My 1960 Holden FB

Our own Jack Brabham had just been crowned world F1 champion and would repeat the feat later that year, the first Ford Falcon went on sale and the very first Armstrong 500 (now the Bathurst 1000) and Australian Touring Car Championship (now the V8Supercar championship) were held.

Over at Holden things were even better where it was dominating the market. More than 50 per cent of all cars sold in Australia in 1960 were Holdens, new plants were opening and the first left-hand-drive Holdens were made for export to Hawaii.  The face of Holden at this never-to-be-repeated peak for the company was the all-new FB model with its large rear fins, wraparound windscreen and the first acrylic paints.

More than 170,000 FBs were made. Fast forward 50 years and the ravages of rust, crashes and time have written off more than 165,000 of them.  Sydney guitar shop owner Steve Jackson says there's barely 5000 left. But he's doing his bit. He and his six children own a whopping 36 FBs and the next year model upgrade version, the EK.

On Sunday they will be taking 14 of them out to Clarendon to help celebrate the 25th All Holden Day. Thousands of fans will be at the Hawkesbury Showground where organisers expect more than 700 Holdens of various vintages to be on display. There's a swap meet tomorrow and Sunday as well.

The day has a special meaning for Jackson and the FB pictured in Carsguide today.  He bought it at the 1989 All-Holden Day.

"It had come from the original owner's family. She was a bank manager or a bank auditor who travelled around the banks in NSW."  The car came complete with extensive documents of every service and many of the trips the original owner made in her time with the car.

When he bought it had 78,000 miles on the clock. That's now up to 130,000 though the car spends much of its time in storeage.  However he keeps it registered so he can continue to use the original number plates.

Jackson is the president and longest-standing member of the FB/EK car club of NSW.  He says he came into contact with the FB model at an early age and his fondness has grown into an obsession.

"I have been obsessed with the shape. My uncle bought one as new in 1960."  He has a large FB van on the sign outside his Parramatta Rd shop and has used FB panel vans as delivery vehicles.

"I bought my first Holden at 14 or 13. It wasn't an FB, it was a HD Holden. I came out from school and it was across the road for sale for $30. I bought it much to my dad's horror." 

Despite its big sales the FB has over the years been in the shadows of the 1961 EK that replaced it. The EK introduced the first automatic transmission in a Holden, better quality interior trim and more modern paintschemes.  More have survived.  "More women drove the EK because of the autos," Jackson says. 

The rarest FBs are the panel vans, Jackson estimates that only five per cent of the FB run were vans and only a handful remain.  Also rare are the cars made in the first six months of 1960 - those without the acryclic paintwork. When Holden changed over, the actual shades of colour were different.

So some of the early two-tone shades such as pink and grey and yellow and beige are the collectable ones.  The FBs will be joined by another retro classic at the show, the hot purple Holden Efijy show car that was debuted at the Sydney motor show in 2005.

The hot rod has since won major awards. Holden now occasionally brings it for car shows.