FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Here are some photos of my pride and joy.
She is a nice clean and original old girl, and drives as good as she looks.
Over the years some bodywork has been done but a lot of the paint is still original. The body is Ascot Grey with a Wangarra Grey flash.The paintwork is showing its age in places with some crazing but overall is in great condition considering the car hasn't been restored.
A Vic Roads check shows the car was first registered on 28/07/59 to an East Bentliegh (Victoria) owner. It appears to have been in that family till 26/11/93, the reg was transfered over in Janurary 1986 to same post code. When I remember I'll call Vic Roads and ask if they can confirm this for me. From there it went to Arnold in Vic for 2 years than it came back to Moorabbin. It was registered to that owner for 3 days, perhaps a dealer or someone was made a good offer for her... Since than she has had 4 owners before i bought her in May 2006
The car still has original upholstery and has that old car smell ... Still has original engine and  number plates. Even has old Air Ride spare tyre in the boot.
The only thing that lets the team down a bit is the motor, engine bay is tidy but motor is showing its age. It runs well but has oil leaks   and not yet decided if to do gaskets, welsh plugs etc or go all the way and reco..

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/FCHoldenbits004.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/FCHoldenbits003-1.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/FCHoldenbits001-1.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/FCHoldenbits002-1.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/FCHoldenbits010.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/FCHoldenbits008.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/FCHoldenbits007.jpg) 
    
 

dnb
Fine looking all original car, your paint is so original its worn down to the undercoat all over. ;D

Thanks for sharing your pride enjoy with us all.

Cheers Jim

Good job dnb,,,,

I myself are looking for my first FC,,,,

I'm a bit fussy as I can tell if I get one I eventually will want more, so I want the first one to be good !!

Congratulations and a very nice car,,,,,,

I'm green all over, lol,,,,

Geoff

Thank's Geoff, while this old girl isn't 100 per cent original she is still a really nice example. I replaced some door rubbers after I bought it and it's missing a couple of pieces of of trim at the bottom of the seats. I have numbers break and clutch master cylinders for it but not got to them as yet. The picts don't show the true story, still looks great on the road but does have its share of chips and scratches.
 Darcy

Nice looking car Darcy - you should be pretty happy with it. Enjoy it!

Kathi  8)
F4+ =^{^^}=

Thank's Kathi, I do enjoy the old gal..
Bit of a dilemma in some ways, as in its present guise it can't compete with restored cars, but I can't afford to do a full restoration at present and I think it would be a shame to do a cheap respray etc.
 .

Hey Darcy,

(Got a 4yr old with that name, lol )

As a Fellow Victorian how did you come across such a Nice ole girl,,,,,,
And you dont happen to know of any others ??
I'm hopeful of getting my first FC someday,  as good as yours looks,,,

Cheers,
Geoff

Darcy the Vic club has new plastic trim for the bottom of the seats if you need these.

Ken

This is a photo of my FC wagon, I bought it off my father in 1967. The wagon came from Beachmere, a beach side town in Queensland and had been used to tow a dingy so was quite rusty. I can't recall now what I paid for it but it was not very much.  I traded it in on a 1958 FC Standard sedan that i kept for about 3 years. Sorry about poor picture quality, legs belong to younger brother..

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/MyfirstFCHolden-1.jpg)

Great ol car, looks like its time for a hot grey!!!!!

Been ther, many moons ago... I scanned the pic of the wagon and it looked fine, but it came out all funny...Wonder where I went wrong...

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/customfc2/Holden/firstFCHolden.jpg)
Nice looking wagon.
Looks just like my Dad's FC.
Regards
Alex

Ahhh two tone grey......

Looks like a nice car Darcy. As for your engine bay, comments aprt from the engine being the wrong colour, for an original engine bay it's very good.

As to condition, don't stress, just bring it up to scratch mechanically then use and enjoy it. After all she is nearly 50 :P

Cheers
John

Great looking old girl there Darcy she is just wonderful.

Dean.

Thanks John, thats exactly what I'm doing, enjoying the old girl. underneath she is totally rust free, sub frame and floors all perfect. bottoms of the doors etc also perfect. So far as the body goes no rust or dints just a few scratches and bit of crazing only seen close up... The panel beater did a great job where I damaged the door and guard, hard to pick it..
Only mechanical work needed is one rear brake line was fitted wrong and has rubbed on the wheel, and some oil leaks need attention.
She does have a few grunts and groans due to tired rubbers but it adds to her character....
I got a bit lucky with this one me thinks...
Cheers Darcy
 

H i Darcy Dont mean to steal your thread but we are almost twins although mine is the earlier series to yours and has had a repaint, here is a photo when my daughter got married and she just had to use dads car
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/beachball12/ReneeDeanesweddingPeppersByronBay02.jpg)
           Roy

Looks great, mine was my daughters wedding car last December, bur she wouldn't allow me to put a doll on it..

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/MODIFIEDWEDDING070.jpg)

How cool is that, 2 cars the same paint schemes & both used as wedding cars.

Dean.

Dean, I'm an indecisive old bugger at times, I'd tossed up fitting the sunviser I have to mine and decided against it, but Beachball has got me thinking again. His looks great with it on.

