National Motor Museum - Birdwood: Classic Resto - Series 47

As promised in an earlier episode, Fletch ventures back to the National Motor Museum at Birdwood, South Australia, to take you through an exceptional display, one that Fletch claims to be one the finest and most significant ever seen under one roof in Australia. The 'Holden Heroes' exhibition brings together 18 vehicles representing a retrospective showcase from the Holden Heritage collection, from the first Holden car, the 48-215, to the last VF Holden produced in 2017. Plus a collection of milestone vehicles, the first millionth car a '63 EJ Holden, the second millionth car a '68 HK Brougham, the fourth millionth car an '81 VC SLE sedan, the 6th & 7th millionth cars a 2001 VK Commodore SS, and a 2008 VE Commodore. Included in the display are the concept cars designed but never manufactured for some reason, including the Mambo-influenced Series 2 Sandman, the Marilyn Monaro Cabriolet in '02, and Series 3 Monaro in 2008.
Back in the late 70's early 80s, when the fuel crisis hit and car prices were on the rise, GMH were at the pivotal point or changeover from the HZ Kingswood and the introduction of the first of the VB Holden Commodores. The Commodore ultimately won out because of the modern styling compared to Kingswood.
A Holden Heroes collection would not be complete without the iconic Efijy. While Fletches inspects the car, he calls the GM Australian Design Director responsible for creating the Efijy Richard Ferlazzo, who talks Fletch through how Efijy came about. Richard said they took the DNA of the FJ, gave it the name Efijy, which is a play on words, and made it look like an elegant car of the '40s and '50s. The 50th anniversary of the FJ was coming up, and we thought it's such an iconic Australian car, let make modern version. It's been our most successful show car ever, which debuted in 2005 at the Australian International Motor Show and still looks incredible today.
The National Motor Museum is vast and features cars and an extensive range of motorcycles to match. The displays are constantly changing, so there's always something new. Ensure you allocate a few hours to tour the Museum because there is always plenty to see and do.
There is another little cameo at the end from the Museum, a 1900 De Dion- Bouton, unique technology for 121 years ago.

[@SalisburyKarateClub]

Wow that De Dion (hopefully I've spelt it right) amazing machine for it's age. Love the seating, with the driver at the back and passengers in the front, kind of makes them air bags for the driver.

[@catherinewindow6157]

Holden is the real pride of South Australia 🦘

[@davidbarnsley8486]

This is the only reason I would want to go back and visit SA It was 1988 the last time I was there and I need to see it again

[@mickblack2800]

It's still 1988 South OZ.

[@thaibulldog6800]

EFIJY is simply the best car design ever!

[@steveskrobot9496]

Im a Ford guy, but this is right up there with my favourite CR episode! Wow, the WB kingswood @ the length of a Statesman! That VE Monaro would have been popluar in the USA, but would it have been a Chevy SS coupe? or would it have been a Pontiac again? or both? Evidence how our Government was killing off our proud motoring industry, unfortunately they succeeded in the end.

[@blackbean8465]

Im a holden guy, i believe our motoring industrie was second to none. This year i picked up a ba xr8 ute and much like the fallen musicans or artists their excellence product isnt really appreciated until they are gone. I love this ute so much it is superior to that of the lions equivalent. So i guess on the used market we must continue to appreciate what brilliant cars we once made vehicles made for us to concure our harsh landscape to get us home even when clapped out and neglected R.I.P holden & ford GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN

[@PascalBuyens]

Oh dear... the Efijy. Still drooling over it in 2021.

[@samkaur4098]

Love the VB Commodore.Beautiful white with blue interior.Love to own it!!!

[@area51isreal71]

Great to see some detailed info on the ill fated WB Kingswood sedan. I have read much about it. Apparently GMH were panic stricken about the size of the VB Commodore compared to the XD Falcon. Leo Pruneau is quoted as saying that management were clueless. Many wanted the Kingswood sedan, wagon and Premier to continue but others didn't. As a result according to Leo, the confusion led to money being taken out of the WB Kingswood. What is shown in Birdwood is the final result which would have to have been a complete disaster. Imagine if you shelled out big coin for a HX or HZ Statesman only to see much the same thing running around with a Kingswood badge.

[@johnd8892]

Lots of interest in this so thanks. The 48-215 did not mean 2.15 litre motor, since it was 2171 cc but even then GM would stick with cubic inches. The 48 is the development year and the 215 means it was the 215th project design under development for that year by General Motors worldwide. Project number 215 for 1948. When the Holden ute came out a few years later it was officially the Holden 50-2106 Coupé Utility but did not have a motor ten timed bigger or even any different in size. Thought I had heard of a 48-217 for a taxi or business sedan version but same engine. 48-215-257 Business sedan, subsequently renamed the 48-217. First heard this in an eighties TV documentary where they interviewed GMH people who worked on the car and back to the twenties while they were still around.

[@jb7591]

215 was Holden's internal code for sedan, utilities and vans had a four digit code, as you have mentioned. 229 was the code given to wagons first seen in FE.

[@benw6088]

@@jb7591 General Motors had the code "21" for all Australian Vehicles, which did partially disappear in later years of GM & Holden. "5" was the code for standard sedan. "06" was the code for ute. The business sedan was 48-215-257 where the "257" was the code for the option. But yep, essentially what was said in the video was really offtrack.

