Bit hard to tell John, its a lot shinier than yours

Nice car and a great job Matt.

All the single tone - non black - FCs I've seen were built in 58, its unusual to find a single tone 59. I suspect that Sydney, at least, did a run of single tone cars very early in FC production, perhaps before they had finalised all their processes for two tone production. Matt what are the body and chassis nos for yours?

Ken may have a view on this.

Cheers
John

I've just realised its been six years since I first started negotiating to buy Nev - I didn't complete this until just before the Philip Island Nats which he attended on a trailer completely unsorted.

I haven't really driven him since the Nats at Orange, that was six weeks after my motorcycle accident and was a bit of a struggle. Since that time I managed to get sidetracked with a couple more cars so Nev languished until recently when I recommissioned him with a rebuild of all of the hydraulics and took him out to the Rare Spares display earlier in the year.

Prior to the drive to Orange I hadn't really put any miles on the engine, which was rebuilt in late 2007 and didn't run until 2008. I was disappointed that it was fuming more than I would have expected for a new engine and wasn't particularly responsive. On the run to Orange I decided to see if I could get the rings to bed in properly and the run over the mountains was perfect for this as I could vary engine speed with no long periods of constant throttle opening. On the way home I traveled via the Bells Line of Road and I gave him a bit of a workout. That was a great drive. I left early in the morning to beat the Easter traffic as I wasn't sure how well my leg would last. The morning was crisp, weather fine with little traffic. I had that opportunity that you don't often get with slow old cars, to get in sync with the car and let it find its pace.

As I drove, time slipped back 50 odd years and I could imagine how chuffed I was to own my new, fast FE Holden after than run of underpowered, undergeared and unreliable Austins and Morrises I'd been forced to drive after the war when the waiting list and cost of a new Holden was a deterrent to upgrading. My decision to spend the extra few pounds on the Detroit kit was also worthwhile because I had the flashest FE in the Golf Club carpark. ( I was going to buy one of those dark blue over light blue cars, but everyone seemed to have one....). I traveled up Scenic Hill watching the temperature light as it failed to come on and I thought of my Austin A40 which boiled every time it looked at a hill.

I had a great drive over the mountains, still no traffic and with an 80 kph speed limit perfect for Nev. It was the perfect finish to a great weekend.

It seems to have worked wonders, the engine is responsive, he''ll cruise comfortably at 60 mph on the standard, albeit somewhat noisy, diff and the fuming has virtually disappeared. Plans now are to replace the drivers door windlace which has collapsed, maybe a new boot mat and perhaps upgrade the diff to a 3.55 which I had in my EJ - oh, and fix the bloody windscreen wiper motor

Other than that, all seems to well and I intend to get him out more often

Cheers
John

Paul,

I'm very sorry to hear this. I've read how grim it is, still at least with an Oz passport you have options and it doesnt rain as much

All the best
John

 

Contrary to the great myth of incompetent American cars, she drives very well. Heavy and ponderous at low speed as you would expect but if you press on she drives very well and is quite able to deal with modern traffic. No lack of torque and a four speed Hydramatic, but only the top three are used in normal driving and excellent brakes. Because there's no steering power assist she's easy to place on the road, although you're always conscious of over two tons of car. Good high driving position, comfortable seat, a really good cruiser. I would argue that what really ruins American cars of the mid 50s to early 70s is the attrociously light power steering, fix this and the cars are quite competent.

The great thing is being able to look in the windows of large 4wds as you travel along.

Regards
John

Thanks David.

Here she is next to an older and (only slightly) larger cousin.



It was a great day yesterday, weather was fantastic after Saturday. I didn't get around to saying hello to everyone as planned, the FE/FCs looked fantastic.

Gary, that's twice recently that I've seen your brother's Packard, next I'd like to meet your brother

Cheers
John

The 60S arrived bang on time from Savannah Georgia, 29 days door to door. Cleared customs and AQIS with no problems or extra cost. In all - aside from the fact that it cost money   -  it was painless.

Car is exactly as described by the vendor no surprises whatsoever, we charged the battery and she fired straight up and runs and drives beautifully. Even the wipers work! One of the Hydro-lectric windows seems to have a mind of its own, but that seems par for the course with these. The colour is actually Cavern Green and the trim is black leather and what was originally a light green broadcloth, its now faded to a light grey. Some restoration will be required to preserve where the leather has shrunk and pulled the stitching but largely its good. I need to address the paint on the bottom of three doors where the brake fluid has leaked from the window cylinders and wrecked the paint but other than this and some minor chrome work the outside is also pretty good.

Car passed rego this morning. I have a ticket for Eastern Creek, so hopefully she will be there.

I have a few jobs to do which I knew about when I bought it, looking forward to actually driving her. My engineer says she drives better than my 53 Buick  , but that's on cross plies and this is on radials .

