Person

James, Frederick George (1915 - 2007)

Born: 4 May 1915
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Died: 18 October 2007
Cowes, Victoria, Australia
Occupation: Engineer

Summary

Engineer and lifelong motor enthusiast Fred James was the senior engine designer at General Motors-Holden from 1963 to 1977 and is known as the designer of the iconic Holden V8. His first position as engineer was with England's Vauxhall Motors. While at Vauxhall he designed the 21-litre flat 12-cylinder engine for the Churchill tank, used during WWII.

Details

Chronology

1938: Education - Honours in Engineering, University of Western Australia, Perth
1938 - 1941: Career position - Engineer at Vauxhall Motors, Luton, England
1941 - 1963: Career position - Engineer at General Motors-Holden, Fisherman's Bend
1963 - 1977: Career position - Senior engine engineer, General Motors-Holden, Fisherman's Bend

Published resources

Newspaper Articles

James, S., 'Holden engineering legend provided oomph', The Age (2007), 18. Details

Resources

'James, Frederick George (19150504-20071018)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1514381. Details

Theses

Darwin, Norman Arthur, 'Early Australian automotive design 1895 - 1953', PhD thesis, RMIT University, 2018, 385 pp. http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:162422/Darwin.pdf. Appendix II - biographies pp.341-2. Details

Rebecca Rigby

Created: 31 August 2012, Last modified: 11 April 2016

EOAS ID: biogs/P005255b.htm

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