Our New Old Tow Car..finally!

[lulu]

Yep, it's the car we were originally after, when I did a post about looking for one just after we joined.
Should have been more patient but was worth the wait ;D

1961 EK Holden Special..Station Sedan
Her name is Casey The Wedgewood Wagon
She's my every day car AND our tow car.
Finally the resto on the Sunny can be finished as we had to hold off because we didn't know what colour to spray it. Needed the car first, then match up colour, as you do.

Anyways here's our Casey..hope you like ;D















Cheers
Lu & Ro

[atouchofglass]

Greetings Lulu and Congrats !!!!!!!!!!

Love the old holdens...
Is this how you bought Casey or did she have a resto as well?
Cause she looks in excellent condition...

Mind you the noddy dog is a little large for the dash ;D ;D ;D ;D

You will get lots of comments driving to work I'm sure... envious stares as well

Your obvious good taste is rewarded every day...


Atog

[firefighter]

Hi Lulu

the wagon looks great
the anti theft device.........does he bite
f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Deleted]

Hi Lulu the Holden Hoon

As i said in the pm the other night ..The wagon looks great. Good things come to those who wait.

I see all the conversation about resto/ respray etc on the FB/Ek forum... my advice is .. Leave bodywork as is.. Fit a disk brake front end or at least a booster on the drum brakes for safer towing and stopping....... drive and enjoy ;D

It certainly will look the goods with your van on the back....
Coledale...is less than 5 months away ... why are you sitting here reading this ?? You have work to do on that van woman........ So get going...

Reddo... Motivational speeches made to order.

[lulu]

Atog...Noddy Dog
The Noddy dog inspector has given her approval of Casey by not wanting to get out. I had to drag her out of there, she was dying for a cruise but rain was very heavy, so didn't go. I had only just finished washing her..took 2hrs..then saw the black clouds coming, put her undercover and hasn't stopped raining since. A few days now. Wonder if It will be a repeat of last year this time with the rain & floods

firefighter...hehehe & ta...the anti-theft only gets agro at motorbikes & dogs that come near the fence. Loves humans, hates dogs and bikes. It's annoying because dogs and bikes can't steal your car, she's a shocking watch dog.

Reddoooo-hi-dee-hoo...Thanks for the advice, I like the sound of that and will get Ro to read it when he gets home.
Coledale..sounds good to me. Fingers crossed the outside of vv will be at least sprayed by then because inside I can cope with leaving as is. It's up to the boss but the sanding session will re-commence again this arvo after work. Now we have the EK the Boss is all keen now and can't wait to get stuck back into it. YAY!!!!

[Deleted]

"
the sanding session will re-commence again this arvo after work."

Hmmmmmmm Poor old Rohan
Sounds like Rohan has an overseer..
Mrs Do-dis Do-dat

Reminds me of the old saying here at work...
"The floggings will continue until the morale improves".

I could mention that he is being subjected to additional torture by having to work on "THAT SORT OF MATERIAL" that the sunliner is made of....
However i have decided not to.........
Just make sure he wears a raincoat while sanding with an electric sander in the torrential rain. Wouldnt want him catching a cold now would we .

Redd-ohs-savy

[lulu]

Before we bought the van, we both agreed he would do the outside and I would do the inside and both of us would stay out of each others way.
He's Mr.Exterior & I'm Mrs.Interior. Works for us, saves annoying each other.

[lulu]

atog

The Ek had a bit of a tidy up (new paint, rebuilt tranny and motor) about four years ago, we bought her in her current condition. She runs like a dream , but will probably go with Reddos advice and fit a brake booster . those old drum breaks would struggle pulling up the sunliner on short notice!

