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!!!!!!!!!!!

Scott,

Good choice having the dizzy done by scorcher.  i've just changed the dizzy in mine to electronic and it was done by them as well.  Runs beautifully, the advance curve seems spot on.  It got even better when I changed all the leads and coil to MSD parts and put Iridium plugs in it.

Regards

Tim

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

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures before, during, and after

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

Original Purchase Receipt

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

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?

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

fe tattoo

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.

Chassis Number8-52729m
Original engine number  L445538

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

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.