This is indeed a can of worms. Ken and others will have more information, however here is what I have observed.

Early FEs bodies (at least July and August and maybe September 56) were all manufactured in Adelaide and were assembled in Mebourne and these and all Brisbane assemblies had a body coloured firewall and black inner guards. Early Sydney cars were all body coloured. At some stage either during later FE production or FC production Melbourne went to all body colour but only up to the "third" and final FC paint scheme by which time I think all the plants changed over to all black. Brisbane never did all body colour. First and second paint scheme Sydney FCs were all body colour, changing sometime in the second half of 1959 to all black.

The bodies were shipped painted to the assembly plants and Adelaide and Sydney supplied Brisbane, until the second half of 1959 these bodies seem to have body coloured firewalls hence the consistency in Brisbane cars. I assume Perths came from Adelaide but I haven't seen any so don't know what configuration they were. In conclusion;

Earliest FEs bodies were built and painted in Adelaide, assembled in Melbourne had body colour firewall and black skirts.
All Sydney FEs (?) and FCs up to some time in second half of 59 were all body colour
Melbourne went to all body colour engine bays in late FE or beginning of FC(?) and changed to all black late 59 (?)
All Brisbane cars were body colour firewall and black skirts until 2nd half of 59 and then all black
Adelaide assembled cars, I assume either same as Brisbane or all body colour until 2nd half of 1959 (?)
Perth - dont know.

Hopefully others can clarify/fill in the gaps
Cheers
John

Looks like HT Kingswood/ Monaro or might be HG Prem.

I meticulously keep all receipts in a file specific to the particular car and NEVER add them up so I never know how much I've spent, importantly neither does the Minister for Reparations. This way I can truthfully say I have no idea what has been spent and as I have no detailed schedule of works and have not exceeded the non existent budget and therefore have not over capitalised on repairs and restoration I have thereby ensured that the whole exercise remains eminently defensible and entirely appropriate

Cheers
John

Deano, that FE sedan looks remarkably clean, or is the reality quite different?

regards
John

This is disgraceful. In NSW now since the Gumment appears to have sold the RTAs number plate operation you can't even get a re issued plate in the original yellow and black anymore. You have to buy a black and white one. In the UK you can apply for your car's original plate if you can prove what it was. The restriction is that it can't be transferred to another car, this seems pretty fair to me.

As always, people talk, money screams. No wonder people get disallusioned.

Cheers
John

I've seen a very potent one with a Peugeot V6 in it, not sure how he kept the front end on the ground though

False bids, first it's $10,000 then a bargain at $9,000, I think we've all been wound up for long enough and more than enough time has been wasted on this.

If you're fair dinkum, put it on Carsales or equivalent that way you'll surely find out the "true" value. Otherwise do us all a favour and drop it.

Graeme,

There is no point asking the forum what the car is worth as most have not seen it. When you put this car to the market on eBay I thought you were bid a very fair price given the condition, incorrect engine, no books and no roadworthy. You can either take the view that everyone out there is wrong or take seriously what you have been bid.

I can't see any point in looking looking to us to vindicate your price decision.

I'm sorry to hear this too Gary as I can imagine how hard you've worked. Look forward to catching up, might even go the same route as Scotty and have a beer.........

Cheers
John

As you may know from other posts I discovered that Nev had a blown head gasket in December, which was repaired in January. There were a few jobs to finish, paint the wheels, new tyres - the usual stuff. At the time he was at the engineers for a proper dyno tune as I'd never been happy with the way he ran, flat spot etc.,

Then, at the beginning of February I t boned a car that turned in front of my motorbike. Shattered left kneecap and right wrist and few more minor things meant I couldn't drive a manual and with a leg brace and crutches on the prospects of driving to Orange looked a bit dim - like me

So I left Nev where he was cos I couldn't drive him and not much happened.

Brace is off, physio on leg starts tomorrow, wrist is good so yesterday I thought I would attempt to drive a manual so I tried the EH. Success

So I'm looking ok for the trip, now I've just got to finish Nev off

I've enjoyed all of your progress reports and look forward to seeing you there.

Cheers
John

Forked

Great job Scotty, I have enjoyed following this.

Look forward to seeing it at Orange.

Cheers
John

Rusty, the Rares floor sections are not a particularly accurate, the strengthening ribs are not as sharp as original, however they do fit.

The outer sill replacement sections are harder to fit and require work at either end, but they can be made to work. Unless you can get NOS ones you don't have much choice. As Yogie said lots of guys here done this so post pics and don't be afraid to ask

Cheers
John

Col, I'm intrigued by your comments about revs. I've never had a tach in one of these and like most of us can only go by feel and fear. Is your car stock?

Thelma runs a 3.36 which works well with a warm grey. I've run both 3.55 and the 3.89 behind stock greys. All I can say is that Nev which runs a 3.89 still, seems uncomfortable above 55mph although 60 is ok. My EJ in which I put a 3.55 in was very comfortable (and quiet) at 60. I'm therefore assuming the stock grey "sweet spot" is in that 2,500 - 2,800 rpm range you refer to.

FWIW Phil, if you want to get the full benefit of the 3.55 why not put a set of 185/80/13s on? They look better too because they fill the fill the wheel arches better. Dunlop Maxxis are easy to obtain in this size and have a narrow whitewall.

Cheers
John

Thanks for all of your trouble RET....again! Of course the problem was the colour - and you thought that was pretty trivial - don't say you weren't warned...

Cheers
AOC (Anti Orange Coalition)

Believe me David I feel your pain - twice!

Good luck with it.

Cheers
John

I had one of those Gary and considered fitting it, however I thought the finish was a bit ordinary so I went with the Lanspeed, but it will work.

Cheers
John

Paul,

The problem I encountered with extractors on the wagon is that some of the twin carb manifolds - Lanspeed for one - do not have sufficient clearance from the head to allow an extractor to exit properly, ie they are too close to allow a proper bend out and down. For example the Lanspeed manifold has only about 5cms/2" clearance from the inside of the inlet rail to the head. A proper extractor needs about double that. This is the reason I went to the Aussie Speed headers and why this is what you normally see with twin carbs. I would want to be sure that these would fit behind your manifold before I bought them.

I suspect they're like this because the FX/FJ engine bay narrows towards the front so clearance may have been an issue and the manifolds were probably made to fit these originally. With all the space in an FE/FC engine bay I can't understand why no one made a maninfold with nice curved inlet runners for better air flow with enough clearance for an extractor. Why would you make a performance inlet manifold with right angle bands in it? the stock one is bad enough. There is some easy horsepower to be had here.

Hope this helps
John

I'm with with Deano, looks like a cut 'n shut to me. I agree with Alex, the result looks fabulous it loses all the heavy awkwardness of the FB/EK around the front.

Cheers
John

Thanks for your help guys, particularly Ed who is generally the greatest help of all

Pulled the head off yesterday after some very helpful advice from Mal Allen (MalFE).

First surprise was that it had no thermostat. Presumably this caused the water to flow through too quickly to cool the water but also was the reason it had always spat water out the overflow. Hard to know if the head gasket blew earlier or when it overheated on its last trip. Fairly academic now, it blew between 3 and 4, no apparent damage however I'm having the head crack tested as a precaution.

Lesson 1; Be more curious than I was when you think something isn't right, if I hadn't been so worried about breaking the nice shiny 2 pack engine paint I might have avoided this
Lesson 2; ALWAYS run a thermostat (and check it is working properly).....despite what the old(er) guys with pommy cars sometimes tell you...

Cheers
John