Hi guys,
Just popping in to say hi. Recently i became the owner of an FC wagon. For what ever reason i was drawn in by old car's and the culture surrounding it. When a friend introduced me to Mark Bone, they both decidered that a wagon would be my thiing and they set off looking.. So as you see it wasn't me drooling over an FC that made me buy one, rather these guys choosing my fate for me. And all i can say is i have no regretts for trusting them to produce the goods. I can't begin to explain what that first drive was like, and consequently very drive after. Something special i think you guys can relate to. Anyway, I brought the car on first site and was pretty happy with the price. The drive home was great, but an overheating issue became apparent when i pulled into the servo at the end of the freeway.. It was a hot day, and the car had a red 202.. On further inspection the cause for the over heating was revealed to be a stock rotten FC radiator. That would have to be upgraded. The first weekend I owned the car saw me driving to Narragin.. with same radiator. I guess half tohe point of owning an old car is to just leave all the care at home and hit the road with some mates.. and thats what i did. Knowing the Radiator had issues there was no question that i would be driving at night and probably putting a fair bit of water through it. All the same the trip was awesome fun, and fortunately pretty uneventful...
The following weeks I had the booster rebuilt at Mandurah performance which made a huge differencem, as the vacuum had been previously disconected. Then I takled the Radiator. I didn't have much money fo I found a 98 magna Radiator and custom fit it in.. It was a bad idea but it was free... I could only fit the smaller thermo fan in and I had no chance of keeping the stock motor fan. (Though it had been flattened when the 202 was installed to make room so was pretty ineffective at any rate.) To fit the rad i had to lay it over some, and trim out the front sheet metal... At the same time i threw a spitfire temp gauge i had lying around from a previous project, just so i could see what sort of temps i was getting. Driving around for short trips it was great holding 90 - 95, long trips it would creap up to 100 depending if i put some boot into it. But my biggest problem and you guys would already know, was sitting at the lights waiting for traffic.. The mod wasn't the best but it did keep some coin in my pocket for a little while.
Anyway, three months after buying it and driving it around every spare minute of the day I decided to move to Darwin for a working holiday. A decition which I had been putting off. I decided to leave the car at home for a while just so i could go away, save some money and hopefully get into it when i get back. Given that mandurah is so close to the coast and that the car is riddled with rust I called my old man in Kelmscott and asked him for a little shed space. Knowing full well that i would be keeping him busy cutting rust out
. he agree'd so i raced down to Mark and brought a new/old tail gate with minor rust.. packed the car and dropped it off with the instructions to "tinker on the tail gate, and see how you go cutting the rust out". Being a retired welder I felt reassured he wouldn't stuff up to badly.
Anyway, so that where I got to, and I've been in Darwin for a month. Think about what i could be doing to the car everyday... But like i've said, money is tight at the moment so I'm practicing a little pactience.
Well i hope i didn't bore you, and i'll be sure to be using this Forum like a bible.
Thanks
Matt
The day i picked it up. Sorry the photo is bad quality. Don't be fooled by the repaint, she has plenty of rust.
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