FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Hi all, I'm brand new to the forum. Just wanted to know if the engine bay in my FC should be black or painted the same colour as the car? Mine is currently bitumen painted black. Also has anyone got a good way of removing the bitumen paint?

Regards

Rod

Engine bay colour depends on what year your car was made.

The black/body paint discussion comes up now & then. Here's a link to one thread. Try the search tool for more.
http://forum.fefcholden.club/index.php?topic=17451.msg106942#msg106942

I removed a smaller area of bitumen paint by first using a scraper to chip away the majority, and then wiping down with thinners.
Step 2 would be VERY messy doing an engine bay. Someone else may have a better solution. Sandblast perhaps.

Early FC's had the body colour in the engine bay, the late 1959FC with the fin extenders and the embossed pattern on the top of the front and rear seats had the black engine bay.
Jim

Thanks guys, Mine is an October 1959 with the fin extenders. Ive only had it for 2 weeks. Its white bonnet, roof and boot with a sort of brown/tan colour for the inserts and door surrounds. Completely original looks a lot rougher up close than it does in pictures. The hood lining in mine is a bit funny too, its like a tortoise shell design. Its probably going to be hard to find too LOL The internal body moulding trim is like a checkered brown. The guy I purchased it from said something about being a business car what ever that means.

I'll go with the black engine bay I think.

If anyone knows how to post a pic on here Ill post one of the old girl.


Thanks again.

Rod.

Wow just read the link Dave, complicated or what? Mine is a Sydney car, built in Brisbane. From what I got from that thread black engine bay including firewall.


Thanks again

Rod
Canberra ACT.

You can put the id plate numbers into the technical section and it will give you all the details of the car ie. Paint colours, trim & model. If you can't find it, put the details on here and we'll check it for you.
Jim

Here's one method described by 'GreyFC'.
http://forum.fefcholden.club/index.php?topic=25221.msg158808#msg158808
Photo bucket is another option, but the pop up windows & adds are a pain.
A lot of people like the convenience of using TapTalk from a mobile.
http://hello.taptalk.me

Hi Jim, here are the cars details

BODY: FC-225-56040-S   it could be 226-35040-S (So hard to tell with the plate all covered in Bitumen paint)
TRIM: 314-844
PAINT: 256-7770
INSERT: 256-7699

CHASSIS NUMBER: FC26197B
ENGINE NUMBER L627147

I was told the car spent all its life in Toowoomba QLD hence the Brisbane chassis number

Jim may be able to work it out but neither of the body numbers seem correct.
When I had a go it returned - 'That body number doesn't appear to be valid'.

Vehicle is an FC Special Sedan, the 35,040th (or the 56040th) manufactured in Sydney, NSW.
The Exterior Trim Code (314) describes this car as Two-Tone: Corsair Tan over India Ivory.
The Interior Trim Code (844) refers to: Mesa Tan & Parchment Ivory.
The main colour (bonnet, guards) is DUCO Lacquer India Ivory
The insert colour (window frames, rear quarters) is DUCO Lacquer Corsair Tan
The vehicle was painted in the (Unable to be determined from the body numbers style based on the ID No, paint numbers don't agree!)
The vehicle was assembled during 1959, and was the 25,197th FC (in any bodystyle) assembled in Brisbane, Queensland.
Manufacture date (based on engine number) is October 1959

My guess is late October looking at the number ranges. Ken may be able to narrow it down.

Hey Rod, as Dave has indicated, the body number may be wrong(do at rub with white paper and a lead pencil over the id plate) this works well to bring up the numbers. You may need to wipe the tag with thinners to get rid of the tar paint. There is no code 226, it is a special sedan(255) and the business sedan would be 217. The roof lining should look like swirls or clouds, I would doubt that it would have been changed at any stage. The car should be all white(India Ivory) and the inner doors and openings as well as the outer frame down to the chrome should be tan.
Hope this helps, Jim

I forgot to mention, I found it easy to heat the bitumen paint with a heat gun or hair drier then scrap it off with a gasket scrapper and then clean up with thinners or turps.
Jim

Thanks Gents, nice to know what the colours are called. Of all the numbers that are hard to read I think the body wasnt too bad. Just looked again could be FC 225-35040-S the 3 could be an 8 I guess.

Thanks so much for making me feel welcome and I look forward to being an active member of the forum. Though I may well have a number of dumb questions  ::)

There's some very knowledgable people here who are genuinely interested & happy help. Photos are always good with posts if you can get that mastered.

