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Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
Last year at our Machines & Macchiatos 2 day festival, we had the great pleasure of meeting Peter & his extremely rare, 1963 Holden EH S4 & we couldn’t resist sharing his story here. Peter’s story is one that took years of patients, yearning & waiting for one to show up, let alone have the chance of buying it, because the EH S4 is so rare - they only build 126 of them & only a few have survived today.
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
1963 Holden EH S4
Specifications
Photo Credit - Daniel Ferraro
Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
Last year at our Machines & Macchiatos 2 day festival, we had the great pleasure of meeting Peter & his extremely rare, 1963 Holden EH S4 & we couldn’t resist sharing his story here. Peter’s story is one that took years of patients, yearning & waiting for one to show up, let alone have the chance of buying it, because the EH S4 is so rare - they only build 126 of them & only a few have survived today.
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
1963 Holden EH S4
Specifications
Photo Credit - Daniel Ferraro
Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
Last year at our Machines & Macchiatos 2 day festival, we had the great pleasure of meeting Peter & his extremely rare, 1963 Holden EH S4 & we couldn’t resist sharing his story here. Peter’s story is one that took years of patients, yearning & waiting for one to show up, let alone have the chance of buying it, because the EH S4 is so rare - they only build 126 of them & only a few have survived today.
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
Last year at our Machines & Macchiatos 2 day festival, we had the great pleasure of meeting Peter & his extremely rare, 1963 Holden EH S4 & we couldn’t resist sharing his story here. Peter’s story is one that took years of patients, yearning & waiting for one to show up, let alone have the chance of buying it, because the EH S4 is so rare - they only build 126 of them & only a few have survived today.
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
Last year at our Machines & Macchiatos 2 day festival, we had the great pleasure of meeting Peter & his extremely rare, 1963 Holden EH S4 & we couldn’t resist sharing his story here. Peter’s story is one that took years of patients, yearning & waiting for one to show up, let alone have the chance of buying it, because the EH S4 is so rare - they only build 126 of them & only a few have survived today.
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
Last year at our Machines & Macchiatos 2 day festival, we had the great pleasure of meeting Peter & his extremely rare, 1963 Holden EH S4 & we couldn’t resist sharing his story here. Peter’s story is one that took years of patients, yearning & waiting for one to show up, let alone have the chance of buying it, because the EH S4 is so rare - they only build 126 of them & only a few have survived today.
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
Last year at our Machines & Macchiatos 2 day festival, we had the great pleasure of meeting Peter & his extremely rare, 1963 Holden EH S4 & we couldn’t resist sharing his story here. Peter’s story is one that took years of patients, yearning & waiting for one to show up, let alone have the chance of buying it, because the EH S4 is so rare - they only build 126 of them & only a few have survived today.
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
1963 Holden EH S4
Specifications
Photo Credit - Daniel Ferraro
Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
Last year at our Machines & Macchiatos 2 day festival, we had the great pleasure of meeting Peter & his extremely rare, 1963 Holden EH S4 & we couldn’t resist sharing his story here. Peter’s story is one that took years of patients, yearning & waiting for one to show up, let alone have the chance of buying it, because the EH S4 is so rare - they only build 126 of them & only a few have survived today.
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
Last year at our Machines & Macchiatos 2 day festival, we had the great pleasure of meeting Peter & his extremely rare, 1963 Holden EH S4 & we couldn’t resist sharing his story here. Peter’s story is one that took years of patients, yearning & waiting for one to show up, let alone have the chance of buying it, because the EH S4 is so rare - they only build 126 of them & only a few have survived today.
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
1963 Holden EH S4
Specifications
Photo Credit - Daniel Ferraro
Holden's first Bathurst prepped homologation special
1963 Holden EH S4
Last year at our Machines & Macchiatos 2 day festival, we had the great pleasure of meeting Peter & his extremely rare, 1963 Holden EH S4 & we couldn’t resist sharing his story here. Peter’s story is one that took years of patients, yearning & waiting for one to show up, let alone have the chance of buying it, because the EH S4 is so rare - they only build 126 of them & only a few have survived today.
When we first discovered Peter’s story in the pages of Survivor Car magazine & we knew we had to have the S4 on display in our Special Vehicles Section at our event.
Peter explains, “I’d been into EHs all my life, I’ve owned sedans, wagons & vans. But I’d never heard of an EH S4 until when my son-in-law told me about them, over 25 years ago. He pointed out they were very rare & Holden only made 126 of S4 EH’s.”
It was at that point all those years ago Peter set his mind on finding this holy grail of classic Holdens. What he didn’t realise was, it would take him nearly a quarter of a century to finally own one.
The Holden EH S4 (officially EH 225 M-S.4) is perhaps one of the most important Holdens in history. Although Holden dominated the local car market in the early 60’s, the Ford Falcon was on the way up & things were changing. Holden knew they had to do something & do it quickly. The EH came with a 149 or 179 motor, in 1963 the 179 was only available with the Hydromatic, as the 3 on the tree couldn’t cope with the increased horsepower. Holden set to work on developing a 179 model with manual transmission, insisting it was an ‘experimental’ model and not designed for racing. This was because Holden had a “no racing” policy from big brother GM in the USA. The experimental 179 EH formed the basis of the EH S4, the first homologation special Holden for Bathurst.
The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank. On paper, the S4 doesn't really look like anything special, but the significance is not in the go fast parts the S4 inherited, but what it stood for. Holden chose to break away from the GM policy of “no racing’ as it saw the massive potential of what winning at Bathurst could do for sales - Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday, that's where it all started for Holden.
In 2016 when this EH S4 popped up for sale, Peter knew he had to act quick, so he purchased the car over the phone. When Peter first took ownership of the car, he wasn’t quite sure of the unusual colour – Qandong. "You’d better start liking it because it’s the only one left in Australia". Maureen, his wife chuckled. This Survivor has never been unregistered since 1963. Peter remembers when he first saw the car after doing the deal over the phone, “I couldn't believe the condition of the car. Plus it came with the original log books with all the dates & original keys".
Peter’s S4 was originally sold through Hunt Holden dealership of Lakemba NSW. The first owner was Mr John P (Jack) Fitzgibbon of Kingsgrove. What's helped preserve the S4 so well is Jacks methodically fishioling the entire car every 3 years, a routine Peter has maintained.
Peter says with a huge smile, “Every time I pass her in the shed, I lift up the cover & give her a little rub, I still can’t believe after all those years of searching & waiting, that I finally own one. Ya know what? I actually really like the colour now”.
We would like to thank our great friends at Survivor Car Magazine for allowing us to invite Peter to our event & for allowing us to use their photos from the original article in their magazine, on Peter's EH S4.
Head to the Survivor Car magazine for more details on their fantastic magazine - www.survivorcaraustralia.com.au
Photos thanks to Daniel Ferraro
1963 Holden EH S4
Specifications
Photo Credit - Daniel Ferraro
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