fbekholden.com

Hi All - Just bought this little pearla and thinking on what to do with her - she is pretty much 99% orrig - wheels and tyres obviously not genuine but I have the old rims which I will fix up and put back on with some correct rubber.

Supposedly done only 38,000 miles and has been shedded for past 30 years
majority rust free but until a deep inspection a bit unknown
Some things already done.
New drums and linings - cylinders re-furbed
fuel tank replaced with stainless and slightly bigger volume
new exhaust
new radiator(alloy)
new tailgate(old one rusted and dented beyond repair)
tray floor replaced with bamboo by previous owner but don't like it so will replace with dark hardwood and if I can find some nice runner metal.
Engine pulled and new welsh plugs plus general overhaul along with box but further investigation required.

things to do
fix the few dents in her and have a think re paint - hope I can leave as is and maybe a clear coat to retain patina
tailgate needs painting and badge
Original rims and tyres back on - have a nice set of orrig hub caps ready and waiting.
maybe do a alternator conversion with electronic ignition.
see if motor can handle some warming up but as it is a matching set should I even consider this?

some more pics

Bloody Wee Waa.. I was there last week.

Looks great just as it is - if that were mine I would get the tailgate painted and leave it exactly how it is - a perfect example of a fair dinkum Aussie working ute

Can someone give me the correct details re tyres for an OE EK 61 ute - were they white walls? - brand?

"see if motor can handle some warming up but as it is a matching set should I even consider this?"

Of course you should !
If you are worried about it just make sure everything can be reversed one day but while you have it have fun doing stuff. Too many are worried about losing a national treasure or something.
Look at what a lot of owners here have done from stock to mild to wild - all good !!!
What ever you do it looks like a nice old ute.
Dave Mac

That's cool mate
Deff leave the name on it. A lot of blokes would die for a bit of history like that!

Geez that's a beauty of a dint! looks like its been patched with bubble gum!

Yeah I'm curious about that too - current owner can't shed any light on it - I'd love to get her straightened a bit but then the issue with paint so I'll reserve decision until my panel guy can take a look - I think some he can massage out ok but that roof one might be a different story me thinks.

Dad threatened to disown me If I removed the writing- ha ha! This is his ride - 28 Chev.

DOLLER60 wrote:That's cool mate
Deff leave the name on it. A lot of blokes would die for a bit of history like that!

Geez that's a beauty of a dint! looks like its been patched with bubble gum!

That's pretty sweet! Definitely an eye catching Red!

Do you say the ute came from Deni??

Yep - my family is 4 generations Deni born.
I escaped!

The chev was in the vintage tent for the very first Ute muster - and a few others of course - both my parents have been involved in some way since the beginning.

DOLLER60 wrote:That's pretty sweet! Definitely an eye catching Red!

Do you say the ute came from Deni??

OK - so the old girl has arrived - pretty pleased with it in general - seller was honest and car from what I can see has been unmolested and any repairs done with NOS.

How do I confirm this is a matching numbers ute - year on manufacture etc.

Chassis number - EK 30098 S
Engine number -B256174
body plate - EK2106-4494-S
trim 544-983
Paint - 585-4587 - montana grey

has never been repainted and has plenty of wear and tear marks on the body but no rust other than some surface rust I can find - some little flakes where the spare door joins body so that will have to come off for a clean up.

Runs really smoothly so it seams the clean up of the motor was done ok but getting it gone over before I do too much driving of course.

rubbers are pretty knackered as expected so a rubber kit is high on the list but need to decide if I get the paint re-done before doing too much of that
And the most important part - the radio works

some more pics

Shes a beauty

FJWALLY wrote:Yep - my family is 4 generations Deni born.
I escaped!

The chev was in the vintage tent for the very first Ute muster - and a few others of course - both my parents have been involved in some way since the beginning.

DOLLER60 wrote:That's pretty sweet! Definitely an eye catching Red!

Do you say the ute came from Deni??

Yeah cool, I head up there a fair bit- up around Wanganella
Sounds like you've scored an absolute ripper of a ute! Very original, not hacked and not rusted- almost never heard of these days!

ok - she's been up on the hoist and we have a plan of sorts in place to get her firstly on the road then see where we go from there.
Basically rebuilding the front end steering and suspension but waiting on how that goes as to if we do the steering box as a fair bit of movement in linkages and tie rods - thought we might as well do a complete rebuild as that is a removable system
Some pics of underneath panels - still very dirty from original - lots of wasp nests etc and a bit of mud still in the guards but after a bit of scraping around no rust other than minor surface rust so confident it will be no cutting - just clean and re-coat which is a major bonus.
Confirmed engine and panel numbers are all consistent.