Rare FE Std Wagon in WA

[fcfromscratch]

In September, whilst on the Spring Wildflower Tour with the vintage caravanner’s group, some of our club members happened upon a rather rare vehicle.  They had pulled up in a wheatbelt country town and along came an FE Standard Station Sedan.  Rare enough in itself, but wait there’s more!!  This car is a special production option vehicle for the Dept of Civil Aviation with compliance plates to match.






Our members got chatting with the owners and there’s quite a story to the car.  It was bought from City Motors some 34 years ago by the present owners. Apparently a lot of haggling went into the deal and when the husband had finished dealing, the wife began.  So the car came back to the farm and stayed.  It has done over 300,000 miles in trips all ‘round Oz.





The car has had some modifications including Peugot bucket seats.  The wind deflector on the back of the car is not an original production option but a device installed by the owners to keep dust from collecting on the rear window.  There are some openings in the baffle panel under the grille and what looks like an accessway for a crank handle for those cold morning starts at the airport.  The centre panel from the dash is missing, which may have been the place where a two-way radio had been installed.  But the colour is original (despite some re-applications of paint) giving rise to the car’s nickname, “Sunflower”.



The owners once went to have the front springs replaced and ordered FE front springs, only to be told they didn’t fit…it seems FC springs were required.  This may indicate that the front axle has been swapped out at some stage, or, the car was a late FE Station Sedan that could have received an FC front axle from the production line as the FE ones began to run out.  In any case, this vehicle was a great find and one that will arouse a lot of interest.  We have made further contact with the owners and will see if we can learn more about its history.  34 years no doubt provides a lot of stories about classic FE motoring in the WA countryside.

By the way…it’s NOT for sale!!!!!

enjoy................Brad

[RET]

Great story and great pics, Brad.  Thanks for sharing them.  I mentioned this vehicle to Dad, who recalled that the Aviation authorities here in NSW also had Yellow Cab Yellow panel vans as special order vehicles.  He recalls FE and FC, then EJ units at both Bankstown and Kingsford Smith (he worked there between '62 and '66).  Obviously this one is a wagon, which must have been ordered for a really good reason by WA CAA, given their relative cost over a van.

So that puts the known surviving FE-219 count at:
 Vic: 2
 Qld: 2
 NSW: 1
 SA: 1
 WA: 1
 NZ: 1

... with the last two being factory special orders.  Pretty bloody rare by anyone's measure.

cheers
RET

[FATBOY]

dont forget about fatboys fe 219 station wagon

cheers fat

[FC58q]

HI
In the pics through the windscreen looking out is that a FE/FE yellow ute?

[fcfromscratch]

Hi FC58q,

very perceptive there.....that's actually Trev Robert's wife's FB Ute...she and my wife joined in on the Vintage caravanner's trek in the FB Ute....it is a very nice original ute, twin Stromberg grey motor...sweeeeet!!

regards....Brad

[customFC]

Hey Brad.
What a fantastic find and an equally fantastic story.
Does the owner have any earlier pics of the wagon, before the mods, tucked away somewhere at home?
The white cowling is most unusual. I wonder if this is the original paint scheme.
These things are just so rare, and to see a special order such as this 1 is unbelievable.
I am sure Ken would be interested in the chasis number and engine number of this 1.
Thanks for sharing, taking photos and taking the time to get the story behind this treasure.
Regards
Alex

[fcfromscratch]

Hi Alex,

I have to confess that Ken got a bit of a preview of this one and he has asked for the chassis number if I get a chance.

We plan to do a club run up there some time or other in the new year, hopefully before the Nationals, and I'd like to bring a story board type display of the car's history to the Nats to possibly be a part of the 50th Anniversary stuff...

I wrote to the owners yesterday and tried to impress them with the car's rarity and the importance that it has in this upcoming 50th anniversary year....I'll see how interested they get about that...or not...

The really cool thing about this car is that its a daily/weekly use car still.....I'd be interested to know how many engines it's had for the 300,000 miles it's done...!!

cheers.....Brad

[mcl1959]

Some more info on the car.

The car colour is Golden Yellow (Civil Aviation's own colour)
I'm 99% sure it would not have originally had a white roof as the GMH data sheet does not list a 2 tone colour for CA cars.
The regular production option (RPO) line on the ID plate reads 311 - 6 ply tyres instead of 4 ply
325 - Fram oil filter fitted to the engine
288 - I don't know yet.

The RPO line on FE and early FC plates always stood for Regular Production Options,  On a 2 tone car, the second colour was described as a production option, hence it was listed on the RPO line.  The word TOP was on the right hand side of the ID plate as an indicator that a colour listed as a production option was on the top of the car.
This was later changed to include the INSERT colour and the RPO was dropped

Ken

[Martin]

I see it, but I doooon't believe it:

Ken, the Guru of Gurus says:

288 - I don't know yet

Now that's a rare find!!!  

Martin

[Dr_Terry]

Hi Guys.

That makes 2 of us, I was going to ask Ken what RPO 288 was, it doesn't feature on any of my lists either.

Dr Terry.

[Geoff_K]

Guys,

According to my records, RPO 288 is-

FOR COMMONWEALTH DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AVIATION

Fire Extinguisher and Bracket (Production Option GMH 288),
will be fitted to the left hand side panel under the instrument
panel, just forward of front door opening.

Sure is a rare beast.

Geoff_K

[fcfromscratch]

Hi,

great additional info, thanks RET, Ken, Dr Terry and Geoff.  I'll share this with the owners when I make the journey to get more info and pics....

regards......Brad

[4hammers]

yep, Geoff.
That is what I have for that option as well. But only on the utes, Vans & wagons. Not the sedans. In fact the sedans didn't have any RPO's.

Now that is a Coooooooooooooooool car. If there is one any rarer, I would love to see it.

Rob J