FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Here are some pictures of my dad's FE.  He got it in 1985 with 65,000 miles on it.  He did it up and had it on the road 2 months after I was born in 1989.  He hasn't driven it much over the past years, (83,000 miles now) and now I drive it.  It has a red motor and 3/4 chassis kit in it.  These pics show the white LED dash I fitted today.

(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/Newdashinwagon002.jpg)
(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/Newdashinwagon004.jpg)
(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/Newdashinwagon006.jpg)
(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/Newdashinwagon007.jpg)

Welcome to the forum - very nice ride you've inherited!

Is that a pearl steering wheel? How about some more interior shots for us!

Glad to see you are getting enjoyment from your dad's work - you should both be very proud of it!

Kathi  8)
F4+ =^{^^}=

That's 1 sweet looking wagon.
Hand-me-downs like that would always be welcome.
Your Dad did a great job.
Regards
Alex

Damn, that's one sweet ride!  :o

Welcome to the forum with what is a very nice set of wheels.

About 15 years ago my older sister had a very nice Escort with the number plate DUX 414, only 340 away from yours. What does that mean you say.......... stuff all actually. :)

Just got this stupid thing in my head for remembering useless number plate combinations ??? ???

I bet there will be more pleas for lots more pics if you have them.

Cheers   M

Welcome to our family ..... All I can say is, You must have been real good for the old boy to hand it over to you .... Nice Ride enjoy it ......FC427.......

Great looking wagon. Looks like a 'Standard' wagon, with some 'Special' extras/trim etc, is this so?
Are the paint colour and trim original, and could you give us the numbers off the ID Plate as along with Ken McLean, I gather this information to trace the uniqueness of the vehicle.
I would love to see some pictures of the interior and engine bay.
Cheers, Geoff_K

Great looking FE Wagon. Very rare cars FE wagons. And as Geoff said more pics please,also welcome to the forum. Have you joined the Vic Club?
Cheers,
Graham

As Geoff mentioned, it does indeed look like a Standard 219, a rare beast indeed, even if it were a Special 229, still uncommon.

A nice bequest and an appreciating asset.

Gary 

Welcome to the FE Wagon Owner's Club ;D!
(We may small in number, but we're very proud of our cars).

We may be small in number (is what I thought I typed)

Hi
Here are some more pictures.

The interior is original as is the roof lining. The colour is Shannon Green and the steering wheel is Pearled.
Fe-219-1781-a
TRIM 15-738
PAINT 253-7475


(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/wagonpics001.jpg)
(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/wagonpics003.jpg)
(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/wagonpics004.jpg)

That is the rarest of the rare, an FE Standard (219) Wagon!
You really hit the jackpot there 8)

Now that is a car worth having and really looking after.  It looks in great condition.  You are one lucky 18-19 year old.

Cheers
David

Thanks for the ID Plate details:
Paint Color: Shannon Green
Trim Color (PVC): Cool Green

Your FE-219 Standard Wagon is very rare, but the most unique feature is to have such good and rare ORIGINAL trim.
If it were my car (and I have 2 with the PVC Trim), and if it was a daily drive, I would be very quickly getting a trimmer to make up a seat cover to protect the (somewhat fragile) material as it will start to crack and tear along the seams very soon without added protection.
(and this would be a shame, because there are lot of guys out there, including me, who would crawl over broken glass to get our hands on this trim and headlining)
As far as trim and headlining are concerned, maybe the only one left in this colour. I can't find this colour trim on any other original car recorded (Ken might, but I don't).

If you could provide the Chassis Number (on the inner guard) and the original engine number we can date your car and know where it was Manufactured.

Great Car
         

Chassis Number8-52729m
Original engine number  L445538

I thought you might all be interested in the story behind this car.  Firstly, some of your replies make me sound like I have died or am very old.  I'm very much alive and 43 years old.  I bought the car in late 1985 off a bloke who had found it stored in a shed from 1973 until 1983.  He then sold it but 1 year later saw it sitting in North Melbourne with no rims and full of wood and rubbish so he bought it back again.  He then put a 149 red motor in it, leaving it column shift so as to not touch the interior.  He also had fully rebuilt a EH front end (new kingpins etc) and put that in there.  An EH diff with 3.36 centre went in so it had (slightly) better brakes than standard.  His wife liked the car although one night he was drunk at a party, and she couldn't drive it home because of no heater or demister in the middle of winter and with vacuum wipers and so told him to sell it.

