Comments by "John D" (@johnd8892) on "Crisis Coupe: The American Wartime Compact Light Car Projects" video.

  1. Yes the Falcon finished in the US by 1970, but kept being developed in Australia up to the last Barra engined 2016 models.
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  2. G'day Ed. Some more information on the Australian connection. There was also a 1941 version of the Cadet shown in the linked vid. Not quite the Holden Cadet possible connection at 10:51, but the this 1941 car was how Holden came about as a reworking of this earlier 1941 small Chevrolet prototype as shown a bit later in this Holden Story.Made when some of the key people were alive to be interviewed : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOCILCfDo5A&t=1365s Sir Lawrence Hartnett being so upset that GM did not make use of the body that Holden body builders had developed for the car that he resigned. He points of the Holden rejected design was a more modern looking car and Holden had experience knowing how body parts could be designed to reduce production costs. I think the later more complicated Cadet was not used for the Holden due to its higher cost suspension complications. The Holden looks to have used a very similar engine as the Cadet. The Holden motor being a 132 cu in (2,171 cc) GMH '132' straight 6 cylinder. It developed 60 hp. Possibly less than the Cadet to cope with the lower octane fuel in the immediate post war Australia. This "grey motor", as it was called remained the only Holden motor from the November 1948 launch until the last use in the EJ until 1963. Developed over time to produce 75 hp with a tiny engine size increase, higher compression and revised camshaft. 60 horsepower may not seem much now but very competitive at the time especially in Australia. One key advantage was the early use of light unitary construction resulting in a car of just 1010 kg. Much better power to weight than many cars that almost always used a body on frame construction. This was marketed by Holden as an Aerobuilt body to emphasise it was the way of the future. A rocket ship car compared to the previous top selling in Australia, the Austin A40 with 1.2 litres and just 40 hp and only around 50 kg lighter for a smaller car. The Holden was rapidly the best selling car in Australia until the mid 1980s with many months of waiting before your car was delivered for quite a few years. With this level of sales, Holden became the GM division with the highest profit margin for many years. So much that GM was worried that they were being too dominant in the pre 1960 Australian market with an estimated 50% market share for their products. Another discussion here was that the small 1941 Chevrolet was also a test to compare a 2.2 litre four with a 2.2 litre six of the same horsepower. The six cylinder version was better in so many ways that it was the smart choice for Australian conditions for Holden.
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  3. Or more likely a 1941 Chevrolet prototype as I pointed to in a vid I pointed to earlier : G'day Ed. Some more information on the Australian connection. There was also a 1941 version of the Cadet shown in the linked vid. Not quite the Holden Cadet possible connection at 10:51, but the this 1941 car was how Holden came about as a reworking of this earlier 1941 small Chevrolet prototype as shown a bit later in this Holden Story.Made when some of the key people were alive to be interviewed : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOCILCfDo5A&t=1365s Sir Lawrence Hartnett being so upset that GM did not make use of the body that Holden body builders had developed for the car that he resigned. He points of the Holden rejected design was a more modern looking car and Holden had experience knowing how body parts could be designed to reduce production costs. I think the later more complicated Cadet was not used for the Holden due to its higher cost suspension complications. The Holden looks to have used a very similar engine as the Cadet. The Holden motor being a 132 cu in (2,171 cc) GMH '132' straight 6 cylinder. It developed 60 hp. Possibly less than the Cadet to cope with the lower octane fuel in the immediate post war Australia. This "grey motor", as it was called remained the only Holden motor from the November 1948 launch until the last use in the EJ until 1963. Developed over time to produce 75 hp with a tiny engine size increase, higher compression and revised camshaft. 60 horsepower may not seem much now but very competitive at the time especially in Australia. One key advantage was the early use of light unitary construction resulting in a car of just 1010 kg. Much better power to weight than many cars that almost always used a body on frame construction. This was marketed by Holden as an Aerobuilt body to emphasise it was the way of the future. A rocket ship car compared to the previous top selling in Australia, the Austin A40 with 1.2 litres and just 40 hp and only around 50 kg lighter for a smaller car. The Holden was rapidly the best selling car in Australia until the mid 1980s with many months of waiting before your car was delivered for quite a few years. With this level of sales, Holden became the GM division with the highest profit margin for many years. So much that GM was worried that they were being too dominant in the pre 1960 Australian market with an estimated 50% market share for their products. Another discussion here was that the small 1941 Chevrolet was also a test to compare a 2.2 litre four with a 2.2 litre six of the same horsepower. The six cylinder version was better in so many ways that it was the smart choice for Australian conditions for Holden.
