Retro Stories by David Burrell
The newly opened Holden Manufacturing Heritage Centre, in Elizabeth, SA, is fast becoming the venue for Holden enthusiasts, and others, to celebrate automotive milestones.
Two recent events commemorated the 75th anniversary of the 48-215 Holden and the 70th anniversary of the release of the FJ Holden.
The Heritage Centre is a fabulous addition to automotive attractions in Australia. Located at the former Holden production facility at Elizabeth, the Centre hosts and displays historic data, audio visuals, design and manufacturing artefacts of Holden’s history.
A number of “last of” and prototype cars are housed at the Centre, as are scale and full-sized clay models.
Four very rare full-sized fibreglass Commodore and Statesman models are on display, including the VN Commodore. These cars look real.
These models were used in the final production approval meetings and are usually destroyed, so they are valuable artefacts of Australia’s automotive heritage.
Staffed by volunteers, the chairman of the Centre is Jeff Jamieson, who was GMH’s Executive Director of Manufacturing.
I was given an early morning tour of the Centre by Jeff. And let me tell you, this place needs to be on your must-see list.
The Centre is open by appointment to car clubs and groups. Contact details are: holdenmfgheritage [at] gmail.com.
Kira Hayes is the Public Relations Officer and co-ordinates visits to the Heritage Centre.
