...Just to add to Dr Terry's response, Holden production car No 1 was indeed fitted with the 6th Woodville assembled body shell. The first 10 pilot bodies were transported to Fishermans Bend to be made into the pilot cars, of which body 6 became pilot car No 1...registration number MG 501.
...It has long been conjectured that GMH car No 1 had a (normally welded on) chassis serial tag stolen, or more incredibly had received a new front end subframe. This has not been the case at all, as with those first 5 prototypes and 10 pilots, there was never any chassis serial tag attached...and certainly not noted by our Motor Registration Branch when these pilots were first registered...also, there was never an engine number struck as well. The only identifier for these cars at the time of their proving and testing was the registration number...MG 501-MG 510. When the other 9 pilots were sold to selected staff, they only then assumed either a replacement engine, or if the original engine remained...a VP (Victoria Police) engine number, with the first two numbers in the stamping denoting the year the number was struck and the car sold.
...These pilots, and all Woodville body shell assemblies received their body I.D plate because of being a "division" of GMH. They were "sold" to the car manufacturing plant at Fishermans Bend, so a plate was affixed to the body with a stamped date code for if ever any warranty issues arose with the body shell (or sequences of body shells). There was never any need for an engine or chassis serial tag, as these pilots were never meant to be onsold at retail to either a dealer, or the general public. These "first down the line" production cars were mostly assembled by hand, but as each pilot was an improvement on the last one, the final few were considered good enough for starting up normal production runs. Each pilot car was very strictly monitored as to its fit and finish, wear and tear...(even allowing for the 5 prototypes' durability testing previously)...they indeed were identified by their registration numbers only. As a side note, it has been realised that the stamped engine number 1001 on "Old Number One" today has the wrong font for what was used in 1948....it has been stamped by a well meaning GMH employee further down the track at some point in time in the 1950's !!
...Just as a late edit...It can be seen how easy it was for the other 9 pilot cars to disappear completely into oblivion. With these unfortunate cars still not having any chassis serial tag to go by, a VP stamped (or even later) engine, and the average punter having no real sophisticated idea of body assembly plants or their locations, they were never really going to jump out and be easily identified...unfortunately this includes body No 1 JustGM...and such a shame really....
Edited by user Sunday, 5 November 2017 10:21:27 AM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
