Retro Stories by David Burrell
Released on 2nd May, 1961, the EK Holden was never planned by GMH.
Previously secret GMH documents reveal that it was originally intended for the 1960 FB to run with no styling changes until it was superseded by the 1962 EJ in mid-’62. To keep potential buyers interested, a mid-series update would feature the option of an automatic transmission. Trouble was, the automatic project fell way behind schedule.
The plans for an automatic went back to April 1957 when GMH asked Borg Warner to develop a locally built transmission.
By early 1960 it was clear that Borg Warner was not able to deliver an acceptable transmission. This necessitated GMH switching to a version of GM’s HydraMatic. The extra testing would add months to the project.
Meanwhile, in October 1959 Ford and Chrysler in the USA had released their Falcon and Valiant, respectively. The executives at GMH were confronted with the high probability that this duo might be headed to Australia. Both featured automatics and with their low-slung lines and up-to-date styling, they made the FB look old, old, old. Suddenly, GMH market leadership was under threat.
In April 1960 GMH’s internal memos reveal that a decision was made to shelve the FB’s mid-series update. Instead, there would be a “new” model, the EK. The documents say the EK was to be a “minor facelift of the FB series” and include the HydraMatic as an option.
To call it a minor facelift is an over exaggeration! The styling team did very little to convert the FB into the EK. Just a new grille, really. In fact, when I was granted access to GMH’s design studio archives a couple of years ago, the EK photographic file (from which the black and white images accompanying this story are taken) was the thinnest of any Holden model, such was the haste of its development and the lack of sheet metal changes.
When the EK was launched, Holden’s PR folk sought to downplay expectations of significant changes by insisting that it was not a “new” car, but only an “improved” model. As can be seen from the covers of Wheels, Motor Manual and Modern Motor magazines, from the AMHF’s collection, the motoring media could not resist the word NEW in their headlines.
Sydney’s Daily Telegraph motoring editor and racing car driver, David McKay, was blunt in his observations about the lack of difference between the FB and EK. Writing in Holden’s staff magazine People, he said “on first sight it is quite tricky to pick an EK from an FB.” Ouch!
Despite being an unplanned stop gap, the EK was sales success. From May 1961 to July 1962, 150,000 of them went from dealers to driveways. By comparison, Ford’s Falcon was lucky to reach a third of the EK’s sales in the same time.
As old fashioned as the EK looked, new cars buyers obviously valued the EK’s rugged reliability over the stylish Falcon, which was starting to be impacted by reliability issues.
Indeed, the EK is a visual reminder of a time when Holden could sell a 1950s car at 1960s prices and still secure 49% of the new car market. How wonderful it must have been to own a Holden dealership in those halcyon days!
