It starts innocently. A chance remark, an unexpected response, and a new project starts.
In May 2008, there was a fortieth anniversary celebration at work, and the retirees were invited in to share in the fun. An ex-colleague found me, and said, “I’m cleaning out the garage, and there’s an FC Holden which I started to restore. Would you be interested in it?” I said thanks, but as I already had two old Holdens, I didn’t really want a third. But I knew some people in the FE-FC club, and I could pass his details on, and see whether anyone’s interested. I mentioned this to my parents in passing, and then my father said, “Why don’t you take the FC on?” Never in thirty years of me bringing cars home had he said this. So we went around to my ex-colleague’s, and took a look at the FC. Usual story. 1959 FC Standard sedan, stripped down in 1990 for a restoration which got not much further. Panels good, floors good, sills shot, rear doglegs shot, LH rear quarter very rusty. Special interior, Simca Aronde front seat, Speco floorshift, Toyota heater. Reconditioned engine, new brakes, and about three trailer-loads of spares. Good parts vehicle, in other words. I looked at it differently: viable, but probably lengthy, restoration. Lots of people restore Specials. Original Standards are a lot thinner on the ground.
$700 later, and the FC is mine.
Now to strip the car down properly.
Characteristic pose for quite some time to come.
Engine and transmission out.
Now that’s an engine bay!
A division of labour came about naturally: I did the bodywork, and my father took care of the mechanicals.
Once the shell was stripped down, I got an idea of what I was in for. The body was a mess where the subframe bolts on.
Journey of thousand miles starts with single step – the right hand front inner sill.
I made a pattern
Marked out some 2 mm sheet, cut, bent, welded to make the inner sill section.
I rebuilt the lower cowl panel from the inside
Made a crude jig
And welded
Fabricated the No. 1 body crossmember
The left hand side wasn’t nearly as bad.
But it still needed a lower cowl panel replacement.
Blanking the hole in the firewall for the heater.
The inner sills were the most difficult repairs.
I realise now that the subframe on this FC was in very good condition considering. The “dumb irons” were intact, and the front subframe tie member was rust-free. A small section of the right-most lower subframe leg required repair. The dumb-iron-to-tie-member welds had cracked on both sides, and I re-welded them. Apart from welding up numerous extra screw holes in the inner guards, that was the full extent of repairs to the subframe.
How hard could the rest of the car be? Try the doglegs.
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