I think that it's much simpler than any of that.
When the Holden car was first introduced there was only one version of one body style which was just known as the 'Holden'. When the Ute came along it was simply called the "Holden Ute'. Nobody used the codes 48/215 or 50/2106 back in those days. As the years went by, each year's production batch was known by its year of build. The used car trade would differentiate say a 52 model from a 48 model, because it was so much younger, even though it looked identical. Their respective resale values differed enormously. It was easy with the Holden because the chassis number was prefixed with the year of build.
Virtually every car on the Aussie market, especially back in those days, was known by its 'year model', not its model code.
When the 'new look' (FJ) model first appeared, the term FJ was not well known by the public. The two Holden series were then known as early models (FX) & new look models (FJ).
When the FE arrived, the 'F' series thing was gaining traction. OK then, if the FE was an FE & the new look model was the FJ, what do you call the early girls ? F what ? The used car trade quickly dropped the 1948, 1950 or 1952 thing. In typical Aussie style it was gradually simplified to a system where any early Holden with the vertical bar style grille got called the FX series & it has now been so for decades.
Exactly when or who started it is another huge debate for another day.
The 48 seems a little odd though, because most GM cars worldwide get released late in the year before their year model name. For example the 57 Chev was released in Sept 1956, the 65 Chev was released in late 1964 & so on. Most US cars (of all makes) still use this system today.
Either GM-H wasn't using the GM convention or the '48' model was running very late in it's development.
I have no problem calling all pre-FJ Holdens by the FX tag, but I do have a problems with purists who say it's somehow 'incorrect'.
Dr Terry
Edited by user Tuesday, 5 April 2016 9:41:24 PM(UTC)
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