I picked it up for $1500 dollars and drove it for about a year before I decided to do it up.  I realised that the interior was too good to fiddle with and made sure I kept that.  I also was newly married and money was an issue.  Later in the rebuild my wife, whilst pregnant with Peter, lay under the car scraping the floor.  I bought a HT Monaro for the 186s engine and threw the body down the tip (I wish I hadn't seeing monaro prices now).

The engine was machined and rebuilt with the best parts I could afford at the time.  The yella terra head got screw in studs and roller rockers.  Duggans did all the balancing, the rebuilt twin carbs were from Bendigo swap meet on a holden manifold, Wade Camshaft, Ignition Developments new dizzy and XU - 1 headers.

I did a spray painting course at night school and for 2 slabs got 8 litres of Shannon Green paint from the teacher. It is not a perfect match, but very close. I had to buy Special windscreen trim as the rubbers in those days were not done for standards only specials, therefore requiring trim to be fitted.

I used a HK crash box so I could keep it 3 on the tree, again being mindful of the interior.  I also put a Hadfield 3/4 chassis kit in it, intending to put a 350 chev in, but Peter coming along changed that. 

I have all the original purchase receipt, government owners certificate and stamp duty receipt.  All up , I spent about $9500 dollars over 3 years, which at the time people said was madness as "its not like its valuable like a FJ or EH".  I had it on the road about 3 months before Peter arrived, and we used it as our second car for many years until about 5 years ago when I had several rounds of spinal surgery and lost interest in it.  Peter always liked this car and cleaned and polished it once he was old enough and just kept it beautifully clean ever since.  I thought he may have had trouble driving it, but looked like he had always driven 3 on the tree, crash box cars.

The only thing that we changed recently was to paint the roof white with a green pearl overlay.  I will scan some photos of when I did it up if anyone is interested and also try and talk Peter into showing the tattoo of this car on his arm.

Thanks for the story Peter's Dad.
Would love to see some earlier pics. Do you have any from before the resto as well?
As mentioned on here, you have a rare car, but by the sounds of it, it is in good hands.
Now Peter.....about that tat.........
Regards
Alex

fe tattoo(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/tattoo002.jpg)

cool story.

love the wagon.

Cheers

Ed

Hi Peter and Peter's Dad

Don't worry "Dad" I figured you were alive and kickin!  I probably should have put quotation marks around my comment about the inheritance!  By the sounds of it Peter is proud as punch of what you have done and the fact that he has now "inherited" your car! 

Thanks for the history on the car and it's great to see some "young blood" on the forum.  You have some really neat ink there too Peter.  Hope both enjoy your time here on the forum and cruisin in the wagon!   

Kathi  8)

Love the wagon Pete (and Dad). If you tap the end of the indicator stalk do you get a bang out of it? ;D

regards
weddo

If you have a close look, the gear lever is a fabricated replica of a 12 gauge shotgun shell and the indicator is a .270 calibre bullet case with a fitted and tapped insert.  The originals are pearled like the steering wheel, but Peter is a fourth year fitter and turner and likes to fiddle with things.

Tim

I recall seeing a FE 219 like this parked on the oval at Bendigo swap meet about 10 to 15 years ago - would this be the same one.

Love the car

Ken

Probably, it was there several times . Were you the bloke that asked if the old man wanted to join the FE FC car club of victoria?

No it wasn't but he probably got inundated with people looking at the car since the Vic club used to have an informal meeting at the Bendigo swap not long after we formed, so there would have been great excitement especially in the early days to see a rare car like this in such good condition.

I hope he wasn't put off too much.

I remember seeing the car there on maybe 3 occasions.

Ken

Ken,

Most of the group of people that talked to me on one occasion from the FE/FC club were alright, although I had one bloke spend 20 minutes explaining to me everything he didn't like about the car and all the mistakes I had made with it.  He couldn't accept that it was MY car and I could do it how ever the hell I wanted to.  When I asked to see his car, which I expected to be immaculate, I was shown a two tone FC with crazed and faded paint and non matching interior.  He then proceded to point out that at least his was original and therefore far better than mine.  I didn't do the car for anyone but me, so I wasn't that interested in talking to him anymore.  If I seemed rude to anyone else that came up to me, I apologise.

