Holden Retirees Club

Styling and Design

1931 - 2018   

When Holden Motor Body Builders (HMBB) merged with General Motors Australia (GMA) in 1931 they not only established Australia’s leading automotive company but also formalised automotive design in this country.

The merged company Holden’s design section produced unique body styles, provided solutions not only for dust sealing, ventilation and motor body strength and also solved complex engineering problems with innovative design during WWII. By the mid-1940s the GM-H design group were capable of producing a complete Australian car and this expertise elevated the Holden design team to a position of respect within the GM Corporation.

The initial designers were trained internally by one man, Herbert Wylie, who understood that good body design lay in precise drawings and not a chalkboard. The team he built, with American input, applied considerable knowledge and expertise to ensure the Holden car, when released in 1948, was exactly what the Australian market wanted. Design at GM-H evolved from American practice but by a small team who were provided the opportunity to be innovative and progressive.

With the exception of the appointment of colour specialist Sandford around 1927, Holden had no formal Styling group, so in 1938 a young GM Stylist was despatched to Australia. Hartnett had agreed to Franklin Q. Hershey's trip, which he believed would assist GM-H to adopt the American approach to new model development, presentation and approval. Hershey’s trip to Australia took place from April to November 1938 and he reported that he was to ‘help organise a small styling staff there.

Further appointments were made in South Australia where Frank (Gill) Mathwin, Horace Alfred (Alf) Payze and Jack Burgan came together to form an art studio under Charles Phillips, then the Woodville body design engineer. Phillips reported to Rainsford, Woodville chief engineer who in turn reported to Pointer, GMH chief engineer at Fishermans Bend. Former engineering personnel, King Stuart and Tom Wylie moved to the production side of engineering, Stuart becoming the production engineer and Wylie the planning & tooling engineer. As the Australian car project started up in 1945, Hartnett moved Rainsford and his Woodville group to Fishermans Bend with Rainsford responsible for styling and body design.  Phillips took on administration, Mathwin styling, Hall body design and Roper drafting. This was short-lived as an American engineering team, headed by Russell Begg, arrived in 1946.

The intervention of the American team has until recently obliterated the Australian contribution to the design of the 48-215. The Australian team who went to America and those who remained at Fishermans Bend in 1945 made a significant contribution. While the mechanical and chassis components were clearly of American origin, the body structure (apart from the unitary members- the front frame), packaging and trim development were almost exclusively Australian designed by Payze, Mathwin, Burgan, Kaye, Wylie, Abbott and Stacey.

With the arrival of Begg and his team of engineers along with the prototype Holdens in 1947, GM-H engineering doubled in size. In addition, draftsmen, experimental test drivers and fabricators were hired. A new engineering facility was erected to accommodate engineers, draftsmen, clerical staff, mechanics, machinists, panel workers, trimmers and painters. In 1952 the department again expanded, adding 50 new staff, additional equipment and an extended building. In February 1952 Charles Lewis replaced Begg as chief engineer, and by this time many American designers had returned home.

As 1952 closed, the Holden design team was preparing for the next new model, the FE Holden. This featured a radical restyle of the body with essentially the same mechanicals as its predecessor – the FJ Holden. Phillips with assistant Hall did the body design with Mathwin and Payze providing the styling.

The period 1917-1953 was one of both growth and development for Holden’s designers. The original team of five trainee body draftsmen had developed their skills at Holden, overseas and at technical institutions, to become capable of designing Australia’s top selling motor car by 1953. The five trainees would all leave their mark in the Australian automotive design field, they would also train and mentor the next round of engineers and stylists at Holden and other automotive companies. Holden’s design team was successful as it had access to the GM Corporation expertise but was left to develop innovative solutions that suited the local environment.

GM has fostered few design centres outside Detroit: Although Holden was the smallest, over time proved it was capable of producing world-class cars. The VB Commodore, VS Commodore and VE Commodore owe their success in large part to the heritage of innovative design that developed in the first 36 years. The, Holden’s design centre produced concepts such as the Holden Hurricane and show models equal to any design centre for GM divisions around the world.

(Adapted from a paper presented by Norm Darwin at the AHA Conference in 2016) 

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This page is divided into five sections (use links below):

Publications

Photo Albums/Presentations

Documents

Photographs

Publications    

Year	Title	Description	Link
1990	Holden Product Design and Development	A series of brochures highlighting the capabilities of Holden Product design group to undertake work for outside customers	PDF
1997	Holden Design	Brochure detailing the Design processes of the VT Commodore and acknowledgement of the efforts of the four disciplines which make up the Department: Design, Modelling, Technical Support and Colour & Trim	PDF
2016	GM Holden Design Overview	Overview of the Design Team and their recent achievements.	PDF

 

Photo Albums/Presentations

Year	Contributor	Description	Link
1903 -1950	Norm Darwin	Holden's Role in Australian Automotive Design	PDF
To 1940	Norm Darwin	Australian Car Design - A brief history to 1940	PDF
1923-1953	Norm Darwin	The development of Australian Automotive Design (paper presented to the AHA conference 2016)	PDF

 

Documents:

Contributor	Year	Description	Link
Hugh Healey	1945	Australian Seating Buck testing and approvals, May 1945	PDF
General Motors Corp.	1963	Procedure for Fabrication of Clay Buck Armature - Foam covered.	PDF
Holden	1992	Four Holden Designers at the National Museum with their cars (see also Photos)	PDF
Holden	2014	Chart of Directors of Design 1960-2014 with their projects.	PDF
Peter Nankervis	2020	Clay Modelling before Computers (equipmnt mentioned can be seen in the following item)	PDF
Holden	1966	Clay Modelling Equipment	PDF