FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

G'day to all, ;D ;D ;D
My car is finally here. My 58 FE Special finally got delivered tonight. I have promised several people the I.D Plate details.
Body No: FE 225-28481-S
Paint No: 253/7708 - Russet Brown over Cuban Beige
Interior No: 206/718 - Sheath Brown and Sandalwood Beige.
RPO No: it is coming up factory fitted unknown. Can someone please tell me what this means.
P.S spare tyre has almost a four wheel drive like tyre on it. Could it be an original tyre of some sought.
As for the rest of the wheels they were Mags but I had to return it to the previous owner.
Car does not look real good sitting on stands.
Old worn but inflated wheels and tyres needed.
P.S.S Car also has 48-67 Holden Car Club stickers on both quarter windows, Hunter Valley GMH New South Wales. Stickers are very old is this club still in operation.
Maybe vehicle was ex-club car. If anyone has any info it would be appreciated (sorry no pics available at the moment). Digital Camera is my next investment.
Thanks.
Colin (Maitland)  ;) ;) ;) 8)

col   hurry with the pics
cant help with much info ,but the tyre sounds like a "winter tread"
does the car need restoring        
                     cheers trev

 8)paint on roof is poor, under side of bonnet is peeling,rear bumper overriders have a bit of surface rust.could rego fairly easy but i'am going to restore after seeing craig's poo mobil . should have photo's soon  as the couson turn's up with his digi camera o.k sorry for the gee up,also has 186 4spd  HR front end,(bucket seats and sports wheel will removed- runnling gear is staying).colin  ;)p.s also has front windscreen sun-shade is this a nasco accessory.colin maitland. ;) :o whoo what a poo  :o. P.S (R.I.P SLIM DUSTY GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN) :'(

Hi Col
   Tyre would be "winter tread" I think , a lot of farmers used to use them up here (Young) on their cars and also on machinery , specially in winter.  :)
   Cheers
   Norm
PS Yea Sad to hear about Slim Dusty , I've been a musician for 30 yrs , played some of his songs myself. :(

Hi Colin, Sounds like you have yourself a rare colour scheme there, look forward to seeing photos.
My FC ambulance had winter treads on the rears, apparently the weapon of choice to tackle the Queensland back roads in the old days  ;)
I recently purchased a caravan that had 2 tyres marked HARDIE UNIVERSAL 6.40 X 13, these are near new & have a winter type tread, so I will fit them up to the rear of the ambo eventually. Good luck with the resto.
Regards, Gary
 

Colin, You are missing one paint colour.
PAINT on the ID plate should read 253-7455
and RPO should read 253-7708

RPO is a hangover from FX/FJ plates where the RPO stands for Regular Production Options.  In these cars the two tone paint on the roof was an option and the paint colour for the roof was stamped next to RPO.
It is also used for special GMH production vehicles which had accessories or changes made on the production line.

Later on in FE the plate was changed to show PAINT and TOP.

BTW I only have one other 2 tone brown car in my collection, it is body number 26846S which is not far away from yours.  This car's chassis number is 8-45501S.
Your chassis number should be about 8-48000S.  Can you see a chassis number on the driver's side skirt about half way along?

Regards   Ken

 :og'day ken got the chassis number and per usual your right.number is 8-448762-s rpo is 253/7708 body is fe22528481s,you only have  one other known got any pic's(iwish ay) thanks for your help on the info too mate ,it is all helping me to gain the history of it.i'am currently chasing the president of th 48-67 HCC of hunter valley too,think it was ex club car at some time in it's life hmmm.until then COLIN . ;)P.S WAITING FOR A REPLY.thanks again KEN. 8)

Colin, sorry no pics, the number was collected by a colleague in Northern NSW for me and I never saw the car.  Apparently it is still a running and registered car though.
I have personally never seen a genuine 2 tone brown car, not even a photo.
I have seen a couple of 2 tone brown cars which were both originally single colour Desert Tan cars which had a dark brown roof added somewhere in their life. Maybe even by the original dealer.
Regards   Ken

G'DAY KEN,DETAILS ARE CHASSIS 8-48762-S ,BODY  FE22528481-S,TRIM 206/718,PAINT 253/7455,RPO 253/7708 TOP,ENGINE 186A202544 RED MOTOR HISTORY TO ME IS UNKNOWN OF THE MOTOR.SORRY ABOUT MIXING UP THE BLOODY DETAIL'S ON YA MATE.THANKS FOR YOUR INFO TOO,HAVE YA GOT ANY PIC'S OF THAT OTHER BROWN ONE IF SO PLEASE PLEASE SEND... :) ;) ;D :o COLIN

