{"id":2906,"date":"2019-01-30T15:31:59","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T05:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=2906"},"modified":"2019-01-30T15:37:48","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T05:07:48","slug":"new-release-don-lofflers-holden-treasures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2019\/01\/new-release-don-lofflers-holden-treasures\/","title":{"rendered":"Holden Treasures Takes Us on a Drive Down Memory Lane"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Holden Treasures<\/em><\/a> tells the unique story of the first ten Holden models from the 1946 prototypes to the 1966 HR. The chapters feature these Holden vehicles in their current or recent states as well as including historic images of the vehicles in their heyday.\u00a0It\u00a0incorporates over 500 outstanding\u00a0black-and-white photographs\u00a0and colour slides, all assembled through\u00a0Loffler’s devoted\u00a0and persistent research in\u00a0automotive social history.<\/p>\n

Read on for a sneak peek into the pages of this painstaking labour of love by Don Loffler.<\/p>\n

From page 110:<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Eddie Sams\u2019s ambulance,\u00a0which began its life as an FJ panel van, is\u00a0the only one of its kind to have been fully\u00a0restored.\u00a0What gives it additional status is\u00a0that much of the original first-aid equipment\u00a0was donated by Mrs Victoria Wadey, whose\u00a0husband, Fred, <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

had been the\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span>superintendent\/\u00a0secretary of the Temora District Ambulance\u00a0Service in New South Wales and had taken\u00a0delivery of the ambulance in April 1956.\u00a0The colourful history of this vehicle is told\u00a0in my book The FJ Holden<\/i><\/a>. The ambulance\u00a0is much travelled and is often seen at\u00a0interstate car shows, where it attracts great\u00a0attention.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From pages 132\u2013134:<\/h1>\n

\u2018Igor\u2019 the FB campervan (pictured below in June 2012)<\/b><\/p>\n

The story of this unique vehicle is best told in the words of Omar Grass, the third owner,\u00a0who wrote the following description when he was advertising it for sale in 1989:\u00a0\u2018I purchased the van in 1985 for $3000 from a local chap who had bought it from the\u00a0original owner\/builder four years previous to this, so it has had only three owners. The\u00a0original owner was a retired engineer, who used his low-mileage station wago\"\"<\/a>n as a base\u00a0for this camper.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s very evident that everything was done with lots of love, care and attention to detail.\u00a0For example, the rear end was re-engineered to suit a two-ton Ford Transit double-wheel\u00a0rear axle, whose propeller shaft connects with a five-speed Toyota Celica gearbox. This is\u00a0all driven by a Red 179 Holden motor. The brakes are servo assisted with extra large Repco\u00a0drums on the front.<\/p>\n

~<\/span><\/h1>\n

\u2018The bull bar itself is an engineer\u2019s work of art! It incorporates room for a 10-kilogram\u00a0gas bottle and two 20-litre jerry cans. It\u2019s a very soundly designed and built car.\u00a0\u2018The camper section is set up as a four-berth and is complete with built-in cupboards,\u00a0stove, three-way fridge, stainless steel sink, water tank and table. Overall length of vehicle\u00a0is 171\/2 feet (including bull bar).\u2019<\/p>\n

After using the van for travelling around South Australia for two years, Omar decided\u00a0to have some restoration work done on the vehicle by a professional panel worker. Rust and\u00a0dents were removed from the FB section and all panels were given a bare metal respray.\u00a0The restorer commented on how little filler there was in the panels. No work had to be\u00a0done on the rear section. The engine and the gearbox, however, were overhauled, with\u00a0many new parts being fitted.\u00a0After four years of ownership, Omar sold the campervan\u00a0to Gilbert Hallett of Castlemaine, Victoria, who later\u00a0sold it to Roger and Lesley Johnston of Mount Gambier,\u00a0South Australia.<\/p>\n

From page 140:<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

During their working lives, the brothers Alex and David Hughes rescued many an early model Holden from\u00a0impending oblivion, restoring most of them to stock form and creating a few one-off special versions, an\u00a0example of which can be seen above. The starting point was an HR sedan, making for a smart-looking vehicle.<\/p>\n

Alex writes:\u00a0It had been in a rollover and was quite damaged. It had such a first-class floor pan that we didn\u2019t like\u00a0scrapping it. We didn\u2019t like throwing anything away if we could use it for another project, so we decided to\u00a0make this one into a convertible.<\/p>\n

~~~<\/h1>\n

Some people guess that Don Loffler<\/strong> is the son or relative of a Holden dealer, or a former Holden factory employee, or someone closely connected with the motor trade. He is none of these, but a retired German, Latin and Chemistry teacher, who is enjoying the process of writing books on his passion – the early Holden models and the history behind them.<\/p>\n

Born in Kapunda, South Australia, Don gained an Arts degree and two Education diplomas from the University of Adelaide. His late wife, also a graduate with similar degrees from the same university, was his inspiration in the initial years of his book writing, and the tradition is now maintained by his son Michael and daughter Helen.<\/p>\n

Don Loffler regards himself as fortunate indeed to be writing three more books<\/a> featuring all makes of car on Australian roads in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. In addition, he is preparing a third edition of his original book, She\u2019s a Beauty!<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

To find out more about the book, or to purchase a copy, visit us in our bookshop at 16 Rose street, Mile End, or find it online<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Holden Treasures tells the unique story of the first ten Holden models from the 1946 prototypes to the 1966 HR. The chapters feature these Holden vehicles in their current or recent states as well as including historic images of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-fun"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4v1Of-KS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2906"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2965,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2906\/revisions\/2965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}