Retro Stories: David Burrell

by David Burrell – – – It’s the 60th anniversary of the VC Valiant. Released in March, a month before the HR Holden made its debut and seven months in advance of Ford’s all new “Mustang bred” XR Falcon, the VC was a deftly-styled Australian update of an American design that had been around since […]

by David Burrell – – – I’m searching through the AMHF’s extensive collection to find examples of Australian car companies and their advertising agencies reusing overseas print advertisements and brochures. In those pre-internet days very few car enthusiasts would have had access to overseas brochures, so the copying remained undetected for decades. 1963 EH HOLLDEN […]

by David Burrell – – – A rotary engine in a Torana? Yes! Holden once considered a rotary for the Torana hatchback. Back in the early 1970s, GM’s president, Ed Cole (the same Ed Cole who created the Chevrolet Corvair), was one of the rotary’s greatest champions and established a well-funded and highly publicised project. […]

by David Burrell – – – The AMHF has an extensive and fascinating collection of automotive brochures and print advertisements. Some date from the 1930s. How many items are in the collection? No one has conducted a count. A small team of volunteers is doing so now and cataloguing them. While the cataloguing continues, I’ve […]

by David Burrell – – – On 15 September 2011, the last V8 body-on-chassis passenger sedan was built in the USA. It was the Ford Crown Victoria, known to us devotees as the “Crown Vic”. I reckon that the Crown Vic is the most recognised car on the planet. In just about every American TV […]

by David Burrell – – – Does the car in the photo above look vaguely familiar? A little bit like an HD Holden? A little bit like General Motors’ (GM) cars in the sixties and seventies? Known as the “Solaris” it was one of the most influential concept cars ever built by GM and kept […]

Retro Stories by David Burrell – – – In a quiet corner of the 1966 Geneva Motor show was the Skoda stand. The Czechoslovakian manufacturer had survived through two world wars and was now under communist control, but that did not stop it from turning out interesting cars.  While all the attention at Geneva was […]

Retro Stories by David Burrell – – – Automotive folklore says that the Buick Y Job of 1938 was General Motors’ (GM) first concept car. But that’s only half right. It was the first concept car shown to the public.  During the early 1930s GM developed a number of concept cars, but never let them […]

Retro Stories by David Burrell – – – The Standard 8 is one of those small 1950s British cars that sold in reasonable numbers, and was built in Australia, but is now largely forgotten.  In 1950, Standard-Triumph boss, Sir John Black, challenged his design and engineering teams to develop a modern small car. Black insisted […]