Quote Originally Posted by wbute View Post
GMH only had one product line until the small car range was introduced. So really they had never actually given the large car range a name until Commodore came along. Much the same as Ford with the Model T.
There are many car companies like this. Most car manufacturers began by building just one model line & that's what they were known for. The USA pre-WWII, was a good example, a Ford was a Ford,a Chev was a Chev & a Dodge was a Dodge & so on. That all there was, there was no '2nd model line'.

Even in the 60s & 70s in Australia, if you said that you owned a Holden or a Ford it was naturally assumed that you were referring to your Kingswood or Falcon, not your Torana or your Cortina, unless you elaborated.

I think they first deviated from this with the Corvette & the Thunderbird, prior to that time there was only one Ford & one Chev. Often if they did want to release a 2nd model line, they usually created a new brand, e.g. Mercury, Edsel etc. By the time you got to the 60s & 70s each manufacturer had many car lines. Look at Chev:- Nova, Chevelle, Corvair, Camaro, Monte Carlo, Biscayne/Impala/Caprice etc. (full size), Pick-Ups, Suburban etc. etc.

Dr Terry