FISHERMANS FINS

HOLDEN'S FB AND EK SERIES WERE SO WRONG IN THE EARLY 1960S, BUT ARE SO RIGHT TODAY ESPECIALLY TO OWNERS MATT GRECH AND ROB KAVANAGH

- WORDS DAVE CAREY

Holden's FB and EK-series, with their quintessentially 1950s styling, hark back to an era of well-dressed guys and frocked up girls jiving away their Saturday nights at their local surf-club socials. All fins and chrome and wrap-around windscreens, they're Australia's '57 Chev - by no coincidence - yet missed the '50s by a whisker, causing panic within General Motors-Holden (GMH) as they did. Fortunately, time has been kind to them.

Alf Payze styled the Holden at Fishermans Bend, structurally basing the car on the preceding FE-FC series, but with enough sheet metal changes to make it look all-new. The wheelbase carried over, as did the sedan boot lid and wagon tailgate, but the fins, peaky headlight buckets and wrap-around windscreen gave it that jet-age aura, taking obvious cues from the 1957 Chevrolet.

Vans and utes retained the FE-FC rear quarters and tailgates, revealing just how similar the two generations truly were.

It's fair to say that Alf Payze's work on the FB Holden fitted the brief perfectly. Locked in by mid-1957 and approved by Glen A Smith at General Motors Overseas Operations, the expectations of GM design boss Harley Earl were conveyed without dilution.

There were just two problems simmering, unbeknownst at the time; one in Detroit, and the other here in Australia.

The first occurred when, in August 1956, Cadillac stylist Chuck Jordan happened upon Chrysler's new range for the following year. Apparently tipped off they were visible without entering the property, Jordan peered through a fence to discover the Chrysler's glassier, chromier, even finnier interpretation of their 'Forward Look' design language was completely at odds with Earl's chosen direction for 1958. Earl loved staunch, visually heavy designs, believing they gave the products presence, and having created fins with the 1948 Cadillac, was equally confident he could lead automotive style in another direction again.