November 26, 1948 – The first Holden cars
A first generation Holden
J. A. Holden & Co became a leading saddlery in South Australia soon after its founding in 1856. When the original owner’s grandson joined the company almost 50 years later, he added automotive upholstery repair to the company’s services. Following WWI, the formation of subsidiary Holden Motor Body Builders occurred, which began to produce car bodies in Adelaide, South Australia. The next decade would have HMBB manufacturing car bodies for Austin, Chrysler, DeSoto, Ford, Morris, Hillman, Humber, Hupmobile and Willys-Overland. Then, in 1931, General Motors bought the company.
When the Australian government began to encourage growth of the Australian auto industry, Holden executives made a compromise with GM to build a Chevrolet based, Australian ca...