[@jb7591]

@@benw6088 & one more obsecure thing, the sedan code of 21 was meant to be 20, which stood for '20th century' but an internal memo was transcribed incorrectly as 21 & the rest is history.

[@johnd8892]

@@benw6088 although the FJ Special does diverge from the country being FJ-225 with the standard FJ-215 but seem to be internal codes not widely in public use. Searched for a 48-215 brochure and found it does not mention capacity but refers to 21.6 HP rating but no BHP .

[@benw6088]

@@johnd8892 Yes, they changed the way the codes were developed for the FJ and many further changes to the codes happened later through holden's life too. I.e. they didn't call the FJ sedan the 53-215. Once the FJ was released they had continued FX business sedan production for a few extra months but changed the code to 48-217 rather than the original 48-215-257.

[@jimclarke1108]

The series 3 Monaro, what a beautiful coupe, big mistake not putting it in to production. I would have parked mine in my lounge room ))

[@bodgiesteve8849]

Shouldnt that be a series 4 Monaro ? HKTG , HQJX , VXZ , VEF

[@johnriley8211]

@Fletch We Have a great Holden Museum in Mildura 3500

[@benw6088]

Good video but some facts are incorrect. For example the 48-215 is named based on year of intended release (19"48"), GM code for an Australian vehicle "21" and "5" for body style of sedan. Its got nothing to do with engine size of 2.15L. The ute was called 50-2106 and it sure as hell didn't have a 21.06L engine. "06" indicates ute, and "50" was the intended release year, even though it was ultimately delayed until 1951. Now I'm going to hear people repeating these incorrect statements at car shows for the rest of time.

[@johnd8892]

And the engine size was 2171 cc but Holden did not quote anything metric back then. The brochures I have seen did not even quote the size in cubic inches. What they did show on the cover was 21HP, but this meant something completely different then being just a taxation measure based on total piston area and coming from the pre world war one RAC horsepower theories used for taxation purposes in many Commonwealth countries. My father attending the Holden launch in 1948 would always confuse me talking about motors based on the RAC horsepower as was common at the time. Fletch gets amazed when he hears these low HP numbers quoted for older cars.

[@craigdickens791]

Another great video 👍

[@ShannonsInsurance]

Glad to hear you liked the video Craig!. If you were to get any classic car you wanted, which one would it be? - Andres.

[@crunchytheclown9694]

@@ShannonsInsurance 510 ask your father

[@craigdickens791]

@@ShannonsInsurance Isn't that the question that every classic car lover loves to be asked?... I'll have a lash... I was born and raised 🇬🇧 but have been living 🇺🇸 for forty years, so I'll do two... From home shores I'd have to go with a 1962/3 Alvis TD21 Drophead, and from here in the States I'd go with a 1956 Chevrolet Beauville Station Wagon... If I lived 🇦🇺 I'd have to do more looking, but I do like the lines of a 1980 Holden Monaro 👍

[@PlasticAssasin8]

old fletch needs someone like Wasteland Firebird to get some excitement going

[@andrewmorgan4306]

Top stuff .

[@bodgiesteve8849]

One detail that you must be corrected on. 48-215, 48....year of intended release, 215.....internal Holden code for, standard four door sedan. eg. the utility, 50-2106. the business sedan, 48-215-217... The next model, FJ, consisted of FJ-215 standard, FJ-225 special, FJ-2106 ute, FJ-2104 van, and FJ-217 business sedan. also 132c.i. converts to 2163.092 cc. the later 138 c.i. is 2261cc Otherwise, Keep up the good work (reference, Don Loffler publications)

[@themoviehobbit355]

I own myself 1 of 1200 CV8Z Monaro. Has been my dream car since I was a kid. And finally bought it back in 2017 I was at the revealing of the coupe60 I can’t believe they only mad a few of them ! Could you imagine seeing that driving around 🤤🤤💦🥵

[@PLANETIA01]

Great clip, thanks for compiling and sharing. However, the adverts are so totally annoying and distracting. DM.

[@perpetualgrin5804]

The only place with a new ' 380 '. I made an offer but it was refused.

[@mikeplantagenet2983]

I have one of the last VF Calais V8 Wagons. It is a fabulously comfortable car with effortless performance. If I could buy another one, I would. It is so sad, that through government stupidity (especially the Joe Hockey era), we no longer manufacture these motor vehicles in Australia. Australian politicians from the last 25 years betrayed the Australian people. Now we are stuck with weird crappy cars, some made by openly hostile nations, that are grossly overpriced because there is no local competition. These foreign corporations charge what they like and price gouging is the new norm.

[@wallywalpamur4960]

"people think car companies have trillions of dollars just to throw around but that's just not the case" Not after you take in consideration all the millions of dollars in wages per year the higher managers and bosses line their pockets with nah.....

[@mickblack2800]

I have a photo in a Holden book of a prototype WB Holden Station Wagon that GMH built, Also l cannot accept the Commodore "Monaro" as most would know the "Monaro" is from the KINGSWOOD line of cars, the 2dr Commodore is just that.. a Commodore & in no way shape or form has anything to do with a "Monaro"but l can remember the fuss the car made at the time & most fell for it. Of course they're pulling good money now but it's just a 2dr cheap thrill Commodore.