 :Pken,sorry for double sending .GARY,thanks to hi  ::)

Hey Colin.
Good to hear you got your FE home.
It sounds a bit like this one.
(http://photo.starblvd.net/~customfc/6-3-1.jpg?i=1037507486)

Regards
Alex

  :og'day Alex,i can't seem to open the pic any tip's how to,i click on cross and then show pic but no go.i would like to see it to give you an answer on same colours or not HMMM.thanks until then COLINFE58. 8)

Alex - absolutely,  there seems to be a lot of original GMH ads showing the 2 tone brown FE (3 come to mind), but very few seem to have ever been made.  I cant see logic for this at all.  Why use a car colour so prominently in advertising then make hardly any at all in production.  I cant imagine that they were that unpopular with buyers that public response would kill them that quickly.

Ken

 :o :o :o ;D ;D ;Dthank you very very very much ALEX for the pic that is the car i have spot on,except for the sun visor .the inside of the doors are dark and the outside is light exactly like mine and with the two tone interior too.i haven't got any pic developed even for myself yet,this is the first pic of one i've got so far and what a goody thanks again,oh yeh another thing the engine bay is colour coded too would this have  been done by HOLDEN or later in life.don't spose ya got one with the hood open have ya HMMM i wish.KEN it doe's make ya wonder why you don't seem to see many, if any genuine one's around even today if it was such a popular advertising car back then (maybe the colour was good to photograpth) who know's guess GMH would.anywaythanks KEN for your knowledge and what a spot on pic good on ya ,i'll be saving this one to be printed extra large for shed...until i can return with real life pic's very soon for ya's to compare.COLFE58 ;) ;D 8)

I have been following the identification for your FE.
If paint code 253 is 'Russet Brown over Cuban Beige',
what is the paint code for 'Gypsy Red over Cabot Grey'.
Geoff_K

Common misunderstanding about the ID plate codes, due to the hand-stamping used on them, which can make matching the number with the heading difficult.

The codes are in fact:
BODY-ID: FE-225-28481-S (FE Spec. Sed. Sydney #28481)
TRIM NO: 206-718 (Russet Brown over Cuban Beige ext, Sheath Brown and Sandalwood Beige int)
PAINT NO: 253-7455 (DUCO - Russett Brown)
           253-7708 (DUCO - Cuban Beige)
R.P.O. [blank]

There are two paint numbers in your case, obviously having a two-tone car.  The "253" code signifies DUCO paint - most of the FE and FC paint number are prefixed this way.

cheers
RET

According to some codes Richard Thomas gave me last week, the paint codes below seem to have been reversed:
-------------------------------
PAINT NO: 253-7455 (DUCO - Russett Brown)
            253-7708 (DUCO - Cuban Beige)
R.P.O. [blank]
-------------------------------
Maybe they should be!
-------------------------------
PAINT NO: 253-7455 (DUCO - Cuban Beige)
            253-7708 (DUCO - Russett Brown)
R.P.O. [blank]
------------------------------- 
There also seens to be a spelling difference for "Russet", is it 1 or 2 't's?
Russet Brown also seems to be missing from the Paint Colours Data Base, as it does not show when called up on the FE/FC ID Plate (which is how I accidentally got onto this topic)
Geoff_K

Geoff you're right
PAINT 253-7455
TOP 253-7708

The trim no is the key to the whole thing - it is composed of 2 completely different numbers
206 - is the GMH code for Russet Brown over Cuban Beige.
718 - is the code for Sheath Brown & Sandalwood Beige

Russet brown has only 1 "t"

The GMH code for Gypsy Red over Cabot Grey is 243

Regards   Ken

 ;)g'day ken,geoff. i would like to ad some info on my interior,the 206 is for the paint on the door's & dash,718 is for seat's & door trim's well i think anyway .because these are the colour's of the complete trim,except for a flat or semigloss grey across the top of the dash &ash tray.as for photo's i've got some now but not digi one's,so if you want some ken (the wiz) i can send them to a p.o box or phone me on 0408265943 with ya detail's. p.s is it not common for two (int )number's, i've rang holden they don't seem to know anymore than i do wich is little mind ya.they made great car's but have got not many memories HMMM!. COL58FE.  ::) ;) 8)thank's for your interest too ;D

 ;)g'day all,those bloddy poo pic's are coming soon yes i know so is christmas but craiga is taking care of it for me o.k hope posty don't run out of fuel.well until then.COL58FE. 8)