Motorfest pics

[customFC]

Here are some pics taken at Motorfest this past Australia Day. Sorry about the delay in posting, had a few PC problems.
Great range of cars, with 19 cars from our club.
Also on the day, we got the chance to view the newly restored original FC Holden Yellow Cab on display. This car was donated to the Truck and Bus Museum, and is a real find. I know RET has more details, so I will leave it up to him to tell more.





View all my pics on Motorfest at my photoalbum, at the link below.
http://photo.starblvd.net/customfc4?st=album&pg=1

Regards
Alex

[Sarge]

Alex you have done it again, brilliant photo's. Thats one hell of a hobbie you have and whats more your good at it.

Thanks for sharing yet again
Mark

[nicko]

great photo's Alex,
can you tell me what camera your using as i have an olympus-c2100 with 10x optical zoom lens and i cant get as clear actual colours as you seem to.
reguards Nick

[customFC]

Thanks for the kind words.
Nick....I use a Kodak DX3500 digital camera. It's a few years old now, and there have been 3 or 4 newer versions out since. The newer ones have optical zooms and video snap shot features that I wish I had. A friend had his digicam at the drags with me, and it had a 3X optical zoom and it was great. I wish I had a 10X.

Here's a pic of the engine bay of the yellow cab. I know, it's a bit untidy, but there are a few things very interesting to be seen. I understand the car was used as a Yellow Cab from new, and after only 1 year, it was painted black and sold on. When they repainted the car, they sprayed over the original colour, and only masked off the trim. When the T&B Museum started a resto on the car, they made the startling colour discovery and were able to uncover some of the history. If you look at the engine bay, you will see some traces of the yellow above and below the ID tag. This is the original paint showing through the 45 year old black respray. Also notice the hole punched into the firewall below the ID tag......this allowed the cable for the taxi meter to pass through and into the gearbox.
Regards
Alex

[RET]

Just a couple more comments about the car.  The previous owners were the Horne family of Greenacre, more famous for their son Bryan's FJ convertible (the blue one "BCH-111" that has been around since the '60s).  The fact that this car had been a taxi was what prompted the Horne family to offer it to the B&T Museum when Bryan's father passed on.

They discovered the original Yellow Cab Yellow paint under the mouldings, which was perfect and untouched by the sun in 40 years, so was a goldmine (pardon me) as far as getting the correct colour matched for the exterior.

The panel at the top of the firewall (that the back of the bonnet closes next to) was deliberately left untouched, because the gold peeking out from under the black paint is so much part of the car's history.

As a taxi, the car is complete to what seems the finest detail, including the flag-fall and fare stickers on the front and back, and the twin speedo cables to drive both the meter and the speedo itself.  Apparently these had a special clamp on them to prevent cabbies from disconnecting the odometer and running up a few fares on the quiet!

Great car.  Great job, Chris.

cheers
RET

[customFC]

Thanks for that extra info RET. I did not know who the previous owners were.
How about sharing that pic of the ID plate I saw you take.
Regards
Alex

[nicko]

i must be doing something wrong with my settings Alex as my camera is supposedly af much higher quality than what your using,yet your pics are of much higher standard than mine,i suppose it could just be a case of you can have the best gear but if you dont know how to use it .lol

[RET]

Here is the details off the plate (although I know Ken already has them):

BODY: FC/215-4662-M
TRIM: S11-638
PAINT: 253-9775

Which means:
4,662nd FC Standard Sedan manufactured in Melbourne.
S11 is the factory external trim code for Yellow Cab Yellow
638 is the internal trim code for a Fall Red interior to suit FC/215

253 is DUCO
9775 is the BALM paint code for Yellow Cab Yellow.

So it's definitely a Yellow Yellow Cab

cheers
RET

[Hewart]

Excellent pics guys...!! I missed out on Motorfest this year because I was crook, but am even more disappointed to have missed it this year after seeing those Taxi photos  
I've been waiting for StarPhoto to come back online so I could post these "before" and "during" photos of the Taxi that Chris sent me a year or 2 ago....

Here it is as they got it....


Cleaned up slightly....


Sanding back a little bit...


... and a little more....


I also have an interior shot, but it dosen't have all that taxi gear....
Cheers
Les....

[customFC]

Wow Les.
Now that's what I call some historic pics.
Thanks for sharing them.
I think they may be the most interesting pics i've seen on the boards this year.
Regards
Alex

[Blown_FC]

RET......couldn't quite tell by the pics, but if the current owners are looking for a Taxi Mirror ( Original Wydascope ) for the cab, ( I don;t think there is one fitted by looking at the pics )....I have one that they may be interested in.

I was thinking of keeping it for my resto, but it seems more fitting on a car with such history.

I'm led to believe that these mirrors were designed for taxis and delivery type cars.

If you can contact the owners and see if they may be interested, I'd be only too happy to talk to them.....failing that though...it will be staying right in my shed.....a period accessory like that belongs on the right sort of car...if you know what I mean.

(ie)   I wouldn't sell it to anyone.....rather keep it !   But if it went to a good home on a taxi, then I'd be keen to help out and add to the historic status of the car.

Cheers

Mark