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Hey there all,

It's been a whole heap of fun building this trailer project, it's been finished 3 times now. It started life as a 1954 FJ Holden Special Sedan, and I bought it as whole car, back in 2000 and used it as a daily driver for a couple of years. I took the sedan off the road to give it a fresh up, and there's a whole story below on how it ended up as a trailer, but in short, it was first registered in Queensland as a trailer almost 4 years ago, and after moving state again, it's now registered in Victoria.

The time has come where I need to spend time on other projects that I never seem to get to, so I've made the decission to sell my beloved trailer.

Sure you can just go grab a standard run of the mill 6x4, 7x5 or whatever plain old box trailer for those long trips to the interstate shows, or follow the heard and get a teardrop camper, but why not have a 'one off' custom built trailer that matches your classic. You don't have to have an FX or FJ Holden for this one off either, it would even suit a late 40's Chevy or Dodge, Buick, your hotrod or anything really with a similar shape.

It was originally intended to be used as a club trailer, with built in BBQ, compartment for cold drinks and somewhere for the meat ect,,, but we've started on an EK Sedan as a project the whole club can be involved with, but this FX/FJ trailer was born from my own time and money, and sleepless nights.

Check out my custom trailer below from concept, development and completion, and if you think it's just what your after, then make me a reasonable offer. I'm not after a fortune for it, but won't give it away either.

It's currently registered in Victoria with full rego, although it comes under 750gvm and it's overall dimentions doesn't legally require registration for road use in Victoria, but I live on the border of NSW and often use interstate vehicles to tow it with. It's been built to comply with Australian Standards, and inspected by both Queensland Transport Authority and Vicroads. Please note that the widened stock wheels or white walls will not be included, nor is the FJ Sedan seen in the picture below for sale. I will however include a clean set of standard FX/FJ rims and tyres with the sale.

Check it out below and if you interested in it, then feel free to make an offer by emailing me at      sherro73@live.com

 

Cheers

29th August 2009

 

"Call me Crazy"

 

Welcome to my webpage, It's been some time since I last updated these pages, coz I've been busy with work commitments, moving State again and family.

I'm a member of the Wangaratta Early Holden Car Club, which is based out the City of Wangaratta in North Eastern Victoira, Australia, approximately 3 hours North East of Melbourne. The original concept was to build my 1954 FJ Sedan into a 'Kustom Coupe' which was later abandoned for another FJ Holden project and placed in storage. At some stage ideas changed and the coupe was to become a matching trailer for club outings, special occasions, and to provide something to haul our club banners, marquee and the like, plus the BBQ and eski of course :)

What you'll find here & my other pages are what I recon is a heap of great photos of not only my projects, past and present, but stacks of great pics of kewl cars I found on the net and pics of the cars driven and owned by friends and an increasing list of interesting links for car buffs. I live in Country Victoria, and will attempt to post images of events I attend and others in the region.

Most of the pictures on this site have been taken by myself or are being used with kind permission by others and I try to mention photographers where possible. If you see a picture on these pages that you beleive was taken by or belongs to you and you wish for them not to be displayed, then please contact me via email and they will be removed immediately. After looking at this website and you want to ask me any questions on either project, then feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment in my guest book as I would be more than happy to reply.

 

This here's a concept I drew up of the idea I had one afternoon. Everyone thought I had to be crazy to chop up one, let alone 3 cars to build it, but I had two candidates sitting there that would have been scrap metal in any other circumstance.

 

This is a picture of an FX ute (50-2106) that's been restored. The rear side panels, and tailgate of one of these provided the front half of the trailer. Another ute, which was a later version named FJ, had a large Mango tree growing out of the middle had to donate about 1/4 of it rear quarters aswell to duplicate the ute contours to the beltline of the sedan. The Mango tree had to be at least 40 years old, and there wasn't much to salvage.

These old work horses were very popular for many years, and still a much loved classic today. They were commisioned by many Australian Government Departments, and there were delivery varients based on the utility called 'Panelvan' and both were used by the Royal Mail Service, Army, Navy and Air force, Police departments, many other government sectors, Ambulance, and thousands of farmers and tradesmen alike. The Government also used sedan variants for assorted roles, and most of the government vehicles were special builds, but very few have survived. Last information I know of is that there are no known PMG or Defense versions to have survived, but salvaged build plates fitted to vehicles restored as replicas are beginning to appear. There were subtle differences to the government builds and even taxi varients, and it can be difficult to prove or dismiss authenticity.
A couple of army utilitys' are rumoured to be getting restored, but it's been some time since any mention of them.

I may be into customs and modified vehicles, but it's good to see even a replica of these old government versions when given a chance. I'd like to someday get an oportunity to build a replica or bring back an original PMG van or Army utility. Or even an original or replica of one of the very rare Station Sedans commission built by coachbuilders in the day.

Below is the one and only FJ Station Sedan build by General Motors Holden's, which survives to this day, is driven regularly and is still owned by the family of a former development engineer who was employed by General Motors Holden's. Many offers have been made on the car over the years.