[urkel1965]

Hi Lulu
Very nice tow car. I noticed she is sludgematic, like my EJ Holden. I had the EJ for 14 yrs before I put a towbar on her 12 mths ago. Was a bit dubious the first time I towed the van (400km round trip), wondering how the tranny would go. But didn't miss a beat. Enjoy cruising with the van!!!
Regards
Steve

[MRFJ55]

HI LULU ,
VERY NICE , VERY VERY NICE !
AND A STATION SEDAN AS WELL !
WELCOME TO HOLDEN HEAVEN !
I NOTICED THAT YOU DONT HAVE A TOW BAR YET ON CASEY , THERE ARE TWO MAJOR SWAP MEETS ON IN THE SYDNEY AREA IN THE NEXT 2 MONTHS . BLACTOWN (FIRST SUNDAY IN JULY ) AND ALL HOLDEN DAY (FIRST SUNDAY IN AUGUST) , YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO PICK UP AN ORIGINAL ONE CHEAP THERE . ALSO PUT AN ADD UP ON THE FB-EK FORUM UNDER PARTS WANTED . THIS IS ALSO A GREAT WEB SITE TO CHECK OUT IF YOU GET A CHANCE . THEIR NATS ARE ON THIS LONG WEEKEND UP YOUR WAY AT YAMBA , MIGHT GET A HOT TIP THERE ON ANY AVAILABLE TOWBARS FOR YOUR CAR IF YOU CAN MAKE IT !
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR CHOICE OF A FANTASTIC VEHICLE , WELL DONE !
REGARDS , MAURIE .

p.s YOU GUESSED IT !

"KEEP HOLDEN ON"

[vintagecaravans]

Looks Great LULU!
I will be most interested to hear how the grey motor tows the van specially with the Hydramatic box, looks to be a great example of the model and will compliment the van perfectly.
(might be an idea to fit a transmission cooler the old Hydras hate high temperatures that towing can cause and can cause problems down the track)
Matt

P.S. are you sure it is Wedgewood, it looks to "blue" for Wedgewood??? could it be Strata Blue??? maybe it is the pictures or my monitor. Pm me the paint code if you are not sure and I will decode it for you

[lulu]

Urkel/Steve..thanks for that and will be great come the day we will tow with the van. Things are falling into place nicely and we are smitten with Casey. Glad things went good with that 400km round trip, lets face it, that was a bit of a hike for you
Well Done.

mrfj55/Maurie....Well G'Day and how have you been?
Good news, she has a tow bar/electrics & air shocks..just missing the end bit..god I can't even think of what it's called right now..am tired, but you know what I mean.
Was glad to see that there, as that's something we don't have to dick around with, not that it would be an issue but can just concentrate on the brake booster ect & sunny resto then.
Are you going to The Nationals at Yamba? Have joined that fb/ek website a while ago, it's great!!!

VC/Matt...it's funny you mention the colour. Before we picked Casey up, we looked up the colours for that year and wedgewood seemed to look like it. Then a day or two after we had her we checked the codes & the codes matched Strata Blue! Grrr Strata Wagon doesn't quite have the same ring to it, so I'm breaking the rules and calling it The Wedgewood Wagon. Ro's car is called the "Shaggin' Wagon" (don't know why, there's been no shaggin) and have just gone on with the 'wagon' theme we seem to have. ;D

[tonyh]

Congratulations Lulu on the purchase of the beautiful blue wagon. ;D ;D The color is puuurfect by the way Don't be put off by that old grumble bum about your van made out of that stuff he is just jealous of how great your complete combo will look in matching colors. As far as the braking is concerned unless you are going to be heading down Cunningham's Gap every trip and you don't drive like you're at Bathurst, fit a booster and you'll do fine. ;D ;D ;D (electric brakes on the Sunny would be nice though - I'am putting a set on the Olympic).
I towed for years with an EH Wagon with boostered drum brakes towing a tandem trailer with four wheel drum brakes - vacuum over hydraulic - complete with race car (approx 4800lb) - and it would pull up beautifully Keep the pics coming - just love those fibreglass beauties ;D ;D
Hey Lulu by the way if you are looking for a tow bar and if they are the same as an FC I have one you can have - FREE - maybe a birthday pressie - coming up soon ;D Can anyone tell us if they are the same
Cheers, tonyh

[Deleted]

nice EK Lulu .......sweeeeeet !!!!

Mark

[minicamper]

He Lu,

I think the word you were trying to find is

Tongue?

Anyhoo, nice pick up (well wagon, you know what i mean)

Cheers
Chris

[Deleted]

Hi Lulu.

Just a word of warning .
I see you mention the wagon has air shocks . Just be aware that if you inflate them to stiffen the back of the car up when towing you will be putting extra load on the mounting points of the shocks.. especially the top mounts.
I have used them as an easy way out of stiffening the backs of old Holden up and preventing sag. i used them on the FJ panelvan, the Green EK ute and last year on the back of the windowless FE panel van. the only car that didnt suffer from use was the FJ which had a piece of 2" X 1/4" thick angle iron welded across under the rear floor and the shocks where mounted to that.

