FC Holden Sedan "Black and White Taxi Service Co-Operative" restoration

[FCRB26]

Yep we have a air bit of offcut.

[fe350chev]

How much would I need, a few bits a few different sizes?

[FCRB26]

PM me your addy ill send you some.

[fe350chev]

Next I am going to have a crack at rolling back the fold at end of door and manufacturing an inner section repair and then doing the outer with the fold myself. Any ideas are welcome, tips would be appreciated. This will be one of those rewarding things if I can pull it off but may cause me headaches, but at least its going to be done properly hey!

[TTV6FC]

Nice work Deano,wish I was doing anything even vaguely related to cars but unfortunately I am busy doing boring stuff like stormwater,second fix,driveway prep,moving,installing air-con,having another baby (well,I'm not having the baby  )etc etc etc etc....

[fe350chev]

Yeah but youde be in the good books with the Mrs hey if ya could  we are building new house too. But ill either throw myself into the cars so they are rolling shells by the time we move and the missus goes crazy wanting new furniture. Unfortunately she doesn't want cool vinyl fc seats in the house! No class I tell ya   

[fe350chev]

Hi

Here are my floors pans after giving them a good buff with the wheel.

See the vast difference, there was hardly any of that insulation/sound stuff on the RHS. Looks like they have been replaced because of the diff paint colours. If so they did a great job. Just that little hole in the right rear and left far front to deal with. What do the Guru's think, one would be forgiven to think these have been replaced or is this some strange Holden thing? 




Cheers

Deano

[fe350chev]

Well, its amazing what you see if you start cleaning all the oil and crud off. It appears that my suspicions are correct. Basically the whole right side of the underbody has been refurbished. Oral history indicates that in the mid 80's the bloke who was the second owner who was doing up the monaro at the same time, actually died and didnt finish the car. This sort of spurs me on in some way to finish it (God bless him and imagine what that HK is worth now) . So as the pics suggest, the outer and inner RHS subframe legs have probably been replaced. Looks like the inner sills were cleaned up and done at the same time on the RHS because they have put that protectant tar crap on there.






See the other side for comparison.

[fe350chev]

I went out to do a little work on the boot and ended up doing this? GO FIGURE!!! 

A little bit going on at the front and a cool ole school braze repair at the centre, but apart that the sills appear to be all good. Much better than the FE's, that is definitely the case!!! 

[Old_Mt_Isa_Boy]

Gees Deano you make it look so easy. How do you keep up with which post your on? You must have a duel computer screen.

Regards

Wayne b

[fe350chev]

Figjam on the gadgets mate. I'm used to having many screens open at work.

[fe350chev]

The boot was pretty crap really with some creases in it. Probably customers and their bikes and shit LOL  , but its repaired and dolled up and painted in etch now! Had to wait for it to cool down a bit. Don't you just love fresh paint!



Finished the door (a minor bit in back to do). Bit of rust but not much.



And I etched the bonnet too, this has no filler at all and was straight as man!  



I gotta high fill a few ripply bits on boot but that should come up ok.

I'm having a rest now over xmas break.

[fe350chev]

Well what a cool morning I just had. I visited a few people in the suspected house where Stephen the original owner lived. Bumped into an old lady probably nudging the 90 mark who was the neighbour. She had a great yarn with me and gave the nursing home and the owners wife's name who is still alive. The story goes that Stephen was a bushman who could not read or write but was a workaholic. He had another house in the early 60's in unley but he hated the city so in 61 he bought a block at lot 7 Williams avenue. It was all just vineyard and no suburbs then. He saved up between pay cheques to buy bricks and built the house himself. Every day he would make the trek from hackham to Adelaide to work the taxi in the city. He was a bit rough from Broken Hill in outback NSW but was great with kids. He would work all day then overload the car with kids and take them to the beach in the FC. He hand painted the diamond dots on the car. The body of the car was black and the roof and back quarter was white. It had black dots/diamonds at the top of the doors the neighbour said, hence confirming the top was white and around door frames. He had 5 daughters and a son. He was a war veteran. His wife did all the books. There is a Humphrey sticker on the rear ash tray. Probably put there by one if the kids. The house he built is now number 1 Williams Avenue Hackham. It's next door to the one I thought it was. It is now a 2 storey. I'll try and get in touch with the original owners wife and kids to get more info.

[Old_Mt_Isa_Boy]

Your getting closer Dean. Keep at it if you get some info it will be well worth it.

Regards

Wayne b

[fe350chev]

Thanks wayno

[fe350chev]

Ok. I have made a tough decision  . I have decided to flip things around. Make the FC a v8.

[DN2168]

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep the taxi original & get something else to V8! With all the documentation the Taxi has it would be a shame not to bring it back to it's former glory. 

Dean.

[fe350chev]

The body will be all original and the interior, it will only be running gear which can all go back later if need be. Don't make me go mental again, just say "It's your car, just do what ya want man" lol. It's only an FC anyway  

Maybe I should buy a Valiant V8 daily driver. I live out bush so parking not much of an issue. Then restore both back to original, perhaps just put the hr front in the taxi with the v6? I think Ill get rid of the rb30 if anyone interested. It has 2 boxes with it. I also have that 1 tonner diff if anyone interested ($200). DON'T DO THIS TO ME ...................Please

[FC-V8]

JUST DO IT!!!!! Don't worry about keeping it original. I was weight up the same thing with the ute but at the end of the day YOU are the one driving it so do what you what. The purest are going to have to accept that its your car and reflects your personalty.
Glenn

[fe350chev]

Well its also suppose to be a fun resto around my small home town too with mates at the local car clubs and we have lots of 50's balls out here etc, so i could be the designated driver for all the sloshed ones, now how cool would that be! It would be like reliving the original taxi but how cool once registered to get it all going and done right it would sound awesome and make a statement. the FE on the other hand is more suited to be stock in my view as it is never going to be aggressive enough for a V8 and would suit normal resto.