Arrived home safely on Saturday. The trip was great but its still nice to be home.

Went up to the All GM day @ the Barossa yesterday. There was some very nice FE / FC's up there as well as other GM / Holden cars.

Cheers
Peter.

Video of the moment the FC arrived at my grandparents. The video captures their surprise.



Cheers
Peter.

Fc racing around bathurst..........well not quiet racing. As part of the 2010 FE FC nationals, we were able to do a parade lap of the bathurst car racing track. I had daniel from sa in the "race" fc with me as 150 odd FC's went around the track in a break during a race meeting.

We mostly kept speeds under 80 but down conrad straight we gave it a blast up to 100.

I'm told when its not a race day the track is a public road but its restricted to 60kms and its you can only drive in the reverse direction.

Driving during a race meeting was certainly a special treat. To make the treat even better was when the marshalls unexpectedly allowed us to do a 2nd lap. The old drum brakes were already starting to fade at the end of conrad the 2nd time around. I couldn't imagine how a stock fc would go at race pace !!

Bye for now.

Have arrived in tooleybuc for an overnight stay. Motel is nice. No problems for the fc today and I'm about half way to adelaide.

Even though its a cool day, locusts are thick.

Just went through a herd of 200 cows over the highway. Some wouldn't move. Reminded me of the front fender dent from a bull that grandad talked about.

Photo is myself and 2 SA guys.  FE Ambo has generator problems near Wagga.

Its been over a week since my last post, let's see if we can do an update. Since showing the car to my grandparents I spent a couple days soaking up all the fc stories they remembered.

On good friday I left wagga and headed up to orange nsw for the holden fe fc nationals. This was an event for all the best FE and FC's from all around australia. They expected around 160 cars.

Shortly after departing wagga I ran into a couple SA guys that were having trouble with a FE ambulance. The generator was playing up. I couldn't help much but we had a quick chat and they seemed top blokes. Eventually they got going after I had left.

The trip up to orange was pretty straight forward. A lot of hotrods on the road heading the opposite way for a show. Just before orange the wheel started an ocassional squel but no other issues.

Friday arvo I registered for the nats, washed the car, unloaded at the accomodation.

Saturday was the show and shine. It was my first ever car show as an entrant. My flat mate for the weekend martin helped point me in the right direction.

It was great to see 160 odd top quality cars. Many were finished to a very very high standard.

On sunday night we had the trophy presentation. To my surprise my fc was awarded a trophy for being in the top 20 cars. To be considered for top 20 the car has to be very good so I'm very lucky to get this award.

More news to come when I get more time.

Cheers
Peter

Still on cloud 9. I've spent the last day soaking up stories from my grandparents about the car.

I found out if you remove the rear seats it used to fit 6 railway sleepers in the back. I'm amazed how the interior was all still very good.

Also if the rear seat was out it used to sleep 3 kids. One in front and 2 in rear. The adults used to sleep in some kind of "auto tent" joined to the car.

Also they've found some 50 year old black/white photos of the FC when it was near new. I will try to post them up on the photos page soon.

Another tip is if your radiator fills up with lucusts badly and you can't remove them from tight inside the fins, remove the radiator and pour petrol over it and ignite. The last bits of the lucusts will burn away.

Today I cleaned the blue protective film off the tyres to reveal the narrow white wall on the kuhmo radials. Now the car has hubcaps and white walls, it looks quiet good. I had to scrub with AJAX powder. It took a bit of elbow grease, probably since you should clean them before you drive and heat up the tyres. The spare was a lot easier to clean.

Cheers
Peter

I have arrived in Wagga. With help of my cousin Amanda and her family we washed the FC before taking it out to my grandparents for the suprise reveal.

Words can't describe the moment I pulled into my grandparents yard @ Uranquinty and they clicked that this was the car that they purchased new in '59. The car has been restored to as new condition.

Me and grandparents have talked for hours tonight, with them remembering the many adventures they had as a family in the FC.

I'm a bit lost for words, but it has been a magic afternoon driving into Wagga and forfilling a dream I've had since I was a kid.

Video and photos to follow thanks to Sam and Amanda. Also thanks to Pete and Shirley for helping with the washing, sunvisor and hubcaps.

Gen light problem reappeared. Will check it out tomorrow.

Bye for now.

Peter

Just had lunch at hay. Generator circuit was working when I pulled up so fingers crossed it stays working. Back on the highway i was too afraid to turn motor off and use keys to open boot. Now I pulled up and got multimeter out the volts look ok. Quiet windy at the hay plains so need to concentrate when driving.