Ian Williams started building the Williams special in April/May 1964, utilizing a "Grey" Holden engine purchased in bits for 10.00 Pounds and a Riley 1.5 litre gearbox. The car was completed in August/September 1965.
The Holden "Grey" engine was the power plant from the first Australian massed produced family car the Holden FX from 1948. The car was designed at General Motors, with early engines produced in Canada. This engine went on to be produced in Australia and powered Holden cars until 1963.
The space frame of RHS tubing and aluminium was constructed by Ian and a friend in Mordialloc, to their own design. Triumph Herald front suspension and rack and pinion steering was included in the design, and a Morris Minor rear axle mounted on an "A" frame and radius rods. The front and rear panels in fibreglass are from a Bolwell MK4, purchased new by Ian for the project, the front panel modified to accommodate the much larger Holden engine. Improvements to the car shortly thereafter included replacing the Triumph Herald drum brakes with discs from a MK3 Zephyr adapted to the Herald Uprights, and replacing the rear axle assembly with one from an FE Holden.
The car was initially road registered in 1965 as the Williams roadster, chassis number 1, registration number JHW 082. At the time in Victoria cars were road registered by simply turning up at the local police station and filling out the appropriate forms.
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