I have photos of other FX/FJ Estate or Station Sedans/Wagons in my other pages.

"Time to go Kustom"

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The folloing two pictures are of an FX ute that had been coverted many years ago, but it was pretty rough. A mate sourced it out for me from near Mackay, North Queensland.

I always wanted to do somthing different with this front,,,, it was too obvious that it was just a ute chopped away at the 'B' pillars and void of its' roof then a drawbar added.
I actually like the shape of the rear (which became the front) and I considered sourcing another ute back or duplicating what is seen here for the front. In one of my early concept drawings, I added a rolled pan in place of the spare wheel door, and incorporated frenched 5" round 'Caddy Style' tail lights.

 

Here's one of the earlier concepts which I nearly began, but it had been done before in both ute and panelvan (delivery) form, so I opted to go for something that was an original inovation.
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Here is my old FJ Sedan which was damaged back in 2001. I started the repairs and decided to give the rest a fresh up while I was at it. Unfortunately I discovered there was more rust and body filler than metal in structural areas, so I started doing a customised 2 door version that would also become a rag top. Skip about 3 years ahead and the FX trailer I was going to give a tidy up on and the Coupe were to become one. The coupe project can be viewed in my shed under Dads' Revenge. And yes, belive it or not, this car seen on the left is now the trailer seen below.
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Before getting to the above stage we had to measure, measure and measure again before cutting anything because all the work I'd done on the coupe I didn't want to be wasted. I'd cut and shut the rear doors and cleaned all the weld up on this side already and it was ready for final metal finishing. In this pic you should see where the pillar had been relocated, full length sills and custom dash. Next big stage was to graft to 77 LUV Chassis, until I sold it to a mate after buying a more complete FJ Custom project. The mate who got it off me sort of traded the coupe project for the FX trailer, then later gave it back to me when he moved interstate and couldn't take the project with him. The coupe sat a my place for quite a while along with three other projects, so in the end I had top downsize,,,, the result was the trailer project being born.

First thing after measuring was to carefully mark all the sections to be removed then measure again, and get second opinions before it's too late. So I took both trailer and coupe to another freinds workshop. Paul has built dozens of FJs' over 30 or more years,,, anything from paddock hacks, dailer drivers, speedway cars and show stoppers. We agreed where to remove any excess, but allowed a 1/2" to 1/4" more than we needed for trial fitment just to be safe. Here is a few pics of the coupe at Pauls shed now void of the roof, then after the floor was simply sliced away in front of the relocated 'B' pillars.

 

Here's one of the old version of the trailer at Pauls' place. Note the lines where panels are to be cut,,, caution to salvage these panels were taken so the could be used on other ute/van repairs or restorations if needed. And this side found its' way on Pauls current FX Drag car project,,, full tube chassis, then cramming in a Full house Blown 454ci BB Chevy. But that's another story. The otherside will go on his FJ race ute when it gets a rebuild in a year or so. Last time he rebuilt the race ute within 2 months of finishing the build he launched it off the track on a hillclimb event(comming down) and bent things up pretty bad,,, again another story.
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HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF FITTING THE THE SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE PHASE
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More steel was removed, including the sills, and the hind quarters off the utility sliced up and the long job of fit n fiddle to work out where the pieces can be grafted on to keep the body shape flowing consistantly from front to rear.

The hardest phase of the build was getting the basis for "The Look".
A lot of time was spent just contemplating where each peice could fit, then rough trials, a little off here and there, clamping and looking, more trimming until we were comfortable with the general shape that was evolving.

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My kids recon it's a pretty kewl idea having a trailer to match the jay once it's done,,, think of how quiet those long road trips will be with them riding in the back, litterally?

Well I've done it, and recon I made it work structurally and in the looks dept.I've just gotta put all the shiny bits back on now. But keep an eye out as I add more pictures of the build from the initial idea to finished product, plus future plans.

The trailer copped a coat of satin black, but it didn't do it for me,,,,

Then I splashed a coat of this torquise that was left over from my work trailer, plus fitted some trim & brightwork,,, the light binacle has been replaced with the original one of my FJ sedan, which has great chrome and a brand new lense, plus a mint rear bumper and FX (48-215) overiders which I'll include in the new pics shortly.
I'm still deciding if I'll fit up the Nasco chromed rear fender dress fins & reflector cones,,,, if so they'll have turn signals in place of the reflectors. Otherwise I'll track down some 3" round Lucas style turn signal lenses with a chrome bezel,,, simmilar to those found on early Morris, Leyland & Landrover and mount them in the lower section of the rear quarters roughly where the original fuel filler was located.

The torquios didn't look bad, but after a week of looking at it I figured nope, still looks poxy, so she's done in a brilliant yellow with orange tint now. I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can of it done in the yellow with everything fitted up, plus the sexy set of modified stockies that are now 15" widies compatible with any 15 x 195 x 65 to 15 x 215 x 65 tyre, which is far easier to obtain, but here's a sneak peek of the yellow shortly after she was sprayed.

