Holden spirit lives on
BY ALEX TIGANI
It has been a month since the iconic Lancaster Motor Group Holden sign was taken down from its Singleton car dealership.
Yet, 50 days later, you still cannot take the Holden spirit out of business according to owners Mark and James Lancaster.
“We received the message on a morning in February that there was a national teleconference and every dealer must be on it,” Mark told The Hunter River Times.
“Holden announced that they were pulling out of Australia for this year and within an hour of that happening it was released to the public.
“But we were already suspicious by 2017 when no future product was being announced.”
Harold Earl Lancaster kicked started the Singleton based Motor Group in 1918 at the age of 27. Back then the business was originally focused on repairing milking equipment.
By the time, his nephew Don and the second generation of the Lancaster family were in charge in the 1940s they welcomed a new era of Holden cars until the mid-1960s.
Then came that magical return of the brand in 1987.
“I was stoked because at that time I was seven and my great uncle was still in the business with my grandfather and dad and they were all stoked to getting the general motors holden back,” Mark recalled.
“Then Holden became the core of the business.”
Fast forward a generation later and this summer will mark the first time in 33 years that the Holden facade signs will not surround the showrooms (now replaced by the likes of Ford).
“It has been a bit of an emotional year, but Holden was good enough to let us keep half of the signs and we will reuse them for our own memorabilia,” he continued.
“But for us it’s just moving forward with the remaining seven brands and the business moving forward.”
The Holden legacy will live on in the family. James would meet his wife through a connection with another Holden dealership while both brothers would celebrate their weddings with a 1956 FJ Holden (purchased back from a customer in the 1990s).
“We’re trying to keep the Holden dream alive,” James concluded.