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Holden engines and suppliers


knuckleharley

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A friend of mine emailed me a photo of  a early 50's Holden Ute,and it sure looks like there is a Ford OHV inline 6 sitting under the hood.

Did Holden produce their own engines,use outside sources for mechanical parts like engines,or did it all come from Mother Mopar?

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Posted 4 hours ago · Report post

A friend of mine emailed me a photo of  a early 50's Holden Ute,and it sure looks like there is a Ford OHV inline 6 sitting under the hood.

Did Holden produce their own engines,use outside sources for mechanical parts like engines,or did it all come from Mother Mopar?

 

 

 

wiki has a great history of the Holden car company if you care to visit the internet..no Mopar...Holden has been GM affiliated since start of the '30's

 

Edited by Plymouthy Adams
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Thanks.

I was hoping some of the members from Australia or NZ would pipe up on this subject.

 

BTW,looks like I make a mistake by identifying a Mopar UTE with a GM Ute. I did this because my friend called it a Holden Ute.

Edited by knuckleharley
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9 minutes ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

why...Internet is quicker and has more at your finger tips than most would ever care to personally type for you to read......be ye proactive...seek and ye shall find...lol

Maybe quicker,but not as trusted,and it's discussions that keep message boards alive.

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I trust wiki as much as many folks could recall correctly and as thoroughly in detail.....that was just one source, many to compare and read and then assemble the repeated data as pretty much good information...to read one account of anything and call it gospel..that is how rumors and really bad advice get spread....none of this is rocket science...but not to search tells me folks not wanting to put any time into expanding their knowledge base...

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26 minutes ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

I trust wiki as much as many folks could recall correctly and as thoroughly in detail.....that was just one source, many to compare and read and then assemble the repeated data as pretty much good information...to read one account of anything and call it gospel..that is how rumors and really bad advice get spread....none of this is rocket science...but not to search tells me folks not wanting to put any time into expanding their knowledge base...

Ok with me. Believe whatever pleases you. No skin off my nose if  you enjoy being wrong.

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at least I was not  assuming mopar power.......so yes I believe what I research over supposing or thinking or taking at granted some shade tree..even you have stated no faith in mechanics and such.....you contradict yourself way too often ...and post many assumptions on here you often retract......not in manner knocking you only that you seem to shoot yourself in the foot by not taking a few minutes to get up to speed before making comments...no one knows everything...but it only take a minute to learn something...

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47 minutes ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

at least I was not  assuming mopar power.......so yes I believe what I research over supposing or thinking or taking at granted some shade tree..even you have stated no faith in mechanics and such.....you contradict yourself way too often ...and post many assumptions on here you often retract......not in manner knocking you only that you seem to shoot yourself in the foot by not taking a few minutes to get up to speed before making comments...no one knows everything...but it only take a minute to learn something...

With all due respect,ESAD.

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O/k.......the Holden company were carriage builders based in Adelaide South Australia, they progressed to building car and truck bodies for a range of US, European and British makes but were bought out by General Motors in 1931 and then became General Motors Holden or GMH.

Up until the start of WW2 in 1939 they concentrated on GM vehicles although some Mopar till the late 20's, Willys and other independent brands had their bodies built by GMH and were assembled by them.

After WW2 there was a push to have an Australian car and a prototype Chev small car was sent to Oz in 1946 and after evaluation was decided to be built here and was introduced in 1948 as the Holden car...........it used a 132 cube OHV six that looks like a small version of the Chev 6, independent front suspension very similar to the full size Chev, semi elyptic rear springs and unitary construction with a grille that looks like it has Buick influences...........this "FX" series car was updated in 1953 with a sort of 51 Chev grille and was termed the "FJ" series..........then the next version came out in 1957 and Holdens have been built here until this year when they finally cease production........as an aside the 2004-2006 Pontiac GTO was built here in Ozand was based on the Holden Monaro, the 2 dr sporty version of the Holden Commodore.

There are quite a few books available on the history of Holden & GH in Australia tho' one of the best is by Norm Darwin, "The History of Holden Since 1917" was published in 1983 so doesn't cover the cars from then but has probably the best coverage up till 1960 and includes production numbers, body styles, lots of pics, etc & was available in both hard & soft cover.

There were a number of Oz only body styles that the Oz builders such as Holdens and T J Richards(the Mopar body builders that became Chrysler Australia) built such as the Coupe Ute and All Enclosed Coupe or Sloper...........anyway at no stage did Holden use  Ford or Mopar engines except when those engines were include in the CKD sets sent from the USA in the 20's.............hope this helps..........Andy Douglas.      

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Holden production has come to an end?  Is GM importing cars then?  

I know GM is selling off Vauxhall and Opel in Europe.   Wondering now about Ranger in South Africa.   

How the mighty have fallen. 

Here in Canada FCA has been doing battle with Ford for #1 with GM in #3 for the past few years..  This year FCA has been dealing with soft Jeep sales and GM is now slightly ahead of FCA.  Back in the 1950's and 1960's Chrysler of Canada was #3 with sales less about half that of Ford who in turn was less than half of GM.  

Bill

Vancouver, BC

 

 

 

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Companies I know that built cars in Australia since the 1950's - from scratch or using imported parts.  

Volkswagen - closed 1976

Nissan / Datsun - closed 1992

Chrysler / Rootes group - sold to Mitsubishi 1980

Mitsubishi - closed 2008

Australian Motor Industries - assembled Standards, Triumphs, Ramblers, Mercedes. Closed 1987

British Leyland - Morris, Austin and Leyland badged vehicles. Closed 1975 

Ford - closed 2016

GM - Holden. Closing October 2017

Toyota - Closing October 2017

Rick

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Yep.......Chrysler/Mitsubishi or whatever it ended up being about 10yrs ago..........Frod last year and Holden in October this year.......think we still make toilet paper.........lol...................andyd

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Going back to KH's original question, Holden used a Chev design 6 cyl engine from 1948 to 1962. It looked identical to a late 1920's Chev OHV motor, and is known as the grey motor. It was painted grey... The 1963 EH Holden had a newly designed Red motor with a 7 bearing crankshaft along with other significant changes. I don't know if it was an Australian design, or designed in the USA.

Rick

KH - Can you email or post the photo? One of us Aussies should be able to pick the car.

 

Edited by Ricky Luke
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Did some more digging.  

GM is leaving South Africa by the end of the year.  Their assembly plant is being taken over by Isuzu.  They are also abandoning the auto market in India.

Also downloaded a pdf file by GM - "Strategic and Operational Overview", released September 21, 2016.   Everything was all roses and great stuff then, with Australia and Europe being given a glowing review - Opel/Vauxhall had best year in 2015 since 2011 while Holden was  #3 in Australia.  How fast things change.

Bill

(End of diversion and back to KH)

 

 

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