fbekholden.com

Found this link on the ozrodders site. Although not my style of custom I remember when it was fresh. Even went for a ride in it. Hope it gets saved.

http://streetmachinemag.typepad.com/str ... om-fj.html

did this look good in the 80's???

cause it dont now...

aidan...

I do remember "Jigsaw" (the other car mentioned) and never thought it looked good .
Like that AU &*#@ abortion, just cause you can, doesn't mean you should , Trev .

I photographed this Blue FJ at the Early Holden Nats in QLD, in 82?

A selection of those pictures were later used in some of the Australian publications i have written for over the last 30 odd years.

Dave sold it some time later and it found a new home in Sydney, not far from where we were living in the late 80's. The photos posted are from where the last owner parked it for many years.

Dave Johnson is a very talented panel beater/painter. and at times builds on the fringe or even a little further out than that. Jig Saw was a car ahead of its time with the use of many modern car components, But again not always understood or accepted. It stunned many that attended the Brisbane show a couple of years ago, that were under the impression it was a newly built Custom. Not a car that had been in storage for over twenty years.

I cant find any mods on that car that flow , flared guards with spats , and stainless mud flaps.
Wire wheels with raised white lettering on the tyres
A console that looks like a block stuck onto the front of the dash .
Square headlights in thecurvy guards....

Sorry I usually keep my mouth shut but nup wrong wrong wrong.
and jigsaw was an abortion too , I think it was glitter rolled in sh!t not the other way around.

id rather look at the pic of ratbox washing his car

aidan...

These customs are from the late 70's and early 80's.
I did not say they were good or bad.

But get out some OZ magazines from those years and have a look at what else was being built.
At this time many of the now sought after 60's built customs were being upgraded or dumped because they were now not desirable
Styles and trends come and go, some never return

But no matter what people think, now or then. Cars like these got lots of magazine coverage and won many show awards.

If you want to see something that is an indication of an "updated" custom, in the latest Nitro magazine there is a feature on what the new owner of the legendary 60's built John Fitzgerald V8 powered mild custom FJ now looks like.

Pics 3 ,4 , 6 and 7 all make the grade

And you think pic 7 makes the grade ?
You gotta remember folks it was the 80's.
Mabe Dave should have just followed the crowd.

Sunny Rob wrote:And you think pic 7 makes the grade ?
You gotta remember folks it was the 80's.
Mabe Dave should have just followed the crowd.

Yep its loosely on the fringes and only because its a panelvan .

I apreciate the work in everything thas had time ,effort and paitience but back in the 80s it seems things being modified tastefully or distastefully were rewarded.
Theres definitely a line in the sand on style and its blurred a little by personal tastes and likes etc
But I dunno , If I built that car today Id be the laughing stock of Australia Id reckon . Leepu might get away with it though
Even that EK commodore is similar in build to this , mismatched bits added on in an attempt to be different.
There were lots of cars built in the 80s that are beautiful works of art - they just nailed it.

number 3 does it for me

aidan...

my70wg wrote:id rather look at the pic of ratbox washing his car

naked even !!!!

We have an 80's style FJ here in Ulladulla (although I have not seen it for many years)..built by Graham Shoote it's very similar to Dave's FJ as in upsidedown HQ grill, spoiler front 'stone tray'? and filled bonnet painted in metallic bronze. This example maybe not my personal cup 'o' tea but I can always admire the work done...after all it's all custom.

Scotty.

it was recently on ebay and think it sold fairly cheap a doctor owned it for a while, yes it looks shocking but it was done in the days of panelvans and there was PLENTY of tasteless mods done back then, so he pretty much was a sheep he just did it on a sedan not a van
i'de have it if i had the money and space to spare just to sit it there the same as the stumpy FB because this sort of thing is what i class as history it was something out of the ordinary not a stock factory car that was rarely driven

FX FJ's are a beautiful car, kept in original style. Alteration to the body shape, headlights & grille usually ends up looking like vomit.
The general spent a lot of coin engineering and shaping the FX FJ into the iconic shape it became. I would have to say its the most reconised Holden Model by far. So why d1ck around with it? Most end up being a hacked up abortion, that should never grace our streets. What the 1980's did to old Holdens is simply, Wrong.



**im a purist and my judgement may be biased somewhat**

Dave