If you are planning on heading to Alice Springs for Red CentreNATS, make sure you look out for the incredible FC Holden, made famous by the late, great Alan Hale.

FC225 is a black, tunnel-rammed, small block-powered beast that set the standard for early Holden builds in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As you can see in the images, the FC remains in incredible condition, with all its period features (dig the burgundy crushed velvet trim!) still intact. Even the original Bucket Panels paint job has stood the test of time.

There are very few examples of top-flight street machines from the early 70s still on the road, so don’t miss your chance to see this one in the metal.

The FC won stacks of tinware in its day, most notably Top Street Machine at the 3rd and 4th Street Machine Nationals, as well as Top Exhibitions at three Melbourne Hot Ros Shows. Not only was the FC good at impressing the judges, but it also had a certain X factor and was massively inspirational for that generation of car builders. No less a guy than Peter Fitzpatrick still rates it as one of his favourite cars ever.

The FC225 was featured in Street Machine twice, first in the fourth issue ever printed (Feb/Mar 1982) and again in the Oct/Nov 1986 mag, with the famous ‘Golden Holdens’ cover.

After spending a number of years in a museum, the FC is currently resides in Darwin, in the care of Alan’s son, Brendan. Alan’s family have done a great job in not only preserving the car, but also getting it out and about so the public can enjoy a vital piece of our history.

Alan was one of the real movers and shakers of the early years of our sport. He was a founding member of Australia’s first Street Machine association, the Victorian Street Machine Association and worked with his clubmates to get the third Street Machine Nationals happening in Shepparton in 1978.

It is a crying shame that so few of our early street machines and vans survived in their original forms (or close to it). Below are just a few of the lucky ones: