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Stovebolt History Lesson courtesy of The Australian War Memorial by Mike Kelly
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25 January 2001

From Mike:

     The Stovebolt Page is a inspiration to a lonely Chev restorer living in the bush in Australia. I wish I could make a trip over to the USA and buy a swag of Chev parts . Oh well. I have two '40 model Chev 1/2-ton utilities with HOLDEN bodies. The US style pickup bodies do appeal to me as they look rather neat, but as its not historically correct to use one here. I will stick with the Holden bodies.

     The pictures come courtsey of the Australian War Memorial web site. They dont mind people using the pics for research and historical interest.

     The picture above is a "1938-40 Chev series JC with Holden Coupe utility body. Interior is yet to be trimmed. (GMH-A)."

     Holden here built a coupe utility body on the Chev chassis. I have attached a picture of a '39 model for you to look at. They also built a seperate body style body with a wide ute body.

     <= Here's a pix of a 1940 model coupe ute being used by the Red Cross .

     The 1937 roadster cab 1/2-ton ute . These were built in 1937/38, basically for civilian use but the army did use them as you can see . The PMG (post office) also used them pre-WW2.

     From the records, we know approx. 1000 were built but I have never seen or heard of a survivor.

     All of these HOLDEN bodied utes had a wooden frame onto which the metal skin was added. As the wood rotted away, the bodies just literally fell apart and hence they are very difficult to find now.

     The one piece coupe utes had a higher survival rate as the body was more rigid.

<= 1940 Chev ute. Basically, a civilian vehicle with a few military mods ie: tool locker on running board, canvas tilt and large 7.50X 16 tyres. Some of them also had the 4 speed crash box fitted. Most of these went to the Middle East and Malaya during 1940-41 with the Australian army, hence very few survive in Australia today.

     HOLDEN also built the one piece coupe ute body on the same chassis. Why they built two different body styles is a mystery . These were built on both the 113" 1/2-ton and 123" 1-ton chassis. The 1-ton model had 17" wheels.

<= This is a 1940 model 1-ton ute (123"), note the rectangular vent on the cab side, a feature of the HOLDEN cabs from 1939 onwards. The HOLDEN cabs had 3 pressed lines or ribs accross the rear below the rear window. The front end sheet metal ie. guards grill was imported, probably sourced from Canada.

     I have lots more pics including '41-45 models. If anyone is interested in more, please email me.

Mike Kelly

     Pete Robins has a real nice 1946 Holden 'Ute in the Gallery -- check it out! ~ ~Editor

v. Jan 05