4 November 2011
The first Holden car sold in Australia, number 48-215, or FX model as it became known, is back in working order following an extensive mechanical overhaul at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.
The car belonged to Essington Lewis the managing director of BHP and Second World War Director of Munitions and was delivered to his home in Melbourne just after midnight on 24 February 1949, the day before the Holden was released for sale to the public.
The vehicle has undergone extensive mechanical restoration and preservation work by conservators at the National Museum and will be on display at an Open Day at the National Museum's Mitchell Store on Sunday 6 November.
The Open Day is a rare opportunity to visit the National Museum of Australia's store, which is usually closed to the public.
Highlights of the 2011 Open Day will include the Daimler car which carried Queen Elizabeth during her first and longest tour of Australia in 1954, a 3-metre fur high-heel shoe used in the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and an anoxic chamber which helps preserve fragile materials often used in Indigenous art and objects.
For more information about the National Museum of Australia's Open Day visit: http://www.nma.gov.au/events/open_day/index.html
For interviews, images and more information please contact Dennis Grant on 02 6208 5351, 0409 916 481; Caroline Vero on 02 6208 5338, 0438 620 710 or media@nma.gov.au