My god, look at that hair. This is a dusty EK Holden I found in a shed out in western NSW. The engine was seized because someone did an oil change and forgot to put the sump plug back in. I removed the dud engine in a paddock using a rope over a strong tree branch. Can't imagine doing that now. I found an old FB Holden with the same 161 cu grey motor, on a farm in a nearby hamlet. I towed it brakeless, with old tyres strung along the tow rope to buffer any stops. Got back to the paddock and did an engine swap over the next day or so.
I went to a the nearest wreckers, which was hundreds of ks away, picked up some chrome wheels for the front and a better radiator and a few other bits and bobs. She cleaned up well. Sadly though, the FB motor had a leaking welsh plug between the engine and auto-transmission, rusty water dribbling out between the casings. The whole unit had to be pulled out so I could replace the 20 cent plug. Arrggrrrhhh. Gee she scrubbed up well though.
Below is a blue FB Holden I drove from Melbourne to Sydney with a mate in the early 80's. It had a blown head gasket and we made frequent stops for it to cool down on our journey. Re-filling it with water and carrying on, we eventually made it to Bondi, the only suburb I knew the name of. I wonder where these two old Holdens are now?
Hey I took that photo in Mendooran (pop 400) in 1985. We borrowed a block and tackle from the blokes in the pub across the road then caned their arses at pool that night 😜😘
One doesn't forget those incidents. I did that engine swap once in someone's front yard but the spline between to tranny and engine was a few teeth different. Took four hours of ranting before I finally called a friend who spotted it straight away.