Holden History EJ
From Holdenpaedia
By ReaperHR
Produced July 1962 to July 1963.
[edit] Holden History EJ:
On the 26th of October 1962 Holden produced its 1,000,000th car, an EJ Premier, only 4 years after its 500,000th car which was an FC, Holden was now producing up to 600 cars a day which was the perfect time for a new stylish model. The EJ Holden was a completely new design, based upon the Opel Kapitan its purpose was to bring more modern styling to Holdens range, which was a step behind Ford in the cosmetic department.
The EJ was a new vehicle with an old heart, it was completely remodeled on the outside but still had the beating heart of the old reliable Grey Motor. It had a mildly improved Hydramatic gearbox as an option but as well as the same engine it also used the same wheelbase as the EK and previous models. The roofline however was dropped 2 inches but the ride height remained the same, leaving Holden with the popular ground clearance demanded by the Australian public for the rugged Australian terrain. The main improvement to the EJ was in its brakes, previous to this model the basic braking of the Holden range remained the same since 1948, the EJ improved by adding duo-servo units, this went with a slightly improved suspension.
For the first time Holden introduced the "Premier" title to its range, this title would last another 20 years in various models and was always associated with the luxury edition of the model. On the EJ the Premier had no manual gearbox option and included full leather seating and metallic paint among other basic features.
Changes to the EJ over the EK were mainly external and included:
Completely different (more modern) design, lower roof height, improved automatic (option) transmission, improved front suspension, much improved braking, no more fins, no more wrap around windscreen, flatter bonnet and boot, various internal light features. The new Premier included a lot more features also, like the warmaride heater, arm wrests on all four doors, hi and low tone horns, 2 speed wipers and windscreen washers.
The engine in the EJ remained the same old reliable grey motor from previous models, which was seriously starting to show its age and lack of power compared to some competitors vehicles which had included optional V8 engines for many years. The Grey motor though had shown itself to be a reliable and strong motor in the Australian environment, over 15 years of motoring had proven that fact.
The EJ Holden was also the first model to include standard safety belt fittings, this along with the better front suspension and much improved braking made the EJ a much safer and improved motor vehicle over its predecessors.
The EJ Models:
EJ 215 - Standard sedan
EJ 219 - Standard station sedan
EJ 225 - Special sedan
EJ 229 - Special station sedan
EJ 235 - Premier sedan (New to the range)
EJ 2106 - Utility
EJ 2104 - Panel van
{| border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" align="center"
| Figures of Interest
|-
! style="background:#efefef;" | Price New
! style="background:#ffdead;" | Number Built
! style="background:#efefef;" | Engines
! style="background:#ffdead;" | Transmissions
! style="background:#efefef;" | Performance:
0 - 100 km/h
! style="background:#ffdead;" | Performance:
Standing 400m
|-
| style=“border-bottom:3px solid grey;��? | $2102
| style=“border-bottom:3px solid grey;��? | 154,811
| style=“border-bottom:3px solid grey;��? | 138
149 (last models)
179 (last models)
| style=“border-bottom:3px solid grey;��? | 3 speed column manual
4 speed column automatic
| style=“border-bottom:3px solid grey;��? | 18.0 seconds
| style=“border-bottom:3px solid grey;��? | 19.0 seconds
|-
| colspan="10" align="center" |
|}
Information for this page was gathered from the following sites:
Early Holdens
Unique Cars and Parts
Southgate Holden
Australian Holdens
Holden Main Site
and from the following books:
HOLDEN: THE CLASSIC MODELS by Marque
FX (48/215) to HR Workshop Manual by Gregorys