True they are good for a short term fix but after a period of time at high pressure they can cause metal fatigue and splitting around the top shocky mount. You can get a thicker plate welded in around that area but the best fix is to fit heavier springs under the rear of the wagon from a van or ute.
Your wagon will probably have 5 leaves , whereas the pannos and utes have 7.
The ride stiffens up slightly but nowhere near as bad as an empty one ton ute, 4x4 ute or similar.
You can also use a "Half Keeper leaf spring " either side that takes the load when the springs are compressed with weight. They are around $140 and seem to save a bit of bum end sag.

Also true what has been said about boosted drum brakes . They work fine. I had em on the green ute. All good until you get on a road where you have repetitive long down hill runs. They linings can glaze over and suffer a bit from brake fade even without a van on the back or "driving like you are at Bathurst".. Thats the whole reason that cars went to disc brake front ends and eventually to 4 wheel disc brakes.. constant improvement and safety.
Discs will pull you up better than drums when hot or after driving in the wet for a period of time.

In the end the choice is yours .. a complete disc brake front end will cost you no more than fitting electric brakes to your van. Or .....you can drive the car with the van as is and be mindfull of its stopping capabilitys ... just like grandad did way back when you where filling nappies up with yellow stuff..


Reddo

[lulu]

Tony h

Thanks for the generous of the towbar! I'm not sure if they are the same fit or not. Our friend just picked us up one at a swap meet on the weekend but the tongue curves up a bit too much , causing the tow ball to hit the tailgate when opened!

Reddo

Appreciate the tip on the air shockies. Our friends up the road have an Ek sedan with air shocks and warned us of the same thing. I think we will just leave them as they are for the time being an not use them till some reinforcing is done.

Cheers
Ro

____________________________________________________

Mark T..thanks, really chuffed. Just went for a good drive in her to Crescent Head and had a lovely cruise.

Chris...Tongue, yep that's the one ;D

Lulu

[Deleted]

Hi Lulu

I didnt mean for you not to put air in the shocks at all when driving around in the wagon. Just dont put anything much over 40 to 50psi in them and they will act pretty much like normal shocks.
Its only a problem if you inflate them up around 60 to 80 psi.

Cresent heads?? What?? Today???.. the weather radars says it flogging down up that way??
Nambucca heads has recieved 187mm in the past 24 Hours..hmmm perhaps i should take jet skis in stead of old pommy motorbikes
Barnsley.. "Centre of the bondwood universe" has copped 137mm.

As they say.. it never rains but it pours ......If it all comes good on Friday we will call in and check out the wagon on the way to Valla park.
... you know .. a few burn outs ;D ( in a hydaumatic .. yeah right Reddo) .. bitta circle work ... clean the cobwebs out of the wagon...
Will be after lunch sometime. We are gunna head around to Daggseys Dads place for the "Once in a lifetime - Mother of all Garage Sales" in Taree on the way through.

Pray for sun ;D

Reddo and Trish

[lulu]

Reddo

Weather up here today is fine . Bout 22deg , the sun is shining , and a light offshore breeze is blowing! There are a few nasty looking storm clouds in the distance but so far so good.

Hope the weather holds out for the weekend.

Will make note not to inflate shockies beyond 50psi. Looking forwrd to catching up!

[tonyh]

Hi Lulu,
The wagon tailgate thing is a pain because if you get a tongue and ball combo to miss the dropped down tailgate you still have to be careful when the van hitch is on. I have a couple of different tongues so if you let me know the angle/offset I might have one that will do the job for you.
In regard to the brakes if you can get a good disc brake front end for the same price as electric brakes that would be the better option. On my FC I was trying to keep the original running gear but I did purchase a HR front end (for safety-but the only one I could get was a bit ordinary) so by the time I rebuilt the front end, disc brakes and the calipers it was a lot cheaper to fit electric brakes on the van,(which I wanted to do anyway). As Reddo said you have to weigh up what you prefer for your combination.
Anyway whatever you choose it will look veeerrry cooool when you are crusin'
Cheers, tonyh