The 1960's were a good era reminiscent of the good old days. Rock n Roll, surfing, Beatles and good time living for the young people. It was ocker Aussie at its best.
"I love football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars" (do some of you remember that song?) and 1964 was a great year for Australia with its popular Holden, the EH. Although some models first came on the scene in 1963 it was later identified as the 64 EH.

In my early twenties, I loved Holdens. As a teenager my friends owned FJ's (54-56) and I had a desire to have my own Holden. The first I could afford was a 1957 FE standard sedan then a FC and later an EK which I picked up (bought at auction, not stolen) in Darwin while travelling around Australia. It was an ex Town Council ute and a bit of a wreck but I traveled from Darwin to Brisbane to Sydney to Adelaide then Perth. Meanwhile a friend of mine bought a brand new EH and in those days the power of that new engine was almost the ultimate. Of course Holden were having stiff opposition at that time with powerful Falcons being produced. So my desire was to have an EH. With some inside opportunities while working with a Holden dealer, Attwood Motors of Stirling Street Perth, I obtained an EH special station wagon. It was a trade in by a customer and before it left the new car division for a price increase in the second hand yard, I purchased it for $1,100, which was big money in 1971. Being only 7 years old and I think the new HQs were then about $2,500- $3,000.

That EH station wagon was the family car for 20 odd years and it served us well. Then another opportunity arose while working at Prestige Toyota. An old chap came in with his Premier which he had owned from new. He loved his car but with rust and gearbox problems he wanted a smaller automatic vehicle in his old age. The Premier was heading for the car wreckers and when I saw some potential, I decided to buy it. To cover costs the new car department wanted $1,200 and so in a snap decision I bought it, that was in 1992. I now had 2 EH's but the wife said one had to go. After a gearbox overhaul and some minor engine repairs the Premier was the one to keep and do up gradually and get rid of the old faithful wagon. After advertising it for the best offer it sold for $1,500 (that's inflation for you but also the interest that was being shown to these 28 year old cars). Just by the way it was about this time that our club was getting established and as you know a few were keen to keep interest in the EH and look whe re we are today.

At this time in my life my two high school age girls hated being seen by their peers in these old Holdens, rusty, deteriorating paint work etc. But when I had the Premier body repaired and repainted and they were aged about 17 or 18 years they wanted to drive my car. It was cool and created attraction. When my wife and I were away for some time, the girls took off with three girlfriends to the south west and had a great time with the Premier attracting attention.

The next job for the Premier was a reconditioning of the engine with its BP block. A mechanic had it for a couple of weeks and after it was finished with the original parts, he said it was a real goer, and it still is. I still enjoy the surge of power even now while driving it, almost everyday, as I did when I was a lot younger!

After the engine came the re-upholstery with genuine leather hide in the same pattern as previous. So the Premier will continue to undergo restoration with a couple of rust spots appearing, but I don't mind in fact I love it driving the '64 EH'.

I guess my ultimate dream would be to see my original EH restored beautifully to be the classic and to also own a 2nd EH Premier hotted up and modified only slightly to improve road handling and enjoy burning off others. I'm often browsing the motor magazines and seeing a lot of enthusiasm for the great EH.