FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

This picture was sent in by Philip Ivanov one of the SA Club members, 1957 Murray Street Gawler.
(http://i42.tinypic.com/20ssrb7.jpg)

I finally pulled my finger out and tried to get a shot of the same scene today, no FEs to be seen though  :'(
(http://i43.tinypic.com/2h4hmav.jpg)

Nice work Glenn,it would be rare to see such a small change in a main street...

Great pair of photos - notice the front chimney is gone in the hotel?
Does he know anything about the gathering of FE's - it looks intriguing
Some female drivers, some male drivers
No uniforms
The 3rd car has driving lights so it would seem they are not fleet cars
The cars are all odd colours, but all seem to be specials
The 5th car has a radio fitted
The closest car has passengers in it and so does the second one
Maybe it was a really good sales day and all cars sold on the one day and the purchasers were gathered for a photo?
As I said I am intrigued by the photo - any one else like to hypothesise??? :P

Ken

Great shot Philip & Glen  The good old days before Jap cars invaded the Australian Road........FC427......

A line up disgruntled FE owners waiting for the FC to be released??  ;D ;D

Amazing picture, the line up even seems to extend past the right side of the image.

Nice find.

The major changes are the veranda to the row of shops and a chimney lost from the hotel. The Old Spot Hotel is supposedly haunted, not sure of the exact history though.

Here's an uncropped colour shot.
(http://i43.tinypic.com/20ihnr5.jpg)

The number plates were all over the place : 507-086, 519-595, 1913, 12(?)-010 and I can't make out the last one.

Maybe it was the SA Club's very first cruise  :P
Steinborner Holden is just down the road but that didn't open until 1984  :-\

Might have been something to do with the Melbourne Olympic Games ? wrong state & date though?

Ken - you missed people in the 3rd car and the kerb has been changed in front of the shops.....  ;D

Is there a church near by? Could it be after mass/service and coincidently a row of holdens? The people look to be in their sunday best.


 8)

Surely you could get a few FE's for a photo op at some point and recreate it for a laugh?

You'd need 8 FE's to re-create that shot, the club's lucky to get 8 cars including ring-ins to a run  :P
The pedestrian refuge would cause a problems and I am sure the council would like some notice of a stunt like that considering we'd be parking against the flow of traffic.
In all not impossible, just bloody difficult

And you have a guy in SA with over 20 cars....
 ;D

That lives at the polar opposite of Adelaide, which is dead on 101kms away  :'(

I've got 1 you can use and I'll be out that way next weekend!  ;)

Re the number plates - not so unusual that they are all over the place.  Back then the number plates usually "went" with the owner of the car unless they made a conscious decision to trade/sell it with the car - for example my plate would have been on the car(s) that my dad's uncle owned prior to the FE. 

Kathi

Kathi, thanks for that. (Sorry to hijack your thread Stinky)

I also own a 1965 Fiat 1800 which came from SA and still carries its original plates. The number is 24 -712. I knew the plates were much older than the car, do you have any idea when they might have been issued?

Here is a photo.

(http://i39.tinypic.com/165b7o.jpg)

Cheers - and apologies - John

Hi Guys
A great photo and all FEs too that will get the devotees excited! My thoughts the 3rd car has passengers as well the 6th car looks a bit like a wagon to me, and not to be taken the wrong way but i feel they could be group of "New Australians" possibly on a outing showing off there new found prosperity and there love of Holden cars. Though it does seem a little odd to all be the one model though if they are all related or from the same village etc maybe the shared admiration and availablilty of the model. Would be interesting to know if it was 1956/7 or late 1959/1960/1961 etc as maybe they were all cheaper run out deals or the like.
Anyway great photo all the same!
Brett

Hey Brett.....1957.
I doubt with the demand for Holdens in the late 50's and the long waiting list that any FE FC was ever reduced to clear.
Regards
Alex

Heres my take on this top photo.......

It appears that the people and cars are at the front of the town hall.

This could be in January for the new Australians to become citizens...this could also be the reason for the Sunday best and also relative to the name of the owner of the pics

Cheers
Gary

Some additional information on the original 1957 photo supplied recently.

(http://i42.tinypic.com/20ssrb7.jpg)



Corner of Lyndoch Road and Murray Street Gawler as described above.
(http://i61.tinypic.com/ibzxqr.png)

The Old Spot Hotel has recently reopened after a major redevelopment and is now called the Golden Fleece (original name apparently) complete with Golden Fleece "petrolania" and the building to the north demolished with a new carpark and Westpac bank taking it's place.

Here's another picture from GlenC, the Aero Motors site back-in-the-day.
There's also an FB Wagon in there and another car that I can't quite make out.

(http://i61.tinypic.com/2637iv5.jpg)

Good to read all the interest in the 1957 photo i posted some time ago and the speculation about the reason for all those FE's being together.
The book "Glimpses of Gawler" includes this photo and includes a little detail:-
It was the "Centenary of Local Government in Gawler 1957."
"State Premier Thomas Playford and Cabinet members were conveyed in a fleet of FE Holdens from Gawler Railway Station to the Town Hall."
As Glen Curnow said Mavis Curnow was a driver and is third from left.  Sixth from left is Bruce Eastick who went on to serve as a SA Member of Parliament and also as Mayor of Gawler.

Since Aero Motors was mentioned thought there might be interest in an old cinema slide i have advertising FCs from Aero Motors.


(http://s24.postimg.org/41e2i8yo1/Aero_Motors_slide.jpg) ($2)

Thanks for the info, very interesting.
That movie slide is a cool bit of history,
Regards
Alex

Hey Phil, looks like next meeting should be a slide night.  :D

 :-[ Oops, forgot to add this one

(http://i61.tinypic.com/2ypdfgh.jpg)

I found a website called faded memories that has old pictures available to purchase, and found the full original picture.
I purchased the A3 size of the picture which was delivered to me this afternoon.
I can count 18 FEs lined up. :)

(http://s24.postimg.org/ioh6wen75/Fesatgawler57.jpg) ($2)

Cheers Stewy   8)

Some interesting history on that site Stewy.

The single storey shop building is now gone, bulldozed in the Pub's redevelopment and now has a new building that houses the Westpac bank.
The pub has gone back to an old name "The Golden Fleece".

Cool.