Yes folks, Nev, my former FE sedan is on the front page of the weekend Financial Review. Unfortunately, the picture relates to the departure of GM from Australia.

Still, you cant keep a good FE down!

Cheers
John

Fantastic to see it back on the road Brett, she looks a treat, great work. I might terrorise you guys in Tassie next year in my 53 Buick.......

Regards
John

Here is the latest.

http://www.supercardelegance.com.au/web/australia-day-motoring-event/

I understand John Flower is still involved in this.

Cheers
John

David,

This is not hearsay. I have a letter from NRMA advising they propose to support a car display on Lake Barely Tolerable  on the weekend 9-11 March then a rally that finishes on 19-20 October 2013.

regards
John

Guys,

Can we please lose the discussion about changing engine numbers. This is a public forum, please exhibit some common sense.

Rules, no matter how inconvenient, are rules. If you want to modify a car you have to accept the umpires decision, otherwise don't. Remember no one is sitting down thinking how terrific it is that Joe Bloggs somewhere is going to triple the power in his structurally weak, dynamically incompetent 52 years old, plus, Holden.

Thats why car manufacturers spend $millions upgrading the whole car for maybe a 20% increase.

Well, as we suspected NRMA will not be holding Motorfest in 2013, instead using the Centenary of Canberra as an alternative.

Disappointing, because it's the only old car event I go to where the show goes to the people rather than the reverse. It's also disappointing that NRMA, through not getting into classic car insurance early and not being prepared to offer multiple vehicle road service have largely left our market to others.

I can't remember the first Motorfest I attended, it was in the park at Millers Point under the bridge, at least 20 years ago.

RIP Motorfest, unless someone else picks it up.

Cheers
John

Thanks Gary and Brett, Holden suitcases made by a firm called Dodge eh?

Those cases are in superb condition Gary, they match the colour of my 1947 Chyrsler perfectly they have the right name and I'm sure they'd all fit...........

They're called Airport Luggage, can you imagine how long they'd last today?

Being old enough to have actually used fibre Globite suitcases at school, there is a dead give away that these are repros. If these were period correct they would not have plastic handles. Globite didnt use these until at least the very late 60s and maybe as late as 1970.

Earlier cases have a two part handle where the lower part that fits in your palm overlaps the upper part. From vague memory I think the handle mounts were quite different too. So if these purport to be earlier than late 60s, they're repros.

Lots of money for reproductions......

John 

Firstly, I hope the forum doesn't mind me roaming off topic with this stuff, I'm happy to desist if it's a problem.

David, it's a one family owned car first purchased by a Doctor in California who owned it until 1982, then it was passed to a nephew in Ilinois who worked for a Chrysler dealer and who sympathetically maintained it until now.

About half the paint and most of the interior is original. it has the Fluid Drive gearbox which is a cross between a manual and automatic - only more complicated. The gearbox is four speed but you can drive it as a conventional auto or as a manual without using the clutch much. I don't properly understand it myself yet but I will need to learn it. The car has just over 100,000 miles recorded and the engine and gearbox have been rebuilt.

Gary, the Caddy looks much better now and rather than the original brake fluid the hydraulic system now runs ATF which won't hurt the paint. It drives really well and is a lot of fun.

I look forward to catching up with you guys next Sunday.

Regards
John

Thanks Guys, a bloke who restored one of my Alfas some years ago Graham.

Brett, the Caddy is actually dark green.

I just bought this one, its on its way from Oregon. Its a 1947 Chrysler Windsor Highlander and yes that plaid interior is correct and mostly original.

https://picasaweb.google.com/pagoda113/1947ChryslerWindsor?authkey=Gv1sRgCOKC8MDSh9np6AE#

Regards
John

As everyone here has been so polite, I feel it is beHolden on me to continue to be so.

Frankly, these asking prices are laughable.

Every iteration of the grey motor Holden was slower than the previous one to the point where one of the prettiest Holden's of all, the EJ, was one of the strongest and slowest. And of course then came the red motor with seven main bearings, smoothness and durability undreamed of for grey motor owners. Regrettably the poor old FB/EK lacked the elegance of the FE/FC or the great proportions of the EJ and of course the red motor of the EH, arguably the best proportioned Holden sedan ever.

I'm not aware of the vendor's motives in the various recent auctions in which cars have been offered however, I have learnt that that you cant dictate to the market. At best you can seek to educate it. I guess we will see if this education process is effective.

John

I have followed this thread and others on this topic with some interest.

When I purchased Nev he came with faded orange lenses, I still have them. As a car tragic born in the mid 50s I also noticed both orange FE/FC lenses and the "orange" FB lenses. I completely agree with Ken on this.

From my observations in the 60s FE/FCs left in the sun would suffer faded lenses and as these were a rego issue they were replaced with new ones.

