I remember stumbling across a site run by some computer game geeks that got together and travelled the world to meet their other forum users in person. They had about 40 pages of pics from their tour. One of the guys had a 53 chev or something and when they came to Australia he was fascinated by the holden wrecks. this resulted in them spending most of their stay in Australia driving around the country looking for old holden wrecks to photograph. The guy sometimes confuses old pommy cars for holdens but it was interesting how some tourists see the old holden wrecks as something specail.
some of these cars I reckon deserve heritage listings.
Perhaps next time they go to stick some weird peice of crap in the city and claim that it is a peice of art displaying Australian culture, maybe they should consider a couple of rusty old holden wrecks.
I remember getting stuck in the bush with a broken leaf spring, I limped the car back to a relatives house near by and we went out searching the bush till I found a filthy rusty old replacement to get me home.

Ive got a picture in a book of the waggott double knocker head in a humpy, it also has a seven bearing crank using a cage to accomadate it, the capacity was three litres, in the article it only has two strombergs fitted but they were planning to get around 175 bhp @ 6000rpm when they fitted the 6 amal's with a top engine speed of 7000rpm wich isnt bad for a old grey thats naturally aspirated in a humpy.
The car belonged to a guy called Bill Thompson and was driven by a guy called Jack Myers and Merv Waggott from Waggott engineering in Greenacre was doing most of the work on it.

In the article they claim that a fractured manifold  restricted it to a mere 6000 rpm in top gear.
Dont you hate it when you have a stuffed manifold and your grey will only pull 6000rpm in top gear and you are running late for work.

Has anyone seen a grey head that used a rotating shaft in the head instead of valves?

Maybe I have been hanging around rarified circles as ret said. When I first moved to Newcastle (Blackalls park)there was a guy around the corner with a FC that had the wilsonia gauge, I spent alot of time growing up at my Nans house were my uncle lived, he also always had wilsonia gauges in his cars, just before I moved down from Newcastle (Belmont)there was another guy around the corner who not only had them in his cars, but always had some for sale, Sometimes Craig Wilson comes around here and he also has one, what have you got Alex?
There may be less chance out in the real world I would say that quite a large number of those cars are owned by non club members are also old holden enthusiasts.
we arent exactly talking nissan pintaras here and not many people buy a FE or FC without a good interest in them, even if a non enthusiast did chances are the previous owner was a enthusiast.
I usually see at least one of these units at a swap meet and I think if I wrecked out a car that had a wilsonia gauge I would clean it up and sell it seperated from the rest of the instrument cluster, I would also only be selling it if I had one in my car. (wich I plan to get once I need to put a boost gauge in my triple guage cluster under the radio)
I dont really think it would be one in a thousand unless you want to include remains hanging out of creeks.
Rare spares should have advertised on ebay, it really shits me that they went that cheap and I missed out as it looks like its going to be hard now getting one for less than $200 2nd hand.

Ive seen some other pics of this car, I thought it was pretty cool, I never knew there was such thing as too far when it came to roof chops, I might have taken a couple more inches out at the back and a little bit more at the front.
one pic that stands out in my head is of it covered in dust in a car park, now that I think of it, it kind of looked like the spectators car park at Natex, it must have been around the time as the car was exactly as is in your photos with all the plates on the front and the prem hubcaps the paint seemed a bit less glossy but it could have been the dust.

Definition of a house wife-
an attachment you screw on the bed to do the housework.

I guess they are kind of rare but one way to get an Idea might be to look through the cars at the christmas party to get an idea of if its closer to 1/4 and 1/10.

I had a mate with FC 355 on his plates
I wonder if its the same seller as the guy with the wilsonia gauge

I havent figured out what its worth yet but I found a switch in my garage the other day still new in the box with no key or barrel, it said FB EK on the box, I dont know if its the same but its genuine and brand spankers.
I am in Seven Hills, Sydney.

Your car must have been built the day they changed over and used up the last clear lense. LOL.
the clear lense at the bottom was originally to acommadate the optional reverse lights. but when amber indicaters came out they made the lower lens orange and the indicator was seperated from the brake light and placed in the reverse light spot with the new orange lenses.

There is a grey and white FC up in Newcastle That went from a grey to a VL motor (Non Turbo), I didnt really like the Idea of a Nissan motor but when he got it on the road I changed my mind.
The car idled quite and smooth but it hammered, I have seen it in action at the Newcastle on the burnout pad on a night when I was up there with my car, He also beet me mucking around on the street, I think he used a centura diff, the car was also running a 5 speed vl box and vl radiator.
FC's are much lighter than VL's and Skylines, infact I think there is about 6 or 700 kg more weight in the R-34 GTR skyline than a FC, maybe you should get something like the RB26DETT, I hear that there are a few of those engines pushing over 1000 hp wich would be good in a FC in situations were you might be late for work, club meetings or taking your missus to have a baby.
I have seen the 265 engines put in old holdens, I had a photo of a FB ute from the country that had a 265 wacked in when the grey died becuase it was the only motor they had around. I would say that they would have noticed quite a bit of extra power with the replacement engine, it would have been good with a set of triple webers, Although I think this motor come out of a Dodge truck, these are like one of the fastest 6 cylinder engines sold in Australia.
It would probably turn a few heads at shows if you had bonnet up aswell.
Last of all if you are willing to go japanese for the motor, I havent yet seen a Lexus V8 in a old holden yet, the 4 litre has more power than a holden 5 litre and it weighs alot less, it cant be to unreliable as lexus promises to put its owners in 1st class acomadation till their V8 saloon owners have there cars repaired in the case of a breakdown.
Ive seen these motors go for $2500 identical to those motors found in cars that sold for $140 000, they are quite, smooth, powerful, efficient and lite thanks to its alloy block and 32 valves. these motors were targeted at the US, this is were the US comes from in Lexus, the X is for export so its a jap motor but it was designed for America, it could probably sound different with a 3" exhaust out the side.

