitive rates PLEASE CALL: 0207 622 4734 or 0207 720 8600 EMA~~ [email protected] 92 QUEENSTOWN ROAD LONDON SW8 3RY Holden, Elizabeth shutdown m coincide with Altona's help suppliers: Bernh2 By BYRON MATHIOUDAKIS GM AOLDEN has confirmed it intends to enter talks with Ti in the neaz firture about doveL• the end of Australian productic the Commodore and Caprice wit Camry and Aurion, to better sui suppliers who service both compai For the same reasons, Holden has a little bit less Ulan 1$ montl~s away, so generation Astra.