Cheers
John

Brett,

She looks a treat, I see the FB seat material and I know part of the story about your car, perhaps you'd like to tell us about it and the other FB paint and trim "prototypes" GMH built?

John

Its a great initiative RET and an area that I know is the most difficult for car clubs to manage. Whether you can convince them to take it up is another issue. Have you sent this to all of the Clubs? Have you thought of getting a sponsor for it such as the CMC, I'm sure Tony O'Donnell, whom I know well, would be interested. JV with Shannons in lieu of event sponsorship? Sorry for all the thought bubbles

This would have application for Clubs generally, is there proprietary software out there that does this?

Cheers
John

The "Technical Info" section of this site is a fanatstic resource and might be unique among car forums, certainly I haven't seen this feature as comprehensively detailed anywhere else. Like a lot of good things its easy to take this for granted, it simply had not occurred to me until now to consider the work that must have gone into building it.

This post was triggered by the following post in the Post War Buick section of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Forum. Here is the post;

http://forums.aaca.org/f162/build-your-own-1954-buick-309126.html#post917630

And they want to charge to use it....

Anyway, I just want to offer my thanks to the team who put this together.

Cheers
John

Fantastic Glenn. One of my favourite FC colour combos, Cambridge Blue over Teal. Your cars are beautifully presented. I like the S model too

Cheers
John

Steve,

Try Electoplating Technology in Queanbeyan, they do superb work on diecast - but of course its not cheap.

Cheers
John

Ken,

Just saw this post. With Adelaide bodies I'm not sure that that body coloured skirts is correct given they were also shipped to Brisbane and Perth for assembly. My research indicates that Adelaide bodies had body coloured firewalls and black skirts right up to 2nd quarter/mid 59 when there was a universal change to all black engine bays.

Appreciate your thoughts

Cheers
John

Don't agree.

I suspect that as delivered from the factory as a completely unmolested 132 ci the fixed main is fine. From my experience, as soon as you do a rebuild everything changes and trying to tune out flatspots becomes difficult.

I have rebuilt both a stock grey and warm one with twin carbies. In the case of the stockie which is simply a 40" overbore we couldnt tune out a serious flatspot. Same deal with the warm grey I built for my FC wagon with twin strommies.

Ultimately, I put both cars on the dyno and we used adjustable mains to fine tune them. This cured the flat spots, particularly the twin carb car. Problem is, I think, there simply isnt enough adjustment with a fixed main once the engine has been rebored/played with.

Cheers
John

Hi Deano.

As the owner of the car it really is up to you what you do, so you should do what you want to do. Nevertheless, here are my thoughts - since you asked...

Surviving Taxis by their nature are rare, Wangarra over Ascot is not a rare colour scheme (code 254), though the reverse isnt as common (255). If you were to go for black it would be best to get all of the original taxi gear and present the car as it would have been. This would certainly generate more interest than just another two tone grey FC.

AFAIK Adelaide cars until 2nd quarter/mid 59 had body colour firewalls and black skirts, after this they were all black in all plants. Ken may have a different view on this. Have a rub of the firewall, if your car is Ascot over Wangarra, the firewall should be Wangarra and vice versa.

Dont know about the quarter.

Not sure what you mean here?

Button off first you will probably need a puller.

The original finish was Duco or nitrocellulose lacquer, it wasnt durable. Acryllic wasnt used in Holdens until part way through FB production so acrylic isnt authentic either. Most shops only do 2 pack these days and it is very durable. Acrylic is easier to use at home and less dangerous. If you put some flatenner in 2 pack you can lose some of the "glassiness" that looks wrong on these old girls. FWIW worth that would be my approach. I am contemplating painting my 53 Buick and that will be my approach.

As to under carriage, its up to you. You are certainly allowed to sandblast the suspension, its really the easiest most effective way to clean it. Powdercoat is very durable and easy to clean, I used this on my FE where I could including the complete cross member.

Hope this helps

John

Jason,

Can you enter on the day?

I'm with Ed. Section it, canted quads on the front,frenched rears, rolled pans. Sweet as...........

We all know the similarities of our cars with 55 - 57 Chevs, but have a look at this, this is the closest GM front end to the FE I've seen. The same guys must have styled the FE. I think this a 1955 Cameo Carrier (doesnt have the stepside bed)



Cheers
John

Gary,

The plate on the Dodge is April/May 1964, the FC plate as you correctly state is just prior to HD release, I'd guess November/ December 64.

Cheers
John

Thanks guys.

She's not as glamourous as the Lincoln, Alex, or the Buicks, or even the FE! But she is from that narrow window for US cars between about 1939 to 1953 when styling had matured but they were still "relatively" restrained, senior Cadillacs were understated. Fleetwood Sixty's had little chrome adornment and before power steer/brakes etc., became common and when cloth trim was the sign of quality. My 53 Riviera is right on the cusp of this change with its brash colour scheme. From 1954/55 on the US went beserk with colour, power, fins and chrome.

All good fun.

Cheers
John