Hey Darcy
    If you look at both cars they seem too have a lot of factory extras fitted so maybe dealers optoined the good colours as floor models ;D, As for the sunvisor just fit it they make the car so much cooler and up here in Q.L.D. you certainly need that,
                             Roy ;)

Thought I'd add this pic, the FB wagon belongs to a mate of mine and was it one of my daughters wedding cars.
My mates father in law bought it new in 1960 and passed it over to his son in law a few years ago. These days it runs a Chev 350 and T-bar auto but looks completely stock.. He refers to it as a sleeper. I hope I haven't overstepped the guide lines adding a non FC photo..

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/OTHERWEDDING021.jpg)

great car love the colors,the greyones the same model reg HAM was serviced by a servo in east bentliegh
all its life,whats the mileage on your car
regards mal

G'day Mal, speedo reads just over 66,000 miles. I don't have books unfortunately but the overall condition of the car and the way it drives indicates it is the original mileage. Darcy

While the brakes were being done I took the opportunity to take a few shots under the old girl.
I only had time to add a few tonight, will post a couple more later..

There is some surface rust but not too bad for an almost 50 year old car.


(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/WorkPhotos007.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/WorkPhotos009.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/WorkPhotos011.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/WorkPhotos002.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/WorkPhotos005.jpg)

Wow that's really good order for an FC - is there any rust under there at all or is it just as good everywhere?

Ken

It's been many many years since I have seen such a clean original FC WOW for want of a better word ..........FC427........

Awesome mate, she's a beauty

Underneath is rust free other than some surface rust in a couple of spots, there is also minor surface rust on the sills under the doors that will be attended to soon. Not a hole to be found.. The doors themselves are rust free  as are guards etc. All in all she is very sound.

Next photo is the worst spot...


(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/WorkPhotos004.jpg)

Looks pretty good from here..

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/WorkPhotos010.jpg)

What a great car, I too have not seen one in that good condition for a long, long time.

Keith

That's the worst rust in the car, a bit on both sides. Not too bad but I don't want it to deteriorate further...
Hopefully will be fixed before Easter.



(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/WorkPhotos.jpg)

That's not rust - thats dirt!  ;)

 8)

I agree - it looks like the paint was a little thin when sprayed and some very mild surface rust has developed which should disappear with a light scuff.
I would be surprised if there was anything really serious there, but best to investigate and fix as you say before it gets any worse.


Ken

Darcy ,nice car ,as you say you cannot compete with big dollar restorations ,but do you want to ?maybe there should be a trophy awarded for unrestored stock cars and level the playing field a bit !cheers   Steve . :)

I had a guy that has done some minor touch ups for me check it out for me today and he says there is no hidden surprises, just minor surface rust. I'll have it fixed next week and than look at getting a good steam clean to get rid of grease etc.

We did this at the last Victorian FE-FC State Titles for best unrestored car and will be doing the same this year at the 3rd FE-FC State Titles. Have told you a few time time Darcy your car looks great and these unrestored FE-FC are hard to come by theses days.
Cheers,
 Tony

We will be implementing a scheme for recognition of 'Authenticity' at the next Nationals. It's been discussed at some length amongst the Nationals Delegates, and the rules etc will be published in plenty of time prior to Orange.

cheers
RET

Thank's for all the great feedback. I've not been able to respond till now as a cup of coffee and a keyboard came into close contact. I could cut and paste with mouse but that's all...
I've had the surface rust dealt with, had it done properly, no hidden surprises found and now all I have to do body wise is give her a good clean and polish.

Over the past month or so the old girl has had a bit of a makeover, to both mechanical and interior.
I asked the advice of Tony Galea from Vic club, his advice and assistance has been fantastic. Thank's again Tony. 
I wanted to tidy her up without loosing her originality and am very happy with how she had come up.
The  radiator and timing gear have been replaced and all brake lines ect checked and replaced where needed. The carpets have been replace with mats and the back seat repadded. Basically the whole car has been checked over and brought up to scratch.
 
Engine painted and tidied up
(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/Newphotos003.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/Newphotos004.jpg)

Rear carpet removed and replaced with mat
(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/Newphotos005.jpg)

Front mat fitted
(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/Newphotos006.jpg)

Bottom of back repadded, springs were fine and retained origonal material
(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/fcholden/Newphotos007.jpg)

Looking good Darcy.

Dean.

I had the privalige to see this car first hand while Tony was cleaning up the areas that Darcy wanted, and i must say this is a beautiful example of a genuine unmolested FC. It has period accessories but not overdone. You should be proud to drive such an example of one of General Motors Holdens finest creations.
Cheers Scott

pls call me asap im intrstead 0412322068 mick thank you

Beautiful car throughout  8)

A few months ago I sold the Old Girl and and was very sorry to see her go, but at the time it was what I had to do.
As they do, things settled down and I started to look for another car, but could not find what I wanted.
But sometimes the unexpected happens and I was given the opportunity to buy her back, which I have done.   
She is now back in my garage and this time she is there to stay.
The old saying, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone" has a whole new meaning to me now...
Cheers, Darcy

Fact of life that our paths never run as straight as we'd like them to but good to know yours has done a bit of a 360 and you have your car back.  I don't think I need to tell you to treasure it for the rest of your life!  ;)

Hear, hear... 8)