By DAVID PIKE

November 1948 was a significant date in the Australian motoring calendar. Prior to this date there had never been a mass-produced car of uniquely Australian origin. With the launch of the 48/215, although it was based on a pre-WWII Chevrolet design, Australia at long last had a car that Australian motorists could say was their own. In fact General Motors-Holden's Ltd used the slogan `Australia's Own Car' in most of its early advertising. The car’s introduction was a major talking point for a long time after the initial launch and many people looked forward to buying one.

The 48/215 was powered by a six-cylinder engine with excellent torque. At that time most British cars had four-cylinder engines and many imports from the USA featured V8 engines. The Holden six had a capacity of 2.171 litres and developed 45kW. (Compare this with many of today's four-cylinder cars which develop 100+kW from their 2.0-litre engine.) This grey motor - called this because it was painted a dull grey - was not stressed in any way and was extremely tough and reliable and very easy to work on or modify as indeed many were.

Drive to the rear wheels was through a three-speed manual gearbox with a column shift but synchromesh was only available on second and third gears. Despite the fact that many roads in Australia, particularly in country areas, were rough and dusty back in 1948 the Holden handled well and soon became a common sight throughout Australia. A bag of cement in the boot was a useful addition to stop tail bounce on really rough tracks. With its unitary construction the car handled even rough roads without rattles and squeaks. Good ground clearance meant it was popular in the bush and many farmers were among the early purchasers.

The first Holden was only available as a four-door sedan and inside it had a bench seat at both front and rear making it a full six-seater. The instrument layout was quite simple and basic with a large round central speedometer dial with two smaller cutouts below. The bottom left contained a fuel gauge whilst the lower right hand one housed three warning lights indicating generator charging, oil pressure and engine temperature

In the beginning Holdens were only produced at the rate of ten cars per day and GMH had a stated aim of reaching 20,000 cars per year. By early in 1950 GMH was holding 40,000 firm orders, and by 1951 they had increased production to 100 Holdens per day. Achieving 32,000 sales in 1952 raised their market share to 30 per cent.