(http://s29.postimg.org/umhznmphj/Mable_1.jpg)

This is the old girl Gentlemen.

Regards Rod

(http://s21.postimg.org/p51u0y79j/Mable_compliance_plate2.jpg)

This is the compliance plate Im having so much trouble reading.

FC looks good.
The number looks like FC225-?5040-S in the photo.
Looks like there's no traces of anything but black paint under there.

By my calculations, if engine is original, car was assembled Oct-Nov 1959
I have found a car that appears to be very close build, Sydney / Brisbane < Body No, Chassis No, Engine No >
This other car would suggest that the Body No FC-225-56040-S, could be FC-225-59040-S <when you review the numbers>
Regards, Geoff

My program agrees that the body number should be a little higher than 35040 which looks to me what it is
Eg car with body number 35251 has chassis FC25433B and eng L618634
Your car has chassis FC26197B and eng L627147.
This would indicate your number should be around 36040 but the 2nd number doesn't really look like a 6 to me.
Strange things do happen at the non manufacture plants like Brisbane, sometimes cars get left aside for a bit and rejoin the assembly line out of sequence.
The other thing that is odd is that the ID plate should have a number (256-7770) stamped after the TOP because it is a late 59 model.
This plate was stamped at Sydney

Ken

My plate doesn't have anything beside TOP either & I thought it was a late '59 build. Maybe it's an earlier '59 (FC225-31880-S) with the red brake/flasher combo. Has a later B number engine & I don't have the chassis number here to narrow it down.

The ID plate certainly confirms one thing: it ain't a "Business Sedan". They have the code FC-217, and had one paint number only. Your car is a "Special Sedan".

The TRIM number confirms that the original colour was indeed Corsair Tan over India Ivory.

My car is a Sept 59 Sydney build.  Its number is 33652.  Your car is 1388 after mine. If they were building 400 a day that would make it around 4 days later than mine.  Does you car have orange lens or clear at the back and turn indicators in the orange.  As I understand the orange lens were introduced early in October.

Keith

Forgot to mention that my car has nothing besides TOP either

KH

Keith, my car has the orange rear indicator lenses. Don't they all have that?

Rod

All FE and FC up to October 1959 had a tail light consisting of a red upper tail / stop / indicator lens and a lower clear lens for the optional reverse lights.
The late FCs had an upper red tail / stop light and a lower orange indicator lens which also doubled as the optional reverse lights.

Ken

There is some discussion of the different paint styles and the tail lights on this page in the Tech Info area ($2).

cheers
RET

I'd been wondering about this too. My FC is an August '59 built Brisbane car. The firewall has been painted black at some point but is Adobe Beige under that. The inner fender and bonnet latch panel look like they've only ever been black though.

I've checked through my Sydney plate records and it seems a good number of them do not have a number on the "TOP" line. Melbourne plates are very consistent.
One can only theorise why this is so.

August 59 is on the cusp of the change to black firewall. I would think that the body shell would have been painted in Sydney in the body colour but would have been over painted in black at the Brisbane plant when the subframe was assembled to the car.

Ken

...G'day Ken and All  ..  how common was the reverse light option, and to what models would you see that option mainly exercised  ?    Cheers to All

As far as accessories go, the reverse light kit was fairly common. Special Sedans and wagons were always the prime candidates for extras but I would imagine Utes and vans used for businesses (not farms) would have Got them as well.
It's surprising how many NOS kits have turned up during the years

Ken

...would the reverse light option be part of a factory fit ? (as well as being offered as an accessory ?)...

...the only reason I mention this is that the wiring loom must've been designed to cater for it, as well as the clear lenses provided  ?

Not a factory fit in my opinion, they are not on the build specification sheets. Special order vehicles such as defence department or post office all list the factory fitted accessories such as oil filters and locking caps etc.

They would definitely have been fitted by dealers. I think salesmen of the day would have been sick and tired of customers asking "what do the clear lenses do?" Easier to just fit them beforehand, or offer them as a deal sweetener.

There was one wire included in the body loom to accomodate the reverse lights. Unusual, but not unprecedented, the heater demister ducts fit into factory pressed slots, the radio rear mount has a circle pressing in the firewall to locate the bolt and of course the radio fascia comes off to mount the front of the radio. Also the wiper switch has fittings in the back to accomodate the hoses as well as the wiper bases having fittings for hoses.

Ken

...Thanks Ken  ..  the curly issues will always be fascinating to study...Cheers