Holden Motor Body Builders was established in 1917 in Adelaide. It had started in 1856 making saddlery before branching into vehicle upholstery and then supplying new bodies for older cars. One early contract was to supply bodies to the newly started Ford plant at Geelong. In 1924 General Motors gave Holden a contract to build bodies for its imported chassis. But Holden also built bodies for eight other manufacturers at the same time. General Motors bought out Holden in 1931. After WW2 with Government encouragement Holden built a new plant at Melbourne to build GM products from America as well as Vauxhalls. The first Holden badged car was introduced in 1949, actually a design already rejected by Chevrolet. The name 'Holden' honoured Sir Edward Holden who was grandson of founder JA Holden; GM did try to invent a name of its own. British and European designs were adapted to be Holdens but there was also independent development, and some American sourced models. Holden closed its plants in 2017 and now badges European and American products.