Black FC Special sedans

[Fast_Eddie]

Are FC Specials in single tone black rare?

I was looking at a black one today and noticed that it had maroon coloured door shut areas and door frames.

I checked the paint codes in the tech section, thinking it may have been a maroon coloured car painted black at some stage, however the paint code: 4-627 checked out to be single tone black.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[ACE]

Hi Edward,
My black FC special has maroon around the door frames etc. I'm sure thats how they were painted from new.
My Paint code is 253-6258
     Trim               4-627
Regards ACE
P.S. I'd say Black FC Specials are pretty rare these days.

[RET]

Ed,

That's original.  All single-tone Specials have a second colour inside, and it's typically a dark red on black cars, which always had a red interior.

Don Loffler talks at length about this in his "FJ Holden" book.  The idea of a second colour on the dash for single-tone specials was introduced during the FJ, and ran on from there (of course the FJ was also the first two-tone Holden).  It actually had the name "Duo-Tone Styling" during the FJ period, but the name appears to have fallen into disuse after that, although the concept is still the same.

At no time was the paint number for the interior ever shown on the ID tag, even on the FJ.  There are interesting photos in Don's book of wrecks of Duo-Tone cars.  Apparently the second colour's name (or short-hand version of it) was often chalked onto the firewall before painting.  The paint never adhered properly to the chalk, and eventually the name showed through again.

I've never seen an FE or FC like that though.  It's my impression that the Duo-Tone colour on FEs and FCs was either:
a) a colour that was already available with the primary colour in a two-tone version (my FE is like this, with a Teal Blue interior), or
b) a contrasting colour that suited the interior colours, (like the FC you saw).

Hope that's some help.

cheers
RET

[Fast_Eddie]

Thanks guys.

Were the black cars a special order, say for government, or could you walk off the street and buy one?

The paint codes are the same as yours Ace.

It is a Sydney built car with the original engine. July'59, apparently, but it has the early interior light switches in the A pillar, not the round ones.

Usual rust......

[RET]

I don't believe they were special order.  Usually vehicles that were had some sort of distinguishing numbers on the ID plate.  Certainly I know of a few one-owner since new single-tone Special Black cars around.

Most fleet cars were standard sedans, rather than Specials, anyway.

Hope that helps,
RET

[customFC]

When my parents were married, they had single tone black FC Specials hired as wedding cars. So, they were certainly used commercially, but couldn't say if they were special ordered.
Regards
Alex