FC Numbers for Ken

[EffCee]

Ken,

I have the following numbers off my parts car

Chassis FC 68721 S
Body FC 225 40072 S
Trim 254 847
Paint 253 7773
Insert 253 5300

The car is very sad in the floor with rust and  has received some butchery in the past through modifications. The crossmember that sits under the floor for the gearbox has been hacked away with either a cold chisel or an axe, and at some time has had a red motor with a 4 speed depress fitted. The cross member that bolted to the gearbox was just bolted through the floor without any further support until it cracked through.

If you would like a pic to place with the vehicle let me know and I will post one.

[mcl1959]

Well there's a surprise - this car is by far the youngest FC found that has been made in the Sydney plant, It has to be a very late December 1959 car, probably post Christmas 1959.

Is there any remains of original rego stickers or has it been re-registered at some stage?

Ken

[EffCee]

Ken,

This poor old girl has had a very tough life. The car has been re registered after going through a rebuild sometime in the early nineties. The number plate that is on the vehicle indicates that it was re registered around 1991-92. It sat for some time somewhere along the line since then and vandals smashed every window on the car.
It has also been painted royal blue and white in a series 1 paint scheme. I didn't realise that it was a series 3 until I got the numbers off it yesterday to post on the forum.

[EffCee]

One other thing, I noticed that the spring door switches (for the interior light) that are in the later FC are different to the ones in the series 2 that I have. The series 2 switches are oval and are retained by 2 screws, yet the ones in the series 3 are round, and appear to be a push in type. Is this the same for all series 3 FC's?

[RET]

No, not the same for all. Those light switches were introduced pretty late, only last month or two.

cheers
RET

[NO NAME]

my uncles van, wich is ex australia post has round on one side and oval on the other.

[EffCee]

I have been looking in the technical info section of the website and was looking at the engine numbers that would correspond with the this car. Would anyone have any idea what the last engine number be that that was fitted to an FC I noted that from December 1959 it would be L640000 so I am assuming anything with a L64XXXX would be a December build engine, did they ever get to L65XXXX?

Also when did the last FC roll off the assembly line and does any one hve a record of what numbers they were?

[KFH]

September 1959 still has the screwed in door switch but has the dry element air cleaner and still has the clear reverse light lens.

Keith

[mcl1959]

The paper element air cleaner was introduced in Sep 59, the orange indicators in Oct 59.
Other changes late in 59 you may not have realised
August 59 - spray on sound deadener inside the doors introduced
October 59 - nylon trunnion incorporated in the gearshift linkage on the column
October 59 - sedan rear window revision so that it no longer winds completely down into the door
December 59 - ground cable included to aid negative return to battery when an insulated cable is used.
Note that this is imperative if your stocky has an insulated earth cable rather than the original braided earth strap (or if the earth strap is looking a bit old & tired).  The ground cable is a 14 guage insulated wire connected between the generator D terminal and the front lower regulator attaching screw. Colour of the insulation is black.

Hope this has been of interest

Ken

[mcl1959]

The highest engine number I have recorded is L638747, I have 8 cars recorded with engine numbers above L638000. None with an engine number higher than L640000
These 8 cars are all registered last half of Dec 59, so would have been built early Dec.
I have no genuine cars recorded with original registration after Jan 1 1960, but they must have existed since not all stock would have been sold in Dec. Heard plenty of stories about Jan 60 registered cars but as always proof is a little harder to find.
I would think that FC production would have finished some time in early Dec, but I have no record of a date, so it is pretty much an estimation. I have calculated totals from all states for all body types, but this late Sydney FC has forced a revision of this calculation.

Ken

[EffCee]

Ken,

From what you have said this is possibly one of the last FC's ever to roll off the production line. This in itself must make it worth saving. How much difference is there between the last one that you had recorded until now?

[EffCee]

Further to this, what would an estimate of the engine number range need to be to make it totally authentic?

[mcl1959]

The highest body number I had recorded for Sydney plant production was FC-225-39707-S (yours is 365 higher)
The highest chassis number was FC-678725-S (yours is 849 higher)

The engine number you would need for this car would be between L-638000 and L-640000.

Be sure you don't spend too much effort trying to save a body which just isn't worth saving.

Ken