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No, not at all Ray as I had yet to be conceived. But during my Gold Star research I was able to uncover a lot of information on the pre-Appendix J racing, and as the first family car I can remember (and they will always be fond memories) was a two-tone green FC Station Sedan, any appearances of an FE-FC on a racetrack that I would read about would stay in my memory bank. And it was good to catch up for a chat tonight  :)

One driver that I am intrigued by is Ian Izon in an FE. His first appearance was in June 16 1958 at Phillip Island, where he finished 7th in the Saloon Scratch Race, but subsequently won both the Saloon and Saloon and Sports Handicaps. He then went to Fishermen's Bend for the Victorian Saloon Car Championship (unknown finish, but lower than 4th) and then the 2 week meeting at Albert Park (DNF Oil pressure after 5 of 8 laps, and unknown finish but lower than 9th the following week)

And no further sightings on my spreadsheet.

Here's Bob Holden taking off from the Phillip Island grid



The Porsche is probably Eddie Perkins, Larry's father. I don't know (or care?) who's in the Standard 10 at the back of the field!

It is probably Ern Abbott in the Standard, as he drove one of these at a lot of Victorian meetings at that time, before his Valiant days.

There never was a 'memorable race win' of that kind of stature for an FE or FC...

Bruce McPhee had the most 'memorable' car in the field in the Appendix J days, Lou Kingsley in the pre-Appendix J days, while Bob Holden got the one that Repco built up and had been raced by Stan Jones.

Others who raced them included John Raeburn, Alan Dewhurst and Fred Rheinberger. Later in the Sports Sedan days there were many. Chris Strode had one, Barry Sharp has been mentioned, I think his went on to Bill Warner.

The problem is that the FE and FC were from a period when tintop racing wasn't big. The Armstrong 500 started in 1960 and the FB was already well and truly out then, so there was never a serious endurance race for production cars in their time. In other racing they were always considered to be too heavy alongside the early models, but blokes like McPhee were always willing to try to prove a point.

Alongside the 1957 WATCC for Lou Kingsley, Bob Holden won the 1958 Victorian Saloon Car Championship on October 19th at Fisherman's Bend. Bob didn't quite get the Repco car, but got all the running gear from it given to him by Charlie Dean and put it into an ex-taxi. I figure the changeover was between April and December 1957, as that is when the Repco car last appeared and the Holden Holden first appeared.

Don Elliot Repco Holden

The NSW on the rear quarter gives this away as the much-travelled Lou Kingsley in front of David Lewis in Ray Long's FJ, which also had its origins in NSW.