CLEAN CUT – GARY MERSON 1948 FX HOLDEN VAN
It’s not too often that we get to revisit projects that appear in our Garage Crawl pages, so it’s nice to bring you a finished build once in a while. Gary Merson’s FJ first appeared in Cruzin #132 (February 2012) as a work-in-progress, at that time in the hands of Romano at All Car Restorations. Despite Gary sharing a 20-year relationship with the van, the last few years have clearly been progressive, and despite a hiccup with registration, he can finally enjoy the results of his investment.
Despite owning a selection of interesting cars over the years, the FJ represents Gary’s first real project and came about from simply looking for something to chop.
“I knew a guy who had an FJ Holden sedan, it had been chopped by Dr Chop, but he wasn’t doing anything with it,” explains Gary, who was keen to take over the abandoned project. It proves that Gary is quite the negotiator, as he actually managed to talk the guy into keeping it! “I wasn’t much into FJs by the way, but I just loved it,” he adds.
With the seller changing his mind, Gary started looking around for something to chop himself, ending up at Old Oldens, who regularly had early Holdens on offer.
“I saw this body in the front yard, just a shell, sitting on an HQ chassis, not even bolted down. Silly me, I thought I’ll do something with that, and it evolved from there. I was just going to marry the two together and do it cheap, but it just didn’t work that way. The more I did to it, the dearer it got. It just went berserk, but there’s a line when you can’t settle, you have to go all the way.”
With the quick exit of the HQ chassis, Gary was redirected to ace fabricator, Lance Walker, at Walker Chassis. Lance proposed an entirely new frame built from RHS, along with a whole new floor, firewall, inner fenders, and wheel tubs.
Once back at Romano’s shop, he dropped the roof, wisely guiding Gary to stick with a modest chop. “I wanted a shorter chop, but Romano is the king of proportion. He said if you go too low, it’ll just look stupid. He convinced me that the 2 ½ inch chop is just right.”
After Gary and Romano removed the remnants of rust, they bounced more good ideas off each other, like rounding the corners of the bonnet, fabricating a new set of hood hinges, and making the rolled rear pan with a number plate recess. Gary suggested lengthening the doors, and Romano said No problem, tossing the quarter-glass windows in the process. Oh, and if you’re still scratching your head with all of the FJ talk, the front sheet metal is FX, for no other reason than Gary prefers it.
The bumpers are a distant memory; Gary left them off for aesthetics. “I wanted to keep it clean, a little like an old drag car. The bumpers never looked like they suited the car, and I didn’t want to go to the hassle of shortening and shaping them. I liked it without them, so I just never put them back on.”
Gary made a phone call to the USA for a crate motor, a 383 Chevy small block with Vortec heads, fully dressed and ready to go. Local go-fast guys, Outlaw Speed Shop, came up with a Coan Racing-prepped Turbo 350, along with a matching 11” 2500 stall converter. The nine-inch rear runs a 3.55 limited-slip centre, and full-floating axles for peace of mind.
Scott Redden at Leepoo Chassis fabricated the exhaust, the 90-litre fuel tank, and performed what seems like 1,000 other little jobs. “Scott did a lot of work all over the car; fabrication, wiring, mechanical. In fact, he deserves the credit because he got me across the line,” says Gary thankfully, admitting that he’d dumped the project at one stage.
Custom mods continue inside with Gary installing an EK Holden dash, Ididit steering column, and a pair of bucket seats from a VP Holden Calais. We like how the dash blends into the tops of the doors and the super clean overall design. For the trimmings, Gary handed Alan O’Hara a clean slate and pretty much left the rest up to him. “I said, ‘You just do whatever you have to do.’ It all came out of his head, the whole lot. He put the swages in it, and the chrome strip in the rear, just that little bit extra to make it look nice.” He was more than chuffed with the overall result.
Back in 2012, when we interviewed Gary, he hadn’t committed to a colour, but has since chosen cream Protec two-pack, which he feels is sympathetic to a factory hue. He was also adamant that it should be a basic colour, no pearls or metallic, and admits not everyone is keen on it, but since when did that matter? Shannon Barrett deserves recognition for the flawless application.
Engineer Doug Potts had signed off on the initial build concept, but when it came time to register the van, it seems that the goal posts had moved. “When he put in the final paperwork, they rejected it,” says a frustrated Gary. “Nobody would talk to us. I had to contact my local member just to get a meeting.”
When Gary and Doug finally did get to meet with the hierarchy, they wouldn’t budge, classifying the car as an ICV (Individually Constructed Vehicle) and giving them a new list of requirements. That added around two more years and even more dollars to the project.
“We had to install indicators in the sides of the front fenders, a third brake light, and meet the emissions of a 2014-built car, among other things. Emissions are the biggest hurdle, because I didn’t want to put EFI on it; it was too late for that. I persevered and got a guy over here to rebuild and tune the Holley carb. We actually got the emissions lower than an EA Falcon, but it took a lot of money and time. The modification laws are changing, getting stricter, you go off that track and it’s an ICV.”
We got the feeling that the build had taken a toll on Gary as he rode the rollercoaster of highs and lows associated with any such project; fortunately, a quality team of craftsmen took out a few of the bumps at least, and for that he is grateful. There’s a happy ending to the tale, and with the Holden registered, Gary says it’s all water under the bridge now.
