Huge Holden collection for sale "Down Under"
09/07/2016
You hardly ever see Holden cars here, but for Australians they are what Vauxhall is in the UK, Opel in Germany or Chevrolet in the USA, the local brand of General Motors and one of the most important, if not the most important vehicle manufacturer in the country.
Holden began producing car bodies in Australia almost 100 years ago, the company was taken over by General Motors in 1931, and in 1948 the first Holden developed for Australia was presented.
Holden became the most important car manufacturer in Australia, the products had a unique design and appealed to the tastes of local car buyers.
Over time, Holden vehicles naturally became similar to other General Motors products, e.g. from Opel.
General Motors still trades under the name Holden in Australia today.
This brand also appealed to Charlie McCarron, an Australian who visited the Henry Ford Museum in the States as a young man and was so impressed that he decided to do something similar for the Holden brand.
For decades, he bought everything to do with his favorite brand, whether spare parts, body parts, engines or brass plates.
And he acquired one Holden vehicle after another, whether they were early cars like the 46th Holden 48-215 built or late variants like the Holden Commodore. Of course, the beloved muscle cars from Down Under are not missing either.
There are probably examples of almost all evolutionary stages in his collection and the pictures shown here alone show how the design language developed.
But now McCarron is getting too old to continue his passion for collecting. At the age of 84, he could no longer continue. To date, he has never sold another car, but now the entire collection is going under the hammer. The auction is being organized by Burns & Co, to whom we also owe the (not always very artistically taken) pictures.
Everything is neatly documented in a catalog with almost 2000 items and can be followed online with numerous pictures. The auction will take place in Australia from September 30 to October 2 and the total value has been estimated at around USD 1.5 million, of which the oldest car alone is expected to account for a fifth.
