Time running out for Holden machinery bids

PROSPECTIVE buyers have just another few weeks to plonk down bids in a global online auction for hundreds of pieces of GM Holden car manufacturing equipment at Elizabeth, South Australia, as the company gets set to clear out its factory after the end of production in October.

Bidding on plant and machinery opened on August 18 last year and continues until October 20 – the day the factory closes forever.

The sale of the entire production line and related manufacturing equipment and plant are up for grabs in the “private treaty” auction organised jointly by auction houses Maynards and Liquidity Services via the Dove Bid auction website.

No fewer than 60 presses – including huge transfer stamping presses that turn out steel car panels in quick succession – and 450 robots were listed for sale to aspiring car manufacturers.

A complete body paint shop – including an electrocoat anti-rust treatment plant – is available, as well as plastics manufacturing equipment, body shop welding gear and an automatic body storage and retrieval system.

Twenty overhead gantry cranes are listed, with the largest capable of carrying 50 tonnes.

Successful bidders will be able to pick up their goods in early 2018. Just bring a big truck and crane.

The blurb says the plant was building 335 vehicles a day when the auction opened. However, the plant capacity is said to be 825 units a day, with assembly lines designed to handle vehicles built on the Australian-engineered Zeta architecture – for the Commodore-based cars – and smaller Delta platform, which was designed for the now-defunct locally built Cruze.

The Elizabeth plant will be the last of Holden’s manufacturing facilities to close after almost 70 years of manufacturing under the lion brand. The V6 engine plant in Port Melbourne shut late last year, and it is now being decommissioned and cleared of its machinery that was sold in a similar online auction.

As GoAuto has reported, the closure of the Holden factory at Elizabeth – on the northern fringe of Adelaide – will be marked on September 15 by a parade of Holden cars down the years, from the first 48-215 made in 1948 to the latest VF II Commodore.

The 10km route will take the vehicles from the centre of Elizabeth and past the factory to the Central Districts Football Club ground where a family fun day and show’n’shine display will be held.

Called the Holden Dream Cruise after Detroit’s famous Woodward Dream Cruise, the parade will feature cars entered by Holden fans, customers and employees who have been asked to register at holdendreamcruise.com.au.

The final working day at the factory, on October 20, will be closed to the public and the press as Holden pays tribute to its workers.