1948 HOLDEN 48-215

Look at the rego label of Jeff Marshall’s 48-215 and it’ll say “Replica”, but that’s not telling the full story. The car is indeed a genuine ’48 Holden 48-215 that rolled off the production line in Fisherman’s Bend, Australia. However, there’s not a whole lot of Aussie metal left. As a panel beater by trade, Jeff wanted to build himself something different, and that’s exactly what he’s achieved. The starting point for all of this, besides a tired 48-215, was, of all things, a 1984 Toyota Crown sedan. The Crown would donate its chassis and steering components to the build, bringing the car into a much more modern level of handling than could ever have been achieved with the original Holden componentry. It’s a good thing that the car has a solid chassis, too, even if, to make it fit, the chassis had to be shortened and custom cross members created. Regardless, it wasn’t long before Jeff got stuck into the body side of things. Here, countless hours were spent, with the biggest modification of the lot being a conversion from four doors to two. Not content with simply welding up the rears, though, the front doors were, in fact, stretched seven inches to make it look like a genuine coupe — had Holden ever produced such a thing. The catalyst for a lot of this was that, once Jeff had had the body blasted, it was clear that the bottom six inches were going to need replacing due to rust, including the floor. Clearly no slouch on the tools, Jeff got stuck in. Now you’d be forgiven for thinking the car came from the factory this way. Of course, those who know will soon see that the car’s roofline has also been set down an inch and a half, and the guards widened. Two more inches were added to the front, while one inch was added to the rear to allow for a far more modern wheeland-tyre combo to slot in under the body. In fact, the more you look — assuming you know what you’re looking at — the more you’ll see. This includes the custom tail panel, EJ tail lights, and the widened rear bumper. Jeff states that the only bits that he didn’t modify were the grille and door hinges, but they have been refurbished, of course. Early in the build, he fitted a Holden 186 with triple carbs and a manual gearbox, but, with a young

THE BIGGEST MODIFICATION WAS A CONVERSION FROM FOUR DOORS TO TWO

THE 1957 CHEV DASH LOOKS LIKE IT COULD ALMOST BE FACTORY

family, he soon decided that an injected motor would be the more suitable option, and so the 186 was soon swapped out for a 3.8-litre V6 from a VS Commodore. The injected motor, complete with four-stage auto, remains stock, other than custom owner-built headers and exhaust, a custom cooling package, and an aftermarket chip. A new firewall was needed to fit it in, which allowed Jeff to smooth things off at the same time, as well as mount a Commodore pedal box and booster. Motueka hot rod builder Chris Webby came to the party with a narrowed Commodore diff that he’d fitted with Ford axles, which is now attached to the Crown coil-sprung suspension set-up. While this runs Falcon disc brakes, the front end has VN Commodore discs and calipers, thanks to adapters, once again made by Chris. Some heavy-duty springs fitted to the Crown front end, along with larger sway bars, have the car handling perfectly. The interior follows the theme of using whatever bits he could find that would do the job, regardless of brand, and includes Honda Prelude front seats on each side of a Commodore shifter and custom console. Each piece of trim had to be lovingly recovered by Rob Jackson and Kevin Greenfield before it could be installed for the final time. The 1957 Chev dash looks like it could almost be factory, despite it having been narrowed four inches and smoothed before being fitted with Stewart Warner gauges. Grant O’Donnell was responsible for wiring the whole thing up, while painter Jamie Hovenden took care of the final body prep and paint, including the ’60s-inspired lace graphics on the doors. While Jeff never imagined that it’d take 10 years to see the project through to completion, the end result is timeless and went on to huge success when it was unveiled earlier in 2018. Although the kids have grown up and moved on to other things, Jeff’s now got the car of his dreams and is getting out and enjoying it as much as he can. The old Holden has as much of a story to tell as Jeff does, having gone from being someone’s family pride and joy — the pinnacle of Australian vehicle manufacturing — to a race car, before rusting into disrepair, and then being reborn into what you see today: a customized, two-door work of art.