This old cinema advertisement shows General Motors - Holden's products in Australia, including some footage of Frigidaire appliances of the time - made in Australia at Dandenong. (My Frigidaire Pulsa-Matic non-automatic washing machine was made there.)
Early 1960s ad for General Motors-Holdens incl. Frigidaire
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Fascinating little promo film. From the resolution, it's hard to tell if that's a 1961 or 1962 Pontiac; but that's definitely a 1961 Chevrolet - and based on the brief glimpse of trim - a Biscayne (in the States, anyway). So, presume the film dates to 1961 - as the caption indicates. Thanks for sharing this.
A little insider info--GM Canada (Oshawa, ON) was the center of excellence for international operations, and did most of the exportation of vehicles particularly into the British empire--so they may well have had some unusual mash-ups exported to Australia.
Pontiacs sold here in 1960s tended to have French-sounding model names such as Laurentian and Parisienne so I guess they were sourced from Canada. It's a bit before my time, but I understand that Australia gave a lower tax to vehicles (or CKD kits) imported from Commonwealth countries, so there would have been a tax advantage to GM sourcing them from Canada instead of USA. They were Australianized to a degree - some local content, amber blinkers at the rear (often a cheap looking add-on round light) and of course RHD. I'm not at all up on it, but I have read some experts in these cars saying that Aussie assembled cars were often a mix-up, with last years's dashboard or similar.
Pontiacs and Chevys disappeared from here when Holden started making the Holden Brougham and later the Statesman. They were a niche item any way, sold in tiny numbers in the 60s as they were getting too big for most Aussies' taste.
Pontiacs and Chevys disappeared from here when Holden started making the Holden Brougham and later the Statesman. They were a niche item any way, sold in tiny numbers in the 60s as they were getting too big for most Aussies' taste.
That's exactly it...they certainly did not have the elaborate differentiation in dashboards which we had in North America (one RHD dashboard probably covered all). Having worked for GM for 15 years (last few were dealing partially w/Holden) I find the subject of the internationalization fascinating---a really complex calculus of taxation, local capabilities, tariffs, etc etc etc
The refrigerator in the film looked exactly like the 1957 one my grandmother had, the first year of the "sheer look".
The Holden looks dated, more like a mid 50's car, compared to the Pontiac and Chevrolet. If I remember right, the Canadian Pontiacs were built on a Chevy chassis, with body panels to resemble Pontiac. However, they aren't interchangeable with US Pontiac parts.
The Frigidaire refrigerator looks to be an apartment sized model, and the range looks like a 24" model.
The Frigidaire refrigerator looks to be an apartment sized model, and the range looks like a 24" model.
Fridge would have been considered "normal" width here, not apartment size.
ditto the stove - Aussie stoves of the time generally were 21 inches wide, 24 inches is "wide." Even today, the biggest selling stoves are 54 cm wide (21 inch). My stove is 60 cm wide (24 inch) and that greatly limited the models available as I also wanted all gas - in fact there was only one model available of any brand in all gas, 60 cm wide. Plus a couple of deleted models on clearance. When I see most of the US stove photos on this website, they look h-u-g-e.
That model Holden did indeed look very 1950s though it was released in January 1960. Same shape was made till mid 1962, facelifted half way through. Holden had 50% of the Aussie market with a single model - they didn't have to be up to date.
ditto the stove - Aussie stoves of the time generally were 21 inches wide, 24 inches is "wide." Even today, the biggest selling stoves are 54 cm wide (21 inch). My stove is 60 cm wide (24 inch) and that greatly limited the models available as I also wanted all gas - in fact there was only one model available of any brand in all gas, 60 cm wide. Plus a couple of deleted models on clearance. When I see most of the US stove photos on this website, they look h-u-g-e.
That model Holden did indeed look very 1950s though it was released in January 1960. Same shape was made till mid 1962, facelifted half way through. Holden had 50% of the Aussie market with a single model - they didn't have to be up to date.
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