NosFEratu

[NosFEratu]

Hi all - due to overwhelming popular demand  (thanks Stinky, Hewart and CustomFC) here is a little history on my car.

My dad's Uncle Stan was visiting his brother at work one day (Woodville GMH) and fell in love with the yet-to-be-released FE's.  He immediately ordered a black one and didn't care that he had to wait until November 1956 to get it. He only really drove it from his home in Prospect to the North Adelaide pub (and I remember as a kid my dad pointing it out there on many occasions).

In October 1983, when he couldn't drive anymore, he told dad he wanted to sell it to someone who would look after it. Dad suggested I get it as my first "non-share with my older sister" car - so for $200 I got a one owner black with red trim FE Special Sedan with 68,142 mile on the odo (yes, I think he lived at the pub!).

This shot was taken just after I got it - the paint looked like a blackboard from years of oxidisation.



After a concerted effort it looked pretty good. I'd only polished the driver's half of the car when dad took it up to show his Uncle Stan - he brought him out to see the "blackboard" passenger side and he was carrying on about how happy he was that I was looking after it.  The he went round to the driver side and just about had a heart attack! 

Here's another shot in December 1983 a little while after the whole car had been polished.


 
The car was my daily driver but I used to pop it into a couple of shows to help support my club at the time (ACE's Street Machines).  Here it is at the 6th SMASA Show n Shine in 1986.  And, I stand corrected from an earlier comment in another thread - the car behind it is actually Ian Hazels' FC Wagon he built for his girlfriend.



The following shot is of me with a few if the ACE's members at the end of the 9th SMASA Show n Shine in 1989.  The two on the left are Steve and Deb - Steve did the body and paint on my car - great metal man. Out of the 4 to the right of the photo, sadly the 3 guys are no longer with us.  Serge (with the mo) had a heart attack a couple of years, Barry (to Serge's right) died from complications of an epileptic fit and Sean (far right) was killed in a horrific truck accident the Friday night before the 10th Show n Shine.  He and Robyn (along side of him) were due to be married in 2 weeks.  Not surprisingly she dropped off the scene as she couldn't bear to be reminded of him. So, lesson here is - live life to the fullest! Oh and the car behind us is the two tone blue V6 that the ex and I had.



Anyway, I'm exceeding my limit for this post sooooo - see below. 

[NosFEratu]

The story continues.....

The car was fully rebuilt just before Xmas 1989.  Paint and panel was done by by Steve from ACES as mentioned above and Wayne and Jeff's Trim Shop built me a beautiful new bright red stocky trim. I stripped the car ready for panel work and and re-assembled it, re-rung a spare engine and re-built the twin Strombergs for it (yes I have broken fingernails working on my car ). It was finished Boxing Day 1989 and driven to Canberra the next day for the Summernats as I was judging there (cars that is - not a wet jock competition!). 



The shot above was taken on 1/11/92 when John (aka Van Helsing) and I used it as our wedding car.  I'll see if I can search out a shot of us with the car - in the matching wedding dress I made!

In winter 2001 we were working on the brakes and fitting the 14" HT rims and whitewalls.  Came out into the shed one day after a heavy rain and this is what we found - a roof tile had cracked and the roof above the FE got filled with water - insulation and plaster can only hold water for so long. So, lucky lucky me, I got a free gold pearl overlay on the front half of the car.  I can still see those lovely little gold specks today - despite a lot of effort to polish them out . 
 
 

That's the 65 Fastback we had at the time in the background - bought a finished one cos we were working on the 58 and didn't need another project. Absolutely beautiful car - my friend Ron oversaw the build of it for one of his mates and then it sat there unused for a couple of years. Luckily for us Ronny convinced him it would go to a good home if he wanted to sell it - absolute perfection but that's what everyone expects of him. 

Next shot is the day dad picked up "his" Monaro.  We desperately needed a new daily driver and were undecided if we should be conservative and go for base line Commodore or bite the bullet and spend the $ on a Monaro.  Dad insisted we find out what discount we could get for a Monaro using his GMH Gold card - well you see the result! It was a great day, dad got a hoot out of driving it to Victor Harbour (he was 79 at the time and was starting to go downhill from head and neck cancer so it was great to see him have a ball) We hired him a Porsche for his 80th - we knew he wouldn't be around much longer so we wanted to give him a real buzz. I know where I got the car bug from - I always said I was my father's second son (before the sex change of course!)    


 
And it continues .....

[NosFEratu]

........

Almost 25 years down the track I still have it with no intention of selling it.  The original motor has been rebuilt and refitted so, yes, it is a matching number car.  It has gradually evolved to a look where I am pretty happy with it – my Venetians are back in it now, my Diamond Dot radio has been re-installed and I love my flippers and whitewalls. 

I don’t have too many shots of “NosFEratu” -  I just drive it and enjoy it and don’t generally think about taking photos of it.  As of Sunday it has just under 134,000 mile on the clock – obviously I don’t drink as much as my dad’s Uncle Stan.

I am very humbled (and I’m not kidding) that a couple of you guys have been interested enough in my car to take some shots of it when you have spotted it out and about.  If I’m lucky, maybe Stinky and Hewart could post the photos that they have of my car on this thread for me – it would be much appreciated.  But in the meantime I will make an effort and take a few more shots myself.

I am so very glad my dad's Uncle Stan had the vision (and patience) to order a black one.  I have definitely benefited from his decision - I absolutely love the combination and would never think of changing it.  You can't beat it - but I could be a little biased.  Grin

I will also see about getting some photos and a few words up about our FE Windowless Van and “Project 58” in the future. 

Thanks again for your interest Stinky, Hewart and CustomFC.   





