ID NUMBERS FOR FE SEDAN

[Cocko]

Hey guys,
I recently bought an FE Sedan,
Just wondeirng if anyone can shed some light as to its origins someone seemed to think that at some point in its life it may have been a Police Car?

Numbers are as follows:
 FE 215390
Trim: 156478
Paint: 25317481

At the moment it is Blue, has obviously had some work done to the interior and is now also running a 161 on straight gas!

Cheers in advance for any information

[zulu]

G'day Cocko, welcome aboard! you will need to supply a bit more info to decode your numbers, good idea to also double check them as they are not always clear

You need to supply the chassis no, on FE this is usually on the inner skirt ledge near the battery or it may be on the opposite side about midway along

Also, the original or previous engine no may help if you have any old rego papers it may be on those.

By the 215 prefix we can tell it's a Standard Sedan, so thats a start

Cheers, Gary

[Johns]

Cocko,

From what you've supplied its a single tone Elk Blue car with Sky Blue trim. Looks like an early one too. Is there a suffix after the body number on the firewall? S (Sydney)or M (Melbourne)? May be a 1956 car in which case it may have a body colour steering column and chrome bracket holding the column to the dash. Engine bay should be all blue if a Sydney car, might have black inner guards if a Melbourne car.

As Zulu said, the chassis number will help.

Cheers
John

[mcl1959]

The chassis number will help identify what state the car was made and therefore probably supplied in.
Generally a low body number car like yours would not have the A at the end after the 390 so I would assume the car body was built in SA. The SA built cars were generally assembled in SA WA and VIC.
I have a GMH fleet colours letter detailing the paint colours of lots of different fleet cars as follows;
SA police had paint 286-2051 Skyline Blue replaced in 1961 by Police Blue 586-4500
Vic police had paint 286-7365 Festive Blue replaced in 1961 by Patrol Blue 586-0203.
Since your car is Elk blue and most likely of Vic or SA manufacture, I would doubt it is an ex police car.
However, things to look for;
Holes in the firewall and under the dash where a radio and other components have been removed.
Holes that have been filled in the bonnet and roof panel

Got any pics you can post?

Ken

[Geoff_K]

Further to Kens notes on the colours.
The Paint Colour is using the pre-change over 5 digit colour code for Elk (Skyway) Blue, so probally Adelaide Car.
(I have personally recorded the following cars with the long paint code: FE-225-3566-A; FE-225-2741-A; FC-225-11943-S; FE-225-1288-A)

In July 2007 I noted a similiar car on ebay with a chassis code of 6-4720-M rego at the time TOT-848 (vic I think)

Cheers Geoff_K

[RET]

That car (from July) was 40 cars up the line from mine. Same day, or day before at most.

And just to expand on Ken's comments...

The FE was introduced in July 1956. Initially, all bodies were manufactured in Adelaide and either assembled there or shipped to Melbourne or Perth for assembly. (The Sydney plant continued to produce FJ utes, since the FE replacement didn't appear until 1957.)

From September on, the Sydney and Melbourne plants started producing FE bodies locally, at which point the letter suffix on the ID plate was (re)introduced to denote which plant manufactured the car.

My FE was manufactured in Adelaide and assembled in Melbourne in Sept 56, so is probably amongst the last of the no-suffix FE Sedans. Its ID is FE-225-5678 and chassis 6-4760-M.

Hope that helps
RET

[Cocko]

Cheers for the info guys.
Had a look couldn't locate the chassis number.
Rego Number was RTF993
Engine number is 161r199670

Also came across a 2003 rego label
Says its 57 sedan   tare 1250
VIN NO: FE215390
SN: 0294061

The firewall is Blue but the rest of the engine bay (inner guards etc) is black
There is no chrome around the windscreens etc and no lock on the drivers side door (But think that was standard wasn't it?)

Cheers

[mcl1959]

The car is definitely 1956 build and with the black skirts probably Victoria. Check really thoroughly around the ledge near the top of the battery, numbers are about 5 mm tall

Regards  Ken

[RET]

You should find the chassis number stamped in 1/4" high numbers above the battery, on the horizontal ridge of the inner skirt. If they've been painted over they can be very hard to find.

On my '56 FE they're just fore of where the headlight wiring goes through the skirt, but because they're hand-stamped, they're a bit nomadic - every car's slightly different. (On my Sydney built '57 they're above the regulator.)

That SN number is probably the sticker serial number - it certainly doesn't look like a chassis number. The chassis number will look like 6-xxxx-X, where X is the assembly city factory.

You're correct about the windscreen trim and door lock - neither was fitted to standard sedans.

RET

[Cocko]

G'day again guys!
Finally manage to decipher my Chassis number (I think!)

Numbers are as follows:
Chassis   6-1104-   (Can't really tell if there is a letter or not after it has a bit of surface rust)
 FE 215390
Trim: 156478
Paint: 25317481

Cheers

[Geoff_K]

You have a very early Adelaide built body indicated by the 5 digit paint code and the lack of a factory plant code on the ID Plate.
For Ken to really identify the build detail, he/we really need to know what the letter is after 6-1104- ... (the one that you can't read for rust).
The Letter is more likely to be an 'M' or 'A' or 'B', but could also be 'P' or an 'S'.
Geoff_K