Holden

"‘I said, “Going pretty well, Harold?” and raised the idea of a partnership. Harold said, “Maybe very long-term”, but I kept going.’ Stokes told Seymour he wasn’t after higher pay or more commission, but ‘What about a part of something?’ ‘I was expecting him to say “Five per cent”. But he said, “Finish up on Friday”. I’d just talked myself out of a job I loved.’ He later found out Seymour’s brother was returning to Perth and wanted to join the family firm. Something else struck him, too: he’d bought the same model Holden as his boss, but newer. The power of positive thinking was all very well, he realised later, but trumping the boss’s car and hitting him for a share of the business might have been a step too far. It was a hard lesson about the risks of bluffing and big-noting, one he never forgot."

"Rayner notes drily that ‘private enterprise entrepreneurs were a scarce commodity in the national capital’, which was bulging with bureaucrats and their political masters. The tycoon who drove a Rolls-Royce but spoke Holden-ute English intrigued people. He was easy to meet and hard to categorise."

"Alan arranged to bring Sir Lawrence Hartnett, the father of the Australian car industry, to New Zealand to lend weight to their press conferences and ministerial visits. Hartnett had overseen the birth and development of the Holden since the 1930s and was a respected figure internationally. With Hartnett flying in on Sunday, 17 September for the announcement, they planned maximum publicity. ‘Top secret plans for New Zealand’s own car’ were leaked to the *Sunday News* to build up excitement, then coverage of the Sunday afternoon press conference generated front-page or page-three news all around the country the following day. Initially, they talked simply of a ‘90 mph family car’. Ian Gibbs fronted, while Lawrence Hartnett said he was at a loss to explain the proposal’s cool reception from Norm Shelton, the Customs Minister.[15](private://read/01jrsfvkjy84rkprtbz9amfvj8/#rw-num-note-477268-974936905-15)"