“I bought my FX as a father-and-son project, and while my son lost a little bit of interest in it, I kept going and fell in love with it.”

This article on Andrew Brown’s 1951 FX Holden was originally published in the March 2017 issue of Street Machine

“I’m a mechanic by trade, so I overhauled the mechanicals first without repainting or trimming it. Around that time I got into business with my own mechanical workshop and my wife then needed a car, so I got the FX registered and drove it to and from work every day for a year, though I always wanted to paint it red.”

“An opportunity arose when an old-school panel beater took over the panel shop around the corner, Master Motor Body Repairs in Pakenham. He did a great job, taking it back to bare metal and painting it Mazda Zeal Red Pearl.“

“There wasn’t much rust in it and the job was spot-on because he loves working with real metal and took the time to do it properly.“

“The trim was done by Cranbourne Car Upholstery, and they did an excellent job, too. It’s great to find proper old tradies.“

“I thought about putting a V8 in it, but going through the engineering process sounded like a struggle. One of my employees races historic cars and is right into his XU-1Toranas, so we ended up getting a reconditioned 202 with a Bathurst race cam and triple SUs, and a beefed-up Trimatic trans with a high-stall torque converter.“

“It’s still running the kingpin front end but it now has HR stub axles and an HR diff, along with HR drum brakes all ’round with a VH44 booster and Cragar mags.“

“There’s a chassis kit under it and the brakes and steering all work well; it drives beautifully. It sounds mean and is a blend of new and old, which is what I always wanted. It turns heads and it’s a pleasure to drive.”