fe van info

[fe van]

G'day all, I have a few questions regarding FE panel vans firstly does anyone have any photos of stock vans in/out and engine bays, I would like to know how they were when they left the factory, did they do the engine bay body colour or black and what was the dash/steering column painted body colour or black? as I have mentioned before my tag reads trim-166-682 paint-253-7455 which is cuban beige and fall red trim, I had some paint made up and I cant see a fall red trim going with that colour, I've seen a sedan that colour but has brown trim and the pics that I have seen have brown trims as well but they were specials, I understand commercials/standards were basic and they were probably not concerned about colours for them any info would be great thanks Darren.

[mcl1959]

Darren, Yeah plenty of photos I will dig up.
Engine bay for FE van is body colour
Steering column is black
Dash is body colour including top except for later 1958 models which is charcoal black.
You're right about the interior colours, vans had a very limited interior colour range and brown was not available except for fleet vehicles.
Hence the Cuban Beige and Fall Red mix.
The special sedans and wagons had a Brown and Ivory interior that looked really nice with the Cuban Beige.
Ken

[fe van]

Thanks Ken, I agree I don't mind the special colour trim with Cuban beige, as I'm still collecting all my bits for this project I'm just trying to get some ideas for it, I was going to go with elk blue or the light green but you don't see many Cuban beige ones so I'm leaning towards the original colour to be different the body number is FE-2104-4145-A and has the 333 thanks Darren.

[collecta]

 Wheres the photos?

[fe van]

Hey Ken how are those pics going? no rush mate when you can, also wondering was the seat material the same as the door trims? I still have my sun visors in it, the binding is the fall red colour and is heavily grained just wondering if the seat and doors were the same grain? also body number 4145A would this still be a 57? thanks Darren.

[mcl1959]

Will get some photos soon, seats and door trims were the same heavy grained material that you have on the edges of the visors. There was no pattern on the door trims and only a few stitch lines on the seats.

Ken

[fe van]

Thanks Ken I thought so, regarding the year? did the fe run over into 58?

[RET]

The FC was introduced 6 May 1958, so yes, there are a significant number of FEs that were manufactured in 1958.

[mcl1959]

Darren, no your car falls into 1958. It's a bit hard to tell without a chassis number, but
Body number 3857 has a Melbourne chassis number of 8-44218M
Body number 3875 has a Sydney chassis number of 8-45905S
These are the earliest 1958 vans that I have recorded
So yours at body number 4145 is probably in February
The highest Body number on record is 4908, so this would be April / May

Hope this helps

[RET]

What is FC please tell in short explanation ?

It's the model code for the Holden manufactured in 1958 and 1959. More info.

[fe van]

Thanks Ken, so the dash top should be charcoal black and is the engine bay still body colour? I saw an fe wagon on ebay which looked very original and the engine bay was black? anyway thanks again for your help I thought it may have been 58 having a high build number, my dad is restoring a 39 ford sloper and you wouldn't believe it the old trim is done in fall red the exact same material but I don't think I can save any has anybody found a good match to use? thanks again Darren.

[mcl1959]

Darren, yes the dash top should be charcoal, the engine bay colour always remains a contentious issue as it does not seem to have been consistently applied over different plants and odd variations occur.
In general a 1958 FE and FC has a body colour firewall and black skirts. The 1959 FC has an all black engine bay.
Standard trim is more difficult to do than the smoother material used on the specials. I had a front seat done for an FC business sedan at Supertrim and it turned out very well.

Ken

[mcl1959]

A photo of Fall red interior





Copper Brown interior as found in FE 217 models



Sheath Brown and Sandalwood Beige as found in FE 225



Sorry last one is not a great picture.   Ken

[mcl1959]

57 FE engine (typical)



58 engine (typical)



59 FC engine (typical)



Late FC engine with paper element air cleaner



Ken

[mcl1959]

Some outside shots





Ken

[fe van]

Thanks ken for your help much appreciated, thanks Darren.

[mcl1959]

Small mistake with the red interior, the one shown is actually Taurus red not Fall red.
Fall red is perhaps not quite so bright, unfortunately no photo of Fall red interior in my files.

Regards.  Ken

[fe van]

I was going to say is that Taurus red but I thought I've bugged you enough, I have my original visors so I can match the colour with them I just needed to know the grain and how it was done thanks for your help Ken if it wasn't for your knowledge and others we would all be still wondering how they were? thanks Darren.