HOLDEN HERITAGE UP FOR GRABS

THE CLOSURE OF THE NATIONAL HOLDEN MUSEUM SAW MANY LOTS GO UNDER THE HAMMER ACHIEVING SOME ASTONISHING PRICES

- Cliff Chambers

They said it would be memorable and it was. They said records would be set and they were. But alongside the celebration was a sense of sadness that something so intrinsic to the nation's motoring heritage could not have been kept intact.

The National Holden Museum had operated continuously at its Echuca location since 1993, with over 50 vehicles and thousands of memorabilia items available for display. Prior to that it had been located in the Melbourne suburb of Bayswater, after being founded in 1984.

The museum's most recent operators, Mark and Tony Galea, had been involved for eight years with the ever-changing array of Holdens. They had also been guardians to vast displays of Holden heritage material including mocked up cars and cut down versions of engines and components.

The Galeas, who share a surname but aren't related, say they did try finding an operator who would take on the display as a going concern, but eventually the decision was made to call in specialist auctioneers Burns & Co.

Day one was devoted to memorabilia and mechanical components, plus a few developmental mules and styling mockups which sparked surprisingly little interest. An A9X mock up that should have had bidders clamouring was instead sold in rapid fashion for just $1000.

Among the more fascinating and portable early lots was a swag of blueprints for the never-built XU2 Torana and a display of engineering documents for the A9X. Those lots made $1600 and $1500 respectively.* Just perfect to hang in the Holden Cave, a GTR-X Concept banner went for just $550, while a double sided enamel dealer sign for over the door made $3750.

Into day 2 and proceedings began with none of the promised frantic bidding. Highlights of the early session were a nice HB Torana at $12,250 and part-restored HQ GTS two-door that managed to just top $60,000.