And lastly, in honour of the guys from United Street Machiners that always used to try and "steal" my car whenever they could - this one's for you - the "Mafia Staff Car" is still cruisin'. Get the sunnies out guys!     

[NosFEratu]

Happy now Stinky?   

Thanks soooooooo much for "outing" me and, in doing so, making me lost for words - Van Helsing will tell you that's a very rare thing    

NosFEratu 

[FC0058]

NosFEratu
Great looking car, your Uncle would be proud to see that it is still on the road and lloking do fine.

Thanks for the story and photo's

Cheers Jim

[59fcholden]

Great story and a great car.
My late Grandfathers first ever car he bought brand new was also a black FE, Wished it was still in the family
ken

[RET]

Thanks for taking the time to write the story of your car and yourself. The car's got quite a history, and you've penned a great read.

Good stuff.

cheers
RET

[NosFEratu]

Thanks Jim, Ken and Ret 

Plenty more stories - but maybe later.

I'd like to think my Uncle would be happy.  At least I knew my dad was - he used to love coming out cruisin' with us. 

Pity your Grandad's black FE is not in your hands Ken - but then I'd have some "competition" wouldn't I - and we can't have that now can we? No, seriously it is nice to say you are the 2nd owner and that your dad's uncle bought it from new.

All of our cars are special for some reason or another - we need to get out there and show them off and enjoy them!  And by showing off in my case - I mean driving it

Thanks again for your interest - it's appreciated. 

Kathi (aka NosFEratu  )

[Johns]

Thanks Kathi, great story. These ol gals and guys all have stories, I think that what makes interesting. The fact that the ones around now have lived this long is enough.

Cheers
John

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Great read and pictures Kathi.

As requested, photos of your car from the carpark of the Angle Park Track at the 2005 Hot Rod Show.

[Ed]

Hey Kathi,

Great stories and history, I'm enjoying the read.
Cheers

Ed

[JB]

Hey Kathi,

Not just Stinky, Hewart, and CustomFC interested in your car...

What a great story.

Cheers
Jason.

[ridgey_didge]

I've got agree - a great story and a great looking car.  I hope to see it in the flesh (or should that be chrome) one day.

Cheers
David

[graham_fuller]

Great looking car and very interesting story.Do you have any shots of the interior, and do you know what red it is? Thanks for sharing with us. Wish we would have seen you both at the Nats in Mount Gambier.
Cheers,
Graham

[Hewart]

Great story and a great car Kathi..... thanks for posting your yarn!

Keep those stories coming too!!

As requested, here are the pics I posted before. I can't take the credit for them though as I didn't take 'em..... I just found them out there on the WWW one day





Looking forward to seeing the car in the flesh one day!

Cheers
Les...

[customFC]

Thanks for the looooong version of the story of your car.
As everyone has said, 'great read'.
It sounds like you are a colourful character, must be making up for the all black car. 
What is your photo collection like. You must have been around some pretty cool cars a few years back.
Keep the contributions coming.
Regards
Alex

ps. did I miss the dancing girl pics?? 

[NosFEratu]

Wow – where do I start ?  Thanks to you all for your positive comments. 

Stinky & Les – thanks for obliging and popping up the photos for me.  Most appreciated.   

David & Les – NosFEratu is (to me anyway) a “10 footer” and an “after dusk” beast – that’s why it gets driven a lot and not shown.  That combined with my former “show car life” and I doubt you will ever see it officially at a show – unless it’s in the car park. But please feel free to contact us if you are over here anytime.

Ed & Jason– thanks for your comments and I’m glad you have enjoyed my little story.  Another will come with the Van’s photos when they get taken and posted. 

John – thanks too for your comments and remember – it’s not how fast you go it’s how you look when you go fast! My dream Bug?  1937 Atlantic Coupe – oohyeah!

Graham – It was Fall Red but when Wayne and Jeff re-trimmed it back in 1989 I picked a bit brighter red to “lift it” a little.  What was that, I could have sworn I heard cries of “blasphemer” in the background!  On that thought, I must admit I would just about kill to get an original swirl headlining again! 

And we actually were at the Nats - it was great to see all the cars.  We did a day trip in the Monaro aka the Batmobile (old United Street Machiner’s speak cos it’s the car that has a job to do and it does it!).  My body’s not the best these days – all those years of dancing and gymnastics have taken a toll on it - as much I would have liked to have had it in the car park, NoSFEratu is not really the best car to do a day trip to Mt Gambier.

And finally to Alex - photo collection is not what it could be. When you finally "escape" some situations you don't always just leave a human behind - a lot of other posessions can also go by the way side.  You sometimes have to put parts of your life on hold and slowly rebuild it.

So, yes, while I have been involved with some marvellous people and their great cars in the past - my photo collection is in my head along with many wonderful memories.   

Always cherish what you have & yes I am still known as colourful character!        

Thanks again to you all for your support – I glad you like my baby. 

Kathi

[NosFEratu]

and Alex - no you didn't miss any dancing photos!   

[NosFEratu]

So I forgot to mention that it was my 24th wedding anniversary yesterday.  I waited with baited breath and experienced shivers of anticipation for the whole day wondering what I would get.  So, did I get

Flowers?     no
Chocolates?      no
Jewellry?        no
Did I even get a card?     no - absolutley nothing! 








No wonder I left the b@sta@rd all those years ago! 

NoSFEratu   

[NosFEratu]

Now on a lighter note - Here's the dress I made to match the FE for my wedding to John 1/11/92. 

Now John has bought/made me some great anniversary presents - he built me a beadblaster for our 10th wedding anniversary - I understood, it's tin - that's the traditional 10 year gift! I was stoked  but none of the women at work could really quite understand my enthusiasm