As to the alleged "Nitro" FB lenses, the connection between the paint used on the cars and the taillight lenses completely escapes me. With the exception of the 48/215 lenses which were pink when lit ALL Holden taillight lenses were red, at least until VP Commodores when they faded to white fairly quickly.

However,.....I clearly remember the faded FB lenses, they were more opaque than than the later lenses. My recollection is that the early lenses faded rapidly and they were mostly replaced through the sixties, I also remember them being faded nearly to white, just like the FE/FC ones in some cases.

In short unless there is some GMH documentation that states that amber lenses were fitted to FBs as opposed to a change of spec that better resisted fading, I am of the view that early FB lenses were defective.

I cannot remember a single car released in Australia in the late 50s/ early sixties with amber tailights, why would Australia's largest car manufacturer take it upon themselves to do this particularly as amber blinkers had been made compulsory the year before?

Great story though to enhance the mystique of early FB Holdens

John

Sadly no Holdens in the garage at present, however I have been active in tidying up "Bess" my 1948 Cadillac Fleetwood 60 Special. These were expensive and not common. The wheelbase at 133 inches was seven inches longer than the Series 61 and 62s and the car is 19' long and weighs about 2200 kgs. To my knowledge there are two in Australia. Mine is a fairly early car, number 945 of 6,561 made, failrly low production for a US Car. Sir Robert Menzies had a '49 model as his official car so there is an Australian connection.

In late December we set about rectifying paint damage to the lower doors caused by brake fluid leakage from the "Hydra Lectric" windows. This comprises windows (and the front seat) that are electrically actuated but operated by a hydraulic pump on the firewall that originally used brake fluid for the window cylinders. Needless to say when they leaked or failed (which they often did) the brake fluid ruined the paint and rubbers on the lower doors. Over Christmas last year we spent three weeks stripping all of the lower half paint and repairing some rear dog leg and lower front guard rust. The biggest job, though was rust around the front fog lights that had been apallingly repaired. Here's what we found.Note the filler in the first two photos.



Heres what we did;




Here's how it looked




And here how she looks now



Not much apparent change and some mechanical stuff to be done. Apologies for it being non Holden, but she is in the family - you can see the FX/FJ in her.

John

Understand Richard, sounds fair enough.

regards
John

I have just received the NRMA HD Panel Van model.

I would like to congratulate John and the team for what is as good a 1/43rd scale model as I've yet seen. Absolutely superb, well done!

John.

Looks to be a nice original car in an uncommon colour combination. It's an interim 56/57 car with a black steering column and chrome column mounting bracket.

Speculation on its value without proper inspection is not very helpful. it's worth whatever value a buyer ascribes to it.

Regards
John

Good question Jules. I have rebuilt two greys both properly and experienced the same problem in my FE. The critical issue if all else is ok is the thermostat, check that its operating correctly. We couldn't figure out what the problem was.

After some thought we ran a by pass pipe from the thermostat housing to the water pump, which solved the problem. It slows down the water flow giving it more time to cool the engine. Not possible if you run a heater, of course. After this we also did the mod on my wagon engine with excellent results. Here's a photo.



Hope this helps
Cheers
john

Hi fellas.

I don't think this is at all an inappropriate place to express opinions about Government regulations. Give us a break Ken, if we can't talk about this stuff here where on earth can we express our opinions?

Having said this, Guys you need to have a think about the mods you're contemplating. I know this sounds old and boring, but the thought of 330kw through an FE/FC, irrespective of a full chassis, disc brakes and seat belts plus whatever is simply terrifying. Have you guys had a serious look at how weak these things are? Disc brake front and rear ends are not even close to adequate. Think about this, a Commodore with 300KW weighs around 1800Kg, do you think thats all air con and central locking? A BMW 1 Series M is 3/4 the size of an FC, produces 250KW and weighs nearly 1500 kgs, a standard FC Holden Special weighs under 1100 kgs.

Not only are these cars built to cope with big power, they are built to cope if something goes wrong. I would say the consequences of something going wrong in an FE/FC with 150+ KW could be very serious for those in the car. Even a warm grey will make an FC capable of a lazy 80 - 90 mph.

Bottom line. Not only are these not strong cars (and a chassis kit wont make them so it will simply stop them tearing themselves apart quickly) they are also dynamically incompetent. In this respect Ken is right, as much as I hate to admit it, the Gument is saving you guys from yourselves. I'm all in favour of making these cars drivable in modern traffic but if you're contemplating this level of horsepower, buy a later model muscle car or a turbo rice burner, not only will it be cheaper, it will be a hellovalot safer too.

Cheers
John

Sorry 6.40x13 crossplys - too early in the morning

Snuff is correct 185/80/13 is the closest in rolling diameter to the original 540x13 crossplys.

If the car is a stockie and you're running the original 3.89 diff, tyre size is critical if you want to cruise comfortably at 90-100kph.
Cheers
John