COLOUR ME RED

At first I thought he was winding me up. Sometime UC snapper Muttley was on the other end of the phone, trying to convince me he had some kind of proof that a red-motored EJ Holden did, in fact, exist. I didn’t know what to think. Still don’t, really.

For those who came in late, this column has been obsessed at various stages over the last three years or so with the notion that at least a handful of EJ Holdens escaped the production line with a red motor between their chassis rails, rather than the grey motor that was said by others to be the only engine ever fitted to an EJ at the factory.

Along the way, there’ve been some riotous arguments, counter-arguments, theories, wild theories and plain old shouting matches as the supporters from either camp lined up toe-to-toe for the stoush. And even then, we never really managed to change anybody’s mind either way. What was perhaps most surprising was the fact that any group of people could be so passionate about something that happened five-and-ahalf decades earlier and doesn’t really make any difference these days. But then, car people are like that, aren’t we?

Anyway, the theories put forward to explain this unicorn Holden included the fact that Holden ran out of grey motors before the end of EJ production. From there, the theory was refined by speculation that the red-motored EJs seen in the wild (by those who remembered them) were more often than not commercial vehicles – utes and panel-vans – and that these would have been the last of the EJ breed to be produced as Holden began switching the production line over to the new for 64 EH Holden.

Not that it makes any difference, but my own belief is that the odd EJ did indeed escape with a red 149 under its lid. I’ve heard the story too many times from too many different sources not to suspect it’s true. But mainly, I’ve had a few

people contact me through this magazine to tell me, first-hand, about the red-motored EJ Holden they saw as a kid way back when the EJ was the model filling Holden showrooms. To me, that’ll do. What have these folks got to gain by lying to me? I think at some point, politicians aside, you just have to take some people at face value. Especially when they’re people like us. In fact, they are us.

Anyway, things died down for a while there, and even though we put out a call for other eye-witnesses and even checked out a few EJs for sale that might have provided more clues, the trail kind of went cold. Until Muttley rang me.

What he had his mitts on, he claimed, was an official General Motors-Holden’s workshop manual for the repair and servicing of the EJ Holden, with a supplement for the newer EH model. Published by the GM-H Service Department, the book even carries a GM part number.

Now, flipping through the book, nothing really leapt out at me. Until I looked closely at the various illustrations. One of the pictures shows the special tool for engine removal; a kind of hook deal that grabs the engine by the manifolds and allows a block and tackle to do the heavy lifting. But look again. Unless I’m mistaken, the engine in the illustration is a red motor. The ribbed rocker cover and position of the crankcase breather cap tell me that much.

And now take a peek at the engine bay. More specifically, the wiper cowl under the car’s windscreen. Again, unless I’m mistaken, that split cowl-grille is specific to the Holden EJ, while the EH has a similar, but one-piece cowl-grille.

So here’s the million-dollar question: If an official Holden publication can include a picture of a red motor in an EJ (if, indeed, that’s what it is) isn’t it just possible that such a thing existed?

I don’t think I need to say any more. Over to you folks…