My side yard.

[fc4me]

Robin have you got all the history on this one ? Might be able to help you out if you dont.

[cajerridoc]

I have no more information about the wagon. Any you have would be good to share.

Robin

[cajerridoc]

The Vanett 2 door, no floor.



                                           



                                           



There has been a back seat added and the front seat is split to allow access to the back. Windows have also been added to the sides.

Got this one a few years ago from Stawell. I picked it up at Nhill, left home about 0530 in the morning, got to Nhill about 9-10 loaded up and was back in time to pick up my son from school. It came with a set of Y frames and these were on the roof rack on the car on the trailer.

This car has an engine number V*********P which from another thread on this site means the number is a Victorian Police issued number. Possibly a brand new engine was fitted at some stage.

The car is a definite Fred Flintstone car with little floor left and the top missing from the petrol tank.

Robin

[customFC]

Interesting van.
Dig the split seat, is the top hinged?
That's something you don't see every day.
Thanks for sharing.
Regards
Alex

[EffCee]

What an interesting find, I have never seen one like that. Were the vanette's offered from the factory or is this one that someone has converted from a van?

[ridgey_didge]

The front seat must fold because there is no way to get into the back seat otherwise.  The qn is - does the back of the seat fold down, or does the split section lift up and forwards?  Presumably the latter.

David

[cajerridoc]

This is from Alex's Accessory of the week in the members section.

"Bailey Motors was a business in Melbourne who specialised in conversions to Panelvans. This included adding windows to vans and also included adding additional doors to convert them into Station Wagons. The quality of their conversions often leaves those that have seen 1 of these vans thinking it was a factory option.
Ken McLean owned and restored 1 such example which had an extra door added on the passenger side."


http://fefcholden.org.au/forum/index.php/topic,13156.0.html

As for the seat. Well, I have not been on that side of the van to find out. I will have to have a look, but as the base is also split I would guess the whole seat tips.

[cajerridoc]

The FE 219.



                                           



As you can see it is a bit buried in the the workshop at the moment. Actually its been buried for about 6 years. These don't come along everyday, so when you find one you have to grab it. This one has had the factory indicators fitted.

I had this register for a few years but the brakes were shot so I did not drive it. The rego was coming to an end so I thought I would make a last ditch effort to get it going. I put all recondition cylinders on and filled it with fluid and prepared to bleed the system, but there was no fluid coming out of the cylinder. I soon found a pool under the front of the car where the brake line had rusted through and that was it. Time was up as far as the rego went, so I reused the cylinders on the grey FE 225 and the FE 219 has not moved since. Sad but true.

I have also never found the chassis number and others have tried in vain also. I cant even feel anything on the underside from the stamping.

An interesting point on this car is it is FE-219-79-A so it is a real early one. The current engine number starts with a "U". This was used on FJ utes and vans that were produced whilst the FE sedans were in production. Did this car get a leftover block that was destined for an FJ or was it swapped down the track? The engine has been reconditioned, but that does not always mean that it was swapped. I guess if someone has a list of the "U" engine numbers they could work out if the number is right near the end of production or not. This might give a clue.

I bought it from Kathy Textor and this was the second time Kathy had owned the car. We have pictures in the club archives of a younger Kathy and a younger, much better looking car. "Shake, Rattle and Roll" is what she called it I believe and she used to take her young girls to school in it.

At some stage it was sold at Mt Gambier and she would see it now and then. It was for sale in a car yard I think she said and the price was too high, but it sold at some stage and she found it again in a back yard and asked what was happening with it and then, home it came.

A later rationalisation of Greg and Kathy's car saw me lucky enough to purchase the FE 219 Station Sedan and the FC 2106 Ute.

Kathy may be able to correct and\or add to this story.

Robin

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

At some stage it was sold at Mt Gambier and she would see it now and then.

There is some "mysterious" connection between FE/FCs and Mt Gambier, this wagon my FE Sedan, Nadia's FE Ute (Kalangadoo, but close enough) and I almost bought an FC Station Sedan from the Mount too 

[mcl1959]

Robin, the U engine numbers ran in the same series with the L engine numbers whilst they were being manufactured so it is possible that a mistake was made and a U engine was put in the FE.  I will try to find out what the engine number should be in the car, but the chassis number would of helped

Ken

[cajerridoc]

My FC 215.



                                                           

This car was restored a couple of owners ago and it looks like they used a few FE parts to do it. It has the FE stainless on the front guards and an FE speaker grill, but it scored an FC Special back seat.

Other interesting features of the restoration are:

The leg of the left Y frame has been repaired with a U shaped piece of checker plate.

It also got a colour change to white from Adobe Beige I think

The head lights were wired such that on high beam both the high and low beams were on and on low beam only the highs were on.

Added to this were quartz halogen lights of 100/55 watts and the reason for the charred wiring loom and the extension cord that replaces it is now apparent.

[cajerridoc]

The van in waiting.



                                                       

I have had this for a few years. There has been a lot of work done with repair sections in the floor and the body prepared for painting. There are however bubbles appearing in a few place so we will have to got back to basics.

Slim put his van on the market about a week later. I was already committed to buy this one so I did. About a year or so later Slim dropped the price of his van a bit and it seemed a better proposition so I bought it too.

I then tried to sell this van. The first buyer changed his mind after waiting a few months, the second did the same but I did get a deposit and the third won it on ebay and then did not pay for it. He did, however, get what goes around comes around when he sold a car and was not paid for it. When he complained on ebay I was able to console him by telling him my story of how I had been treated the same by someone who did not pay.

After all of this I concluded that the van and I were meant to be together. Anyway the van is now destined to become my FE van.

Robin

[NosFEratu]

Hi Robin

Yep - karma's gonna get ya!  What colour do you have planned for the Van?

Kathi 

[cajerridoc]

The ID tag says Adobe Beige but this week I am leaning towards PMG red as my first job was in Telecom and my brother started with the PMG and I still have his Blazer from when he was in training around 50 years ago.

Robin

[NosFEratu]

Hee hee hee - would be a nice little touch, but can you fit it into it?

Kathi 

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Hee hee hee - would be a nice little touch, but can you fit it into it?

[cajerridoc]

Kathi,

You had a chance to find out today but you did not finish the run with us.

Robin

[NosFEratu]

Hi Robin

It was great to see all you guys out today - we took our own trip down memory lane after we left you guys at NorthPark!  John insists that I tell you I'm shy and a bit of recluse - despite what most people think!

So, while I'm happy to have a little bit of fun on here, or stalk people while they're out cruisin' I'm actually a little bit of a wallflower and feel funny mixing with people.  Maybe I will overcome that one day! 

But it was good to see you all out - geez you're worse than me, you can really put your foot into it when you take off at the lights - you white line screamer! I heard those tyres spinnin' on the white lines! 

Kathi 

[cajerridoc]

I was being chased by a mysterious Black FE. Why shouldn't I take off fast?

Robin

[NosFEratu]

Drats, you saw us - and there I was thinking we were doing a good job at being inconspicuous! 

Kathi