I think Craig wilson paid about $25 for his brand new (Dontya hate that) from rare spares on some clearance sale or some thing, I guess he should have stocked up and set himself up for the high life as the last couple I have seen have been around the $200 mark.
I never thought I they would end up being sold for more than double that at $435 to buy it now, that would be a $410 profit on a $25 investment.
I would say that at least a quarter of the FE and FC holdens in existance have one fitted but maybe near half.
A nice item to have but not as rare as hens teeth.

Thats totally cool
When I was 13 years old I rode from Sydney to Grafton one night in a warm FC van done up as a FE.
The whole way up we had a Daddy Cool tape playing, it was quite an experience as it was the first time I had been on a trip that long driving through the night till the sun was up. Even though the music was about 13 years younger than the car, it had a vintage Australian kind of sound that suited the dash so well that I spent hours sitting behind. I remember at the end of the trip I felt like I was going to have a anxiety attack if I had to wait to long to get my own FE or FC.
between then and getting my liscense I ended up listening to rap and stuff, but with this night of the trip to grafton still etched in my brain one day I walked into Parramatta HMV and said I needed to order some daddy cool tapes for a present for someone as I stood there in a adidas tracksuit and a Public enemy T shirt.
When I got the tapes I took a bag to hide it in, just in case one of my rap friends saw it on the train, I took it home and played it through headphones over and over till about 4am.
This led to some pretty major changes in my life as I now find it embarassing to stand near someone into rap in public. and in 1994 when I got my first old holden (a 57 FE) the first thing I did was hook up a stereo and sat in it in the drive way listening to daddy cool. I remember the feeling was like a massive relief, even though the car needed work to get it registered I felt like I had finally achieved my goal in life and accomplished my dreams.
Any one who has heard the song "love in a fj" would understand daddy cools link to old holdens, the song describes the cold hard vinyl interior of the fj as the most extremely romantic atmosphere in the world.
Old holdens were also seen in their video clips and album covers.
you wouldnt see Guy from Australian Idol singing about how romantic the backseat of a VT commodore is would you.
This article was from a time when Aussie cars and Aussie Rock & Roll ruled Australian youth culture.

Thanks for sharing that article.

I had a harness made for around $260 wich came from a place specailising in vintage harnesses, it looked exactly like original except for the fact that it was made for a alternater, since the car was apart fitting was just a matter of poking it through a couple of holes in about five minutes.
after that everything just went together when I chucked in the motor and dash, I have added remote controlled power windows to the front doors as well as remote controlled central locking, cruise control, electric wipers, heater, flamethrowers, a compressor to raise the rear suspension for speed humps, mp3 player, amps, speakers, valve radio, lit blue dots, electric fans, electric fuel pump, claxton horn, tacho, electric ariel and all that kind of stuff.
I did have a few problems with switches and ended up putting in a few relays on the higher load drawing accesories, this is a cool trick as you can use any switch or button you like to run something rated at 20 amps as well as giving the wires carrying heavy loads a shorter path for less resistance.
It was all pretty basic as the car is so basic from the begining. The harness was tailor made to suit the car and if I ever was stuck with any problem I could still refer to a workshop manual

Something else to consider is that the further forward you place the motor means more room for triple carbs, turbos and superchargers as well as less work required to  the tunnel for a gearbox conversion but the further back you place the engine brings the weight further back over the front axles wich can be better for handling.
3.08 is ideal with 13" wheels unless the car is going to be mainly used on the quarter mile or through the city.
I use a bigger radiator with the sides of the radiator support panel cut out how ever the standard grey motor radiator seems to be able to keep a stock red motor cool. I blew my crashbox a week after fitting the red but it was a day when I was late for work and I had spun the wheels a couple of times then I dropped the clutch wich was followed by a bang and grind noise, if you dont change your box you dont have to change the tailshaft either but if you decide later to modify the tunnel for a synchro box you may also have to pay more engineers fees.
Before you fit your motor make sure you have the rite sump pan and pick up, overwise your steering will hit on it and you wont get it registered. Most common sump & pick up is EH for this conversion.