Tim

Tim, sounds like you were more than tolerant having to endure that for 20 minutes. I think I know who you mean but I'm not going to mention names.
I totally agree with you - lots of people ask me and raise questions on this forum about how they should build their car seemingly to please others.  My experience is that if you build your car for any other reason than it is how YOU want it, then it is likely that you wont enjoy it once it is finished.

Ken

Original Purchase Receipt

(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/27-08-2008FEOwnersCertificate.jpg)
(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/27-08-2008FEPurchaseReceipt.jpg)

What an amazing car and history! That car was purchased not 1km from where i live in Monbulk from the local Holden Dealer owned by a well known Monbulk family the Andersons. The car would then have been driven around 7/8kms away down past the Silvan dam and right to Hollis road Burleigh/Silvan Downs. It would have spent a good part of its life covered in Rich Red mountain mud which makes its long life all the more remakable. I will endeavour to find out a little more about the owner/house.
Well done and thanks for sharing some great history
Cheers
Brett

I see this is a very late FE.
Interestingly, the rego was paid on the day that the FC was released.
Nice added bit of history....and Brett, I would be interested to see some pics from now.
Tim, did you purchase the car from the address shown on the rego papers?
Regards
Alex

The site of the dealer is still there but now operates as a Mitre 10 Hardware. Though you can see where the showroom was etc.
Cheers
Brett

Hello Brett & Alex,

Alex, If you read on page 1 I explained how I came across the car.  The bloke I got it from said it came from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, but I can't remember exactly where. It had been owned by an old lady (original owner?) but her family had put it in the shed.  I don't know what happened to her.

Brett, that is fantastic to get some knowledge from up around that area.  I once tried calling people with that surname in the White pages although had no luck finding anyone who knew of this lady or her car.  I might come for a drive in the next few weeks - would it be possible to still take a photo of the car in front of the original showroom?  Thanks very much for the info, if you find out anything else could you please let me know.

Thanks

Tim & Peter

go on Ken, spill the beans, I'm sure he's mellowed with age by now ;D.

Pictures before, during, and after

(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/th_FE1987-1988.jpg) ($2)
(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/th_FEin1986.jpg) ($2)
(http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/rr29/neat_fe_wagon/th_FEin1987.jpg) ($2)

I haven't had the wagon out for a few months and when I did I struck a problem that some of you should be aware of.  The red motor was fitted with roller rockers, although it turns out the supplier sold me 350 chev rockers which are the same ratio ( 1.5 to 1).  When I started the car it developed a bad miss which I eventually traced to a broken screw in stud.  It had punched the posilock and the top 10 mm of the stud clean off.  It is now back on the road with an upsize from 3/8 to 7/16 th studs and yella terra "street terras".  I also put a rebuilt and recurved electronic distributor in it.  NOW running much better and quieter than ever.

Note to self:............DO NOT USE CHEV ROCKERS ON HOLDEN 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not good to hear about your problems but very good that you got it sorted out and it's now running well!  :D

G'day Tim & Pete,
                       I, like most, love the wagon and look forward to seeing it in the flesh and having a chat. I also have a FE Wagon and had envisaged it looking like yours when it is finished. Mine has a darker green roof and the light green body. I hope you are taking it to the State Titles so we can meet up. I will have my FE Sedan there, it has a Chev in it and its Vanilla Peach, you won't miss it.
  Look forward to catching up
                                       Cheers Scott

Hello Scott,

I should pay more attention to this site and what is going on!  I would like to go, but it seems I have missed out on the entry closing date.  If you are out the western side of Melbourne one day, give me some notice and we can meet up if you like.

Tim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fj9O05yWgw

Have a look at Peter on his quad in the driveway after washing it.  Also look at what is in the garage.

Now picture how long it took to clean what is in the garage after his bit of fun!!!!!!!!!!!

hey Tim, I think entries close TOMORROW.  If you pm nasco hunter or phone (Tony 0412360992/03 97851015) or Simon 0418569466/03 97547743, I'd be surprised if you couldn't organise an entry.
Just do it (I'll be lined up to have a look, no bloody worries ;D ;D ;D)

and if you can't or don't want to enter, who bloody cares -

just be there!

Come on Tim & Peter, come along if only for a look. I'm coming from Albury/Wodonga for it. Its a great day. Hope to see you both there,
                                  Cheers Scott