Sorry some of you might find this a bit boring
As a few members know I have been sending out E-mails all over the shop to museums and variouse Police societys below is one response
Craig,
I first came to the Qld Police Service in 1964 and during that era the Force as it was known used &*#@ Falcons exclusively based on a year by year contract. I was attached to our Police Garage from January 1965 and soon learnt that Holdens finished in 1959 and due to the major publicity surrounding the release of the all Australian &*#@ Falcon XK model it was decreed that the QPS would change to &*#@. I believe some of the Holdens had virtually nil mileage on the speedo but were promptly auctioned off. In those days right up until the 1980’s there was a yearly contract be it Holden or &*#@. Nowadays we have standing offer arrangements which allows purchase of a wide variety of vehicles as required for a distinct purpose.
I can clearly remember all the &*#@ models and often longed for the introduction of EH 179 Holden sedans but alas it never happened in Qld. We went briefly back to Holden in 1970 /71 and then to XY Falcons and so on.
To the best of my knowledge the QPS had no FB Holdens such as the one you have. NSW and Victoria however would have had these models, particularly Victoria. In those years the southern states always appeared to have more Holdens than Fords possibly based on price, availability and close source to the manufacturers. That FD number on the glove box lid probably stood for a DIVISION which was a common phrase with the NSW Police of that era. The fact that your FB is a standard version would lend thought to it being a Police or Govt. vehicle. The addition of an external sunvisor was popular with Police members and the oil bath air cleaner may have been a country car on dirt roads. The FB was the first with the paper element air cleaner but an old mechanic like myself would fit an oil bath. They were messy but very effective. Most private buyers bought the’ special ‘ which had the upswept chrome strip on the front doors. I can remember residing in a Qld country town, Kin Kin as a young school boy and a lot of the local farmers had purchased new FB Specials in 1960 as they were the new look straight after the FC model….a complete body change.
I would suggest you contact Sydney and Melbourne Police HQ to ascertain if they have any person or records that may quickly remember the numbers etc. The retired Police Associations in these States would be a good starting point. There must be an equivalent of myself (someone that should have gone fishing) and forgotten various cars that will recollect what that insignia was for. If you are successful it will open up a bit more history on the FB model.
Please advise if successful as I would be interested.
Regards.
Ian Gordon
A/Manager Fleet Maintenance
Flt Mgt Branch, Alderley
So I sent of multiple E-mails soth of the border but without a lot of luck
So I loaded it onto a trailer and took it to All Holden Day in Brisbane on the weekend to hopfully find somthing out and came across a bloke who used to service police cars and he was fairly adament that it was a former police car
Good news me thinks but still trying to find out a little bit more so the search goes on
Sorry told you it would be boring
Still chasing police museum societies ect for info unfortunatly awith the cars being 49-50 years old finding people who worked on or drove them still involved is a bit of work but interesting Tim you might make a restorer out of me yet
:roll:I meant to wright that he worked on NSW police cars and thats where he thinks it came from