Congrats Alex & Fiona
And wecome Benjamin to the FE FC Holden Car Club.
Did you name him after Ben?
Now you have to buy double the amount of hotwheels cars.
make sure you have your model cars up high, Even when you think they are well hiden young boys have radar for this stuff and from the time they learn to roll over your collection is at risk.
I have found quite a few empty torn up hotwheels packets on the floor from my collection. I even cought my oldest (son who is now 3) red handed with the remains of a once immaculate Trax FE box wich he tore up like gift wrap on christmas morning to get to the FE inside. also recently a hotwheels 25 anniversary nomad with badge somehow  made its way down from the top of the bookshelf to become a victim.
Hot wheels arent the only objects targeted as Cruizin and newsledder magazines somtimes look like they have been put through a paper shredder after the youngens have their read. This could be even nastier with car culture deluxe magazines that come at a much higher price.
On the good side you can play with your sons hot wheels cars without taking yours out of the packet.
You have now got a excuse for keeping your car a four door.
You also can now park closer to the shopping centre entrance as that baby seat lets you park in the parents with prams spots.
Are you going to give the pram the custom treatment that you gave your car?
Are there any pedal car plans started on yet?
Will the baby seat be covered in a confederate flag to match the hoodlinning?

Due to the film festivals rules I wont know the first location till about 9:30pm as my film must include 5 of 15 locations that I will be given at 9:00 with the first scene at one of the given locations.
At present I am thinking of having the cars meet on hunter street till I call someone with the cars who knows the area and having them go to the first location to meet us. other alternative would be for every one to arrive at around 6:45 and park in the carpark near where the entrants assemble for the launch of the shootout at 9:00pm.
I would also recomend this to anyone planning to register as a actor(remember - period dress, no nike airs etc, bring your clothes along)
Usually the given locations are based around town, around the beaches and hunter street
I also have some other locations of my own using old buildings etc as a background but we are trying to keep travelling time to a minimum as with the shoot out every minute is important, one location that I am going to use for sure is the old service station at boolooroo.
I will be going up to Newcastle on the weekend to scout a few more locations.
bring the warmest jumpers and jackets you can as it is usually a cold night.
you will miss some sleep but the experience is worth it I am going to try and keep a constant flow of coffee going for extra caffeine, I understand that not every one can skip a night of sleep so it is ok if you cant stay till morning although it would be good if you could.
I am going to try organising a place for people to have a sleep in the day while i am dubbing the tape and doing the sound.
If you are going to come let me know as I am trying to get a idea of how many cars we will have and at what times.
so far it looks like maybe2 EK's,2 FB'sand my FC wagon.
thanks ken

LEON (FCCOOL)

Tasmans are fine, the judges dont usually know what came out when like we do, however I dont want any hi tech looking bits on cars as it will kind of stuff it.
Last year someone was awarded for recreating the seventies with some afro wigs and flares.
Im going a bit further by hopefully lining streets with period cars as well as a couple of 50's props and some very cool locations.
It would be good to see you there, it's going to be a blast.

Hey Leon, Its Leon here, Did you know that John wanner has a version of this song on his CD wich is available for $40 + $5 postage, it sounds pretty close to the origional, there is also a track called the FE holden valve bounce boogie.
To hear a sample go to the JW swing orchestra site, I have recently got a copywrite release from John and will be using some of his music in the Newcastle shootout film festival.
If you like collecting holden songs dont forget to look for ol 55 's FJ holden and Daddy cool's love in a FJ, the only way to get love in a FJ is to buy a 3 box set wich was available for about 8 months I think in 92, it was never before released and is part of three songs joined called teanage heaven, the other two are called teen love and drive in movie, I think they were made in 72 but never made it to the record stores till 92.
Another song mentioning old Holdens is the Newcastle song by bob Hudson.
There is also some new stuff by the holden V8 symphony orchestra for new holden people and they use holden V8's are used for musical instruments.

I NEED PRE 62 CARS TO USE IN A SHORT FILM FOR A FILM FESTIVAL THAT ALLOWS LESS THAN 24 HOURS TO MAKE A SHORT MOVIE, (A RACE FOR FILM MAKERS).
SHOOTING WILL START AT 9:45PM ON THE 11th AND HOPEFULLY FINISH BY 11:30 AM SAT 12TH
ALL LOCATIONS ARE IN NEWCASTLE.
UNIQUE AND FUN EVENT.
OVER 150 CREWS WILL MAKE A MOVIE IN NEWCASTLE  OVER THE FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING.
SORRY, NO MODERN MAG WHEELS AS CARS ARE BEING USED TO CREATE A EARLY SIXTIES PERIOD.
email    mljulien@optusnet.com.au
hotmail fccool59@hotmail.com
ph 0411 304 399
or 0401 089 461

I am looking for any pre 62 cars for a short film being made for a film festival wich requires the film to be made in less than 24 hours, all cars will need to look period, sorry no billet mags or HQ wagon tailgihts.
Dress in the period if you want to get in the picture yourself.
No one else will drive your car and most cars will be used to give streets a period look.
All locations will be in Newcastle N.S.W.
Shooting will start at 9:45pm July 11 and finish hopefully by 11:30am July 12.
Fun opportunity as over 150 crews create over 150 movies in one town over one morning and night.
please contact me asap if you are interested-

mljulien@optusnet.com.au
fccool59@hotmail.com
or phone me on 0401 089 461 or 0411 304 399