MASTER CLASS

With over 200 handmade components and a 12-year build time, this Grand Champion EH shows how to do it right.

NEXT time you're browsing your local motoring book store or speed shop, take a look at how many publications are aimed at the do-it-yourself street machine or hot rod builder. They're all there- how to chop tops, build a tough 350 Chev, custom paint, polish your gearknob - the subjects are virtually limitless and you'll also notice that the majority of these titles are from the US.

We reckon Victoria's Jason Gledhill should publish the ultimate step-by-step guide titled How to Build a Grand Champion EH Holden. There's no doubt such a book would be a bestseller, not only because it'd be written by an Aussie bloke about a classic Aussie motoring icon but also because every other guy or girl trying to build a premium-grade streeter would no doubt learn a thing or two, no matter what make or model of car they were into.

Jason Gledhill is Da Man when it comes to hand-building EH Holdens that'll blow your valve covers oft. The incredible 1964 EH Special you see here is the 2001 Australian Grand Champion EH Holden. It claimed the title at none other than the EH Holden All State Run (Nationals) held in Richmond, Tasmania in Easter.

And as if that accolade isn't impressive enough, Jason has previously claimed the ultimate EH crown three times in succession with another car we featured nearly four years ago (Charcoal Kickin' - December '97). That car raised the bar so high in the attention-to-detail Olympics that it seemed no-one would ever be game enough to try to equal it no-one except young Jason, it seems!

What you see here, folks, is commitment with a capital C. Like, we're talking a whole 12 years of commitment - including the several years he dedicated to building his other Grand Champion EH along the way - making sure every nut, every bolt, every screw and every clip was absolutely perfect.

Patience takes on a whole new dimension when you get to this level. It allowed Jason to take an extra day or two, or week or two, or even year or two, fabricating more than 200 handmade components which make this car tower above all the rest. Take a good, hard look underneath. Every single part has been signed off with a quality of finish that leaves you shaking your head.
"The total build cost has been over $30,000 and I'm still counting," Jason admits. "I did all the welding and bodywork myself, plus all the painting, re-wiring, gas conversion and assembling the car."

Imagine if he'd had to pay someone to do all that for him! Jason also credits his wife Sharon, father Lance, Emil Govic and Peter Smol - among others - for helping him make it possible.

Jason, a qualified mechanical engineer, had some extra-special motivation to build his latest EH to Grand Champion standard. You see, this 1964 Special originally belonged to his grandfather, Ron, who handed it over to his grateful grandson back in 1980. Sentiment aside, though, the old EH had suffered the test of time.

"Cactus, rooted, knackered," is the simple way Jason describes its condition when it first came into his possession. Geffing that tired old body into supermodel shape required a mountain of hard work. Jason and Peter worked wonders with the sheet steel, including slight pumping of the guards to accommodate the larger wheel stock - Billet Specialties in 17x7 front and 17x8 rear dimensions, wearing Falken 205/40 and 245/40 tyres.

The body mods also included grafting an 'EH-style' filler cap into the driver's side rear guard to access the LPG tank. Dual fuel? Yeah, but we'll get to that a little later.

When you build a car to this standard, you've got to make sure it looks as nice on the inside as it does on the outside. Jason and Sharon sit snug in 1998-model Falcon front buckets while back-seat passengers relax in a Premier rear bench. Street and Custom Trimmers continued the Ford theme using 1998 Falcon charcoal cloth for the upholstery, well matched to a Pearlcraft pearled steering wheel and accessories. Jason added the four-point stainless steel roll cage, the multi-speaker Alpine sound system and cleverly integrated some modern VDO gauges into the original dash assembly. Now, that's one nice cockpit.

We also reckon the choice of retro paint colour was a smart move, particularty when contrasted with the contemporary look of large-diameter billets. The Tartan Turquoise body with Alpine White roof in Spies Hecker acrylic maintains an emotive link with the 1960s two-tone style, yet still kicks arse as a current-day combo. The light blue hue, which is taken directly from the EH factory colour card, also allows the incredible amount of detailed paint and engineering work to shine through when you stick your ear to the bitumen and sneak a peek beneath.

Fat anti-sway bars feature front and rear, with stout neoprene bushes throughout. The low ride height comes courtesy of Rod Hadfield's 60mm dropped spindles and lowered Pedders springs up front, matched with rear leaf springs given an even bigger 100mm drop. Front stoppers are ventilated HQ Holden rotors which have been slotted and cross-drilled and clamped by alloy HZ calipers. VP Commodore calipers under the bum put the squeeze on VN discs, controlled by a modified XY Falcon tandem master cylinder with twin VH-40 boosters.

You may also have spotted the Castlemaine Rod Shop bell-housing, the cast-iron case of the Toyota Celica five-speed gearbox and HR Holden rear axle. The 3.55:1 diff carries Ford nine-inch axles and gets its directions from a specially shortened and balanced tailshaft assembly.

Motivation is via a sweetly tuned classic 186 built by Jason and OP Automotive. Bored to 192 cubes, the chili-hot six-pot breathes through a Holley 350cfm mated to a New Generation gas mixer which sits directly above the carb inlet. Yella Terra valve train in the ported and polished Yella Terra cylinder head dances to the beat of a Wade hydraulic gas cam, matched to a rugged bottom end made up from a 179HP balanced steel crank, Starfire rods and Duralite pistons. Holden X2 exhaust manifold and 2.5-inch single system carry the gases away.

We could say they don't come better than Jason Gledhill's EH Holden but then we'd just be saying what you and every EH Holden owner in the country already knows. Grand Champion is a fitting title for what is a remarkable example of hands-on, do-it-yourself car crafting. Let's just hope he gets around to writing that book one day.

"THE old man was a bit of a petrolhead when he was younger," says Jason, explaining how he developed his passion for early-model Holdens. "He used to go drag racing in the back streets of Port Melbourne ... It was just a bunch of young blokes mucking around in cars.
"Dad was pretty much into it and had a lot of nice cars himself," he says. "Nothing like show car standard but very neat street cars. All six-cylinder Holdens with good engines in them, lots of good engineering involved, different gearboxes and all that sort of stuff. I guess that's where my interest came from.
"I've always liked the shape of the EH," he adds. "I really like that era, the early 1960s with all the chrome and that sort of stuff:'
So, what's your secret to winning so many awards with these cars? "The cars are what I call reasonable cars," he replies. "One thing I've leamed from attending a lot of shows over the years, particularly the bigger shows, is it all comes down to presentation. I think that's why they've won a lot of awards. Not so much because they're the best cars there but more because they're presented very well:'

Published Street Machine Magazine December 2001