Gary Hansons GMH Collection

 The Magazine Feature Story #6

 https://classiccarsworldwide.com.au 

BUILT TO BE DRIVEN NOT JUST FOR SHOW
GARY HANSON'S COLLECTION 

To say that 66 years old landscape gardener, Gary Hanson, is a big Holden fan would be something of an understatement. He owns seven Holdens and loves them all. Gary’s collection has considerable importance these days especially as Holden no longer manufactures cars in Australia. A fact that Gary is particularly sad about.

Gary was born in Warburton, Victoria and has been married to his wife Julie for 42 years. He started his landscaping business with his brother in 1984 but prior to that had a lot of experience in the motor industry. At the age of 16 he started as an apprentice mechanic at Warburton Motors, a Holden dealer. After building up his experience over a number of years he then moved on to be a mechanic at International Trucks and Tractors and then on to a Mitsubishi dealer.

Gary has known Mr. Excited (Glen Higginson) for a long time and they now live fairly close to each other. Gary explains “I actually met Glen at a bottle shop while driving my FJ ute and he followed me home. We struck up a firm friendship.”

Early cars

“I’ve been interested in cars, especially Holdens and Chevi’s since I was a kid” says Gary. “Dad and Pop (grandad) had chev trucks and utes in their greengrocers shop. My first car was an HD Holden Premier which I bought off my parents. I have also owned an FJ sedan SLR 500 and a Holden VK Brock Group A.”

“My current daily drives are a VF SV 6 Commodore ute and an Isuzu truck”.

Classic cars

1946 Chev Ute

“I bought the 1946 ute because I’ve always wanted one and because of Dad and Pop” says Gary. “It’s on a one tonne chassis and has a 308 V8 engine and automatic gearbox.”

FJ ute.                                                                                                                  

“The previous owner bought it as a mechanics workshop ute in the 50’s. Its build number is 625 and was built in October 1953, one of the first utes built. It has a 179 motor, power steering and air conditioning.”

EH Ute - full restoration. 

“My wife Julie has had an EH Holden since 1970 and it was her first car. She has still got the body but most of the parts have gone into the ute which had a full restoration from the ground up three years ago. It has a 179 motor bored to 192, four barrel Edelbrock Carby Pacemaker extractors, a two and a half inches exhaust system and it has also been lowered two inches all around. The restoration took a couple of years.”

EH Premier Wagon – full restoration

“This car is a Premier three speed manual and also had a full restoration four years ago. The original motor has been bored to 192. It has 350 holley carby extractors and was also lowered two inches all around.”

EH Premier Sedan

“We’ve had this car since 1985” says Gary. “It’s an original except I put in a four-speed manual gearbox and had it resprayed. It has the original motor and a freshen up with the rings and brakes. This car was Julie’s daily drive for 20 years.”

“All our EH models still have their original floors. They have never been patched”

Gary makes a good point when talking about restorations and says “you don’t count how much money or labour goes into a resto. It’s for the love of it!”.

The full Holden line up is an FJ, EH, VU, VF and a 1946 Holden built ute plus an EH Premier sedan and an EH Premier wagon.

Car Clubs and Car Shows

Gary is a member of the Lilydale and District Car Club and says that he and his wife in a normal year go to between five and ten shows and they like the local shows as they have a more relaxed atmosphere.

“I love any Aussie classic car and love the shape of the 40’s through to the 70’s. All our cars are nice to drive for their age” says Gary. “As for the cars with the drum brakes you’ve got to keep your distance from the cars in front. We’ve had our cars from the 70’s and we’re old school. Our cars are drivers, not just to show cars and they are built to be driven.”