Barn find EK Ute
Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 9:01 am
One of those 'round-about' stories of 'a old Holden ute in a shed at **** that might be for sale'
Found the farmer, made a time to go look and sure enough there was an FB(?) ute sitting in a shed on his farm, looking a bit the worse for wear. To cut a long story short, there was a bit of camel trading done and at the end of it I was the proud owner of an FB(?) ute.
A time was arranged - in between cropping and hay carting, and the availability of the tractor forks and a tilt tray to go pick it up.
Went out yesterday and loaded it onto the tilt tray and had the first good look at the underside, no real surprises apart from the sills which seem to be in remarkably good condition other than at the front passenger side end which is a bit ratty. Sub-frame needs a lot of work and maybe a replacement would be in order, front floors are rusted out but rest of the floor pan doesn't look too bad. All in all a good find.
Got it home and did a bit of rodent poo removal, de-dusting and grease removal and was able to read both ID tag, sub-frame number and engine (red motor) numbers. All indications are that it's an EK body number EK30753M, which is on both sub-frame and ID tag, originally Honey Beige with Floral Green and Madison Grey trim. The engine appears to be from an EH and is a 149 High comp.
History of the car is sketchy but apparently owned from new by another farmer in the area and bought by the guy I bought it from some 20 odd years ago, used as a spotlighting ute for a while and then, around 15 years back, retired to the shed I found it in. At some point in its life it had the front sheet-metal replaced with FB Special parts which sort of explains why the owner thought it was an FB.
There aren't many parts missing, other than the front hubs and wheels, bonnet bar and the centre rear window glass and separators, so I think the deal was pretty good.
Gunna try to start it later, a running engine would be a bonus.
What about the PATINA!!
Found the farmer, made a time to go look and sure enough there was an FB(?) ute sitting in a shed on his farm, looking a bit the worse for wear. To cut a long story short, there was a bit of camel trading done and at the end of it I was the proud owner of an FB(?) ute.
A time was arranged - in between cropping and hay carting, and the availability of the tractor forks and a tilt tray to go pick it up.
Went out yesterday and loaded it onto the tilt tray and had the first good look at the underside, no real surprises apart from the sills which seem to be in remarkably good condition other than at the front passenger side end which is a bit ratty. Sub-frame needs a lot of work and maybe a replacement would be in order, front floors are rusted out but rest of the floor pan doesn't look too bad. All in all a good find.
Got it home and did a bit of rodent poo removal, de-dusting and grease removal and was able to read both ID tag, sub-frame number and engine (red motor) numbers. All indications are that it's an EK body number EK30753M, which is on both sub-frame and ID tag, originally Honey Beige with Floral Green and Madison Grey trim. The engine appears to be from an EH and is a 149 High comp.
History of the car is sketchy but apparently owned from new by another farmer in the area and bought by the guy I bought it from some 20 odd years ago, used as a spotlighting ute for a while and then, around 15 years back, retired to the shed I found it in. At some point in its life it had the front sheet-metal replaced with FB Special parts which sort of explains why the owner thought it was an FB.
There aren't many parts missing, other than the front hubs and wheels, bonnet bar and the centre rear window glass and separators, so I think the deal was pretty good.
Gunna try to start it later, a running engine would be a bonus.
What about the PATINA!!
nah just useing what was cheap and available as the rest of the car was more than likely (as with most FBs) beyond any reasonable use 