 

    

 

This will become the club trailer when I head back to Victoria and have a BBQ, ice box and maybee even slot in a 240Volt generator for whatever the need, plus I'm contemplating doing a set of molds of this trailer body to make fibreglass reproductions available as either FX or FJ variants. Bumpers, trunk, solid torneu and other add ons will be available in glass too, but genuine items can still be fitted.

Here's a couple of snap shots of the modified stock FX/FJ centers with the 15 x 6JJ reversed rims donated from a Mazda 3 that will be fitted to the trailer, including the spare, plus I'll do the same for my FX or FJ tow vehicle when I get another one some day, hopefully not too long to wait for that?

But the car will get painted the same colour as the trailer, or trailer changed to the same as the car if the paint is good on the car I get.

 

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Well folks, I've now got it fully registered, painted and asembled, tarp is done and gone cruzin down the road with some weird looks from other drivers.

I still need to fit the boot (trunk) handle and handle the handle ferule (rose). I have an FX Holden boot handle, but the chrome is pretty poor plus it has quite a lot of pitting and the FJ handle I had has gone missing, so I'll need to track down another one before I can operate the boot properly.

Once I move again at the end of the year and get settled in our new home I'll start work on the interior. It'll probably have a big stowage bin that doubles as an eski (cooler/ice box) and have a BBQ in the back,,, not 100% sure yet, but I can't wait.
Here's the latest pics for now.
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I haven'ty done much to the trailer since moving from Townsville to Brisbane, but I'm looking for a FJ ute or sedan to buy so I can tow it with. Here's a couple of pictures of the last time the trailer went for a ride, on the way down from Townsvile we had some work to do west of Rockhampton and towed the trailer up Mt Hopeful, here we let the dogs out for the call of nature before heading off again.
I've been doing some research into getting a mould done to make reproduction bodies in fibreglass.
I'd also like to get a picture of the trailer behind a yellow FJ, so if you own or know someone who owns a yellow FJ and your in the Brisbane area, or your interested in a reproduction trailer body when they're available, feel free to drop me an email or leave a message in my guest book.

Cheers for now,,, Sherro

Here's a couple of pictures I did up recently on the computer. I've been looking for a replacement tow vehicle for my trailer, and came across a couple of potential vehicles and this blue one is a possible contender for me to buy. So with the help of my computer I changed the colour of the trailer to match the car for sale.
Check em out

 

 

 

I just though I'd show a couple of pictures I took of an old FX model ute I found out near Cunnamulla in South West Queensland.

 

The trailer I had built was featured in Setember 2007 issue of "Cruzin" Magazine. A mate phoned me up from interstate to let me know my trailer project has been featured in the magazine. And I am really happy about that, and it feels like a real achievement.

Here's a scanned copy of the magazine cover and page 72 where it's featured.

 

A few mates reckon I should do a flame job on the trailer, so I did some renderings on the computer to see how it could look. This is the result.

 

 

 I gave the trailer a fresh look and did a repairs where the body had cracked in places. It now has a 'Satin Black' finish, and I started marking out a set of tribal flames just to see how they'd look in the flesh. Due to multiple stone chips I decided to do the front in rubberised stone guard paint to prevent further chipping from road use

 

 

   

Just another bit of fun, we did a mock up to see how it could be if done as a chopper trike, then did some more work on the computer,,,, bit of a wild ride in my opinion. All just ideas though.

 

I took the trailer to a small show on the weekend after Easter, and hooked it up to a mate's FJ Utility from the club I'm in. Curl's FJ is almost stock, except different wheels, power brake booster, and runs a stock 149 engine. I also took the trailer to a show on the 26th at Wangaratta for the Yesterdays Heros Show & Shine combined with the Lions Club Swap Meet where I was awarded a judges encouragement. I didn't plan on being judged, but was still happy to get noted by the judges.

At the swap meet I managed to pick up a damaged FJ rear bumper that I've been chasing for some time to cut up and fabricate a set of bumperettes for the front, I've had the overiders for this job for ages, now I can complete the task. Next time it's out, I'll have the rear bumper & bumperettes fitted, the top re-done and interior completed with any luck.

 

I tried it in black once before but the body wasn't good enough, but now with a lot more blocking down, and better prep it looks sensational. This isn't really how it looks though, I'd just hosed it down and grabed a pick to see how she looks in high shine, but this will be how it'll look when completed. I've since re-done the wheels, and chassis in light green just to break things up a bit.

 

 

Well finally I got hold of someone with an FJ sedan that matches my trailer. Bill from Wahgunyah was kind enough to drop over and hook up the trailer for some happy snaps. I took a few photos and posted them on here, plus did a little doctoring on one by a slight colour enhancement and cut and past of my wheels to Bills sedan just for an image that compliments both.

Enjoy

 

  

 

I've also added a short video of Bill towing the trailer around, copy this link to view.

http://video.cardomain.com/VideoPlayer.aspx?id=698656

I'm just about to start producing the molds for fiberglass reproductions of this trailer, so if your interested in grabbing one for yourself, email me at sherro73@live.com and one can be yours.

Cheers for now
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