Grey Motor info

[Dr_Terry]

The papers that are easily searchable indicate that it wasn't until the FE came out that the term fx Holden was used but moreso the term was used to describe the type of car model when there were auction lists all together. Like 56 Holden fe, when the other model overlapped made it important to call them by model. Earliest being Sydney.

Perhaps the person who told you that pre fj that they were calling holdens fx was mixed up with the year if car being advertised, ie "1953 fx holden" as a describing term due to fj overlap.

I didn't mention anything about pre-FJ.

It was put to me that the reason 'FX' was introduced, was we had FJ & then FE, so what do you call the first model series ? As I said it was 1955 or 56 but had to be post-FE intro.

Has anyone searched Kevin Dennis Holden adverts from around 1956.

Dr Terry

[fe350chev]

Yeah I didn't go back and read your post sorry, that's ok, but the fe came out in 56 so I should have written pre fe, but his name appears nowhere but if you know the exact name of the dealership or a motto that would make it easier. His name doesn't appear in any adds though.

[RET]

It was put to me that the reason 'FX' was introduced, was we had FJ & then FE, so what do you call the first model series ?

By rights it should be GC 

[mcl1959]

Which is exactly why we know that GMH didn't invent the code FX.

Ken

[RET]

Well, it's exactly why it should not be considered representative of the entire 48-215 series.

I assert that there is no reason to presume that it is anything other than coincidence that there is an F in FJ, FE, FC (that stands for "five") and an F in FX (as shorthand for Front X-member). And it is this coincidence that is responsible for all the confusion.

How's that grab you?

[RET]

I tell you what, it's a stroll down memory lane to re-read this entire thread from the beginning.

[Dr_Terry]

Well, it's exactly why it should not be considered representative of the entire 48-215 series.

But it's not & that's the whole point. The general usage of FX is not shorthand for the 48-215 series or the just the late ones with the new suspension, it also includes the 50-2106 ute.

In other words anything pre-FJ, with a vertical-bar grille.

There are many 'purists' out there who poo-poo the term FX, but I've grown to like it.

Dr Terry

[detective]

.....g'day all  ..  the initial discussion about the term ''FX'' between Don and myself came about from when years ago i was at an auction in Geelong where a couple of earlies were to be sold...

... On the day i was snooping through an old shed which had a big pile of newspapers in it from around 1960 and thought it would be interesting to just see if the term ''FX'' was present in that era...

...i can't be sure of the exact date of this particular paper, but there was an ad for an FX Holden being sold by Reg Smith Motors (father of Garry and Warren Smith, Holden dealers' fame).  I reported to Don this finding which led to Don eventually going through the State Library of Victoria, on a mission to track down the earliest possible use of the term...

....knowing Don he would have been very meticulous and the search would've been an exhaustive one, so when he published his finding of Friday 12th Feb 1960 for the very first use....you can be pretty sure there was no other earlier published use of the term.....

...so i s'pose you could say with a fair degree of confidence that the term ''FX'' really did originate from the various used car dealers and from them, the general public caught on and adopted the term...

...another clue to as how common the usage of the term had become is borne out by the fact that i was born in 1959 and was always interested in cars from my very earliest recollections...say 5 or 6 years old (about 1965) and the term FX was the only term i ever heard from any of Dads mates .....cheers

[fe350chev]

I actually thought the first print reference was in a repco catalogue? In 1957? But the cross member theory seems more plausable as the first reference because if that terminology from those in the parts industry did not exist, then as if the public are gunna know back then what the he'll an fx was? So there would 've more articles about the fx term in the late 50s.....surely. I would like to see the catalogue or a link that shows the cross member. I want to see how it's written cos a "cross member" may have been written as "x member" to explain the part itself 😜

[detective]

...that's cool with me too fe350  ..  i would love to see these early spare parts books as it brings up a fine point of difference in this amazing journey.....  

.....the catalogue details and spare parts firms would've been considered as ''In House'' and their listings to the motor trade regarded as inside information, whereas the general public use of the term probably came along with those 1960 used car ads

[GreyFC]

I actually thought the first print reference was in a repco catalogue? In 1957?

I wonder if Harv has this?

[detective]

...well here's something from left field!!  ..  google ''Western Australia motor race results 1959'' and you will see the results of the six hour race at Caversham with the result quoted by ''The Visor June 1959'' and ''Sports Car World August 1959'' showing a ''Holden FX'' driven by Jack Ayres coming 4th with 172 laps and a ''Holden FX'' coming 7th driven by Dave Sullivan on 171 laps   !!!....

....so we have June 1959...... it's possible that this moniker filtered down from the race car fraternity...who after all, in a lot of cases were car dealers as well!.....

[fe350chev]

Does Don have pics on his pages?

[detective]

...there are no pics of the advert in his book (She's a beauty revised edition..page 266) and i can't recall if i gave the ad i saw to him...??

[fe350chev]

Fact is, there aren't many adverts even in 1960. If the term was ever going to come to being, then surely it wouldn't have taken that long to be adopted if it was to differentiate certain upgrades. If describing an upgraded model, the adverts selling cars say "1954 Holden (late model)" rather than modern ways like "series 2". But again, this could be open to interpretation and conjecture. Ppl need to back up their claims with pics. I think Don has a Facebook page. Would take a few minutes to snap it and upload. I grew up in Elizabeth in Adelaide for a while and I'm sure the old workers talked about the fx reference as being from the 50's.

[fe350chev]

[fe350chev]

http://www.terrywalkersplace.com/Results/1959-all.pdf

[fe350chev]

Problem is, it refers to 2 fe holdens in the same doc.

[detective]

...the Reg Smith advert is real and Trove is not very helpful with providing those ads from back in the day it seems...

.....all up though, i'm pretty chuffed ATM that this snippet has come out of WA racing car history....

[fe350chev]

But this forum banter definitely supports that the race car was an fx!