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  4. All the Japanese makes made small cars way earlier than the late sixties. The earliest were in the twenties and thirties. It is just that they did not make an impact on the US market until the late sixties. Either not sold in the US or not noticed.
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  5. Did the 1950s UK built Ford Zephyr ever get sold in the US? A six cylinder smaller car with McPherson strut front suspension, it was not quite as tiny and low powered as most European fifties imports. The mark 2 cars from about 1957 were often used as six seater cars or five with three kids with more comfort. Lots of similarities with the early Ford Falcon but earlier and superior in a few aspects. A similar six cylinder UK compact car was the GM Vauxhall Cresta. I would be interested to know what was the status of these larger class of compact cars from the fifties in the US.
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  6. And some of the pre war GM Opel designs made it into the Cadet such as unitary construction. I think these were the first GM unitary construction cars.
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  7. The SUV onslaught was more significant. GM relying on second rate Daewoo based SUVs lost them the growth in that segment that now dominates. Lucky Ford had the Ranger and SUV version to not disappear like Holden. I do not drive an SUV by choice but millions are making the choice.
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  8. A 65 hp 6 cylinder smaller car with lighter weight unitary construction would have been competitive with most volume selling body on frame cars of the late forties.
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  9. The success in the fifties of VW, Studebaker and Rambler was why the Corvair, Falcon and Valiant were developed.
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  10. That was an earlier 1942 prototype. Earlier I wrote : G'day Ed. Some more information on the Australian connection. There was also a 1941 version of the Cadet shown in the linked vid. Not quite the Holden Cadet possible connection at 10:51, but the this 1941 car was how Holden came about as a reworking of this earlier 1941 small Chevrolet prototype as shown a bit later in this Holden Story.Made when some of the key people were alive to be interviewed : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOCILCfDo5A&t=1365s Sir Lawrence Hartnett being so upset that GM did not make use of the body that Holden body builders had developed for the car that he resigned. He points of the Holden rejected design was a more modern looking car and Holden had experience knowing how body parts could be designed to reduce production costs. I think the later more complicated Cadet was not used for the Holden due to its higher cost suspension complications. The Holden looks to have used a very similar engine as the Cadet. The Holden motor being a 132 cu in (2,171 cc) GMH '132' straight 6 cylinder. It developed 60 hp. Possibly less than the Cadet to cope with the lower octane fuel in the immediate post war Australia. This "grey motor", as it was called remained the only Holden motor from the November 1948 launch until the last use in the EJ until 1963. Developed over time to produce 75 hp with a tiny engine size increase, higher compression and revised camshaft. 60 horsepower may not seem much now but very competitive at the time especially in Australia. One key advantage was the early use of light unitary construction resulting in a car of just 1010 kg. Much better power to weight than many cars that almost always used a body on frame construction. This was marketed by Holden as an Aerobuilt body to emphasise it was the way of the future. A rocket ship car compared to the previous top selling in Australia, the Austin A40 with 1.2 litres and just 40 hp and only around 50 kg lighter for a smaller car. The Holden was rapidly the best selling car in Australia until the mid 1980s with many months of waiting before your car was delivered for quite a few years. With this level of sales, Holden became the GM division with the highest profit margin for many years. So much that GM was worried that they were being too dominant in the pre 1960 Australian market with an estimated 50% market share for their products. Another discussion here was that the small 1941 Chevrolet was also a test to compare a 2.2 litre four with a 2.2 litre six of the same horsepower. The six cylinder version was better in so many ways that it was the smart choice for Australian conditions for Holden.
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  11. Almost certain they share the same engine. Holden 48-215 a development of an earlier 1942 Chevrolet small car prototype. No capacity to get that in production during WW 2 so the Cadet seemed to be a fresh look at that idea.
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  12. The Chevrolet 1941 prototype was extensively restyled to become the the 48-215. Photos exist of the 1941 model looking a much older design than the 48-215. Mechanically likely much more similar.
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