HOLDEN HISTORY

Holden plants

Adelaide

Holden’s Motor Body Builders (HMBB) was established in 1919 in workshops of the former FT Hack & Co car motor body builders at 400 King William Street, Adelaide. Subsequently a substantial four-storey factory was built. HMBB became the largest manufacturer of motor bodies in the British Empire and the second biggest in the world. In 1928 the factory was sold to the Myer Emporium and Muirden College bought the offices.

Birkenhead

Established in 1926 by General Motors Australia (GMA), Birkenhead became a GMH plant upon the merger of GMA and Holden’s Motor Body Builders in 1931. Defence equipment was produced during the Second World War, including boats which were tested on the nearby Port River. A number of export models also left Birkenhead for various overseas destinations. Holdens, Chevrolets, Pontiacs, Vauxhalls, and Bedford trucks were being produced in quantity until early 1965 when the new vehicle assembly plant opened at Elizabeth. On Friday 13 August 1965, the last assembled vehicle, a Pontiac, rolled off the line. The building was demolished in 1991.

Beverley

In the late 1920s HMBB acquired Whittingslow Engineering Ltd at Howards Road, Beverley, where they produced drop-forged, heat-treated and machined components. During the Second World War the plant was turned over to the manufacture of military equipment. The Commonwealth Government had bought the site in 1942, leasing it to GMH. In 1946 the premises were bought by Clarkson Ltd.

Woodville

When HMBB outgrew their premises in King William Street they looked beyond the city for a site suitable for a large factory, close to transport and with room for some expansion. In 1923 the company bought 9 acres (4 ha.) then a further 22 acres (9 ha.) of land at Woodville. It was subsequently decided that more land was needed. William ‘Bill’ Holden, Works Manager at King William Street, along with Company Secretary Arthur Lemon, knocked on the front doors of houses near the site with offers to buy. So successful were they that the initial site ‘expanded’ to 31 acres (12.5 ha.) and some years later to some 55 acres (22 ha.).

By 1931 the Depression had hit HMBB hard and production levels plummeted to unsustainable levels. Consequently the 1931 merger with General Motors, which resulted in the new company of General Motors-Holden’s, saved the company, jobs, and the Woodville factory. As a large, advanced and efficient factory, production levels remained high throughout the pre-war, war, and post war years, particularly with the introduction of the All-Australian car, the Holden 48-215, in 1948.

With company restructuring and rationalisation in the late 1970s and 1980s GMH closed many smaller factories around the country. In South Australia the Woodville factory had expanded to its limits. It was competing with the newer Elizabeth plant which did not have the disadvantage of being in a built-up area with defined limits on expansion. Production levels were gradually reduced, and activities and equipment transferred to Elizabeth. By 1983 the plant was virtually closed. Portions of it were sold to automotive sub-contractors and other industries. The plant was demolished in 1991.

Elizabeth

Construction of the Elizabeth plant began in May 1958 with a ceremonial pouring of concrete. The body hardware plant opened in 1960, while the body and vehicle assembly plant opened in 1962. Queen Elizabeth II visited and toured the plant in 1963. The Elizabeth plant has played an important part in the development of GMH and has undergone continual revisions and modernisations over the years. It was the last GMH assembly plant in Australia, building all the Holden Commodores. It was considered amongst the most efficient and productive General Motors plants in the world.

The Elizabeth plant was closed on 20 October 2017 and the production of Holden vehicles ceased.