Unexpected FE Wagon encounters

[Johns]

G'day everyone.

I was on a work trip to Toowoomba last week with a colleague. Finished our business just out of town and decided to drive the back way to Brisbane through Esk and Fernvale.

We arrived at Fernvale at lunchtime and decided to have a pie at the (excellent) pie shop. As we sat outside a grey FE wagon came along and turned right near the shop. Making to follow its tracks after finishing our pies, we came upon it parked at the corner.

Here it is;



The car is pretty original, still has the original trim, looks ok rustwise, but has lots of dings for reasons that will become apparent. Unusually the dash top matches the door tops and is white. It looks original ???

It is owned by Bill, a spritely 93!! year old. When I talked to him about it, he told me he'd been offered $5,000 for it and did I think that was fair? I told him I thought that sounded ok, whereupon he told me he has to sell it because his hips are crook. Then he said that if I gave him $6,000 I could have it. If I live to that age I hope I'm as sharp as him :P

Then he told me that there were 30 acres of old Holdens nearby, so naturally we had to visit them.

All are owned by Neil Thurston, who has a very original Corsair Tan FE wagon and another rusty hulk ouside. So that was three for the day! Neil said he thought Bills car is an early one because the upper tailgate outside rubber seal (different to my FC) is different to his tan car.

Two of the three have the dark colour as the lower one, which seems to be more common on wagons than sedans?

Couldn't get any numbers, sorry Ken, or photos of the tan car. Here are some photos I took. Sorry about the resolution, all I had was my phone.





Cheers
John

[graham_fuller]

Great stuff John wish he was in NSW. That Blue car looks alright + a tilly's kit.
Cheers,
Graham

[Ed]

Nice hunting John,

I have the original upper tailgate for my wagon (57).  it has the strip for the outer rubber strip as you described.

from what i know, the FC did not have these strips.

I think the upper gate on the FE also has countersunk holes for the hinge screws (as opposed to bolts).

One day I will put this upper gate back on the wagon since it is an FE item.
I'd' like to see the actual rubber strip that fits the groove if anybody has a pic??

Cheers

Ed

[Hewart]

Great find John and a good yarn to boot!!

It amazes me what's still "out there" waiting to be found...

Cheers
Les.....

[streetneat]

Its actually Neil Burston.  Neil is a good friend of mine and a very  likeable bloke - especially with all those Holdens!
 He is a Holden wrecker at the end of Randalls RD Fernvale.
I have a full pictorial account of his yard on my website under roaming for wrecks album.
( www.streetneat.com )
I go out there every few months and  take some more pics of his relics - mostly of what might be new.
Cheers streetneat -Andrew.

[cajerridoc]

Did you get a number for Bill with the FE Wagon?

[zulu]

Funny how the FC bonnett mascot pops up on FE's now & then, our FE panelvan looks a lot like that FE wagon & it also has the FC mascot.

Nice looking wagon, dents & all

Cheers, Gary