ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A Betoota Heights sexagenarian claims he’s doing his utmost to sell a ZL Fairlane that’s been at the back of his four-car garage for over a year, but he’s yet to receive any realistic offers.
Retired bus driver Glenn Coleman told The Advocate that “his wife Peggy is sick of looking at that old bomb” and it needs to go.
The 68-year-old put the car on the market with a price tag that fairly reflects the true value of the piece of Australian motoring history. The thistle-green ZL Fairlane is currently on club plates but is unfortunately full of rust, and the interior is showing signs of its advanced age.
“Peg has instructed me to sell my Fairlane, so I have put it up for sale,” Coleman explained to our reporter this afternoon.
“At $56,500, it’s an absolute bargain. They don’t make these cars anymore. They don’t even make cars in Australia these days. The ZL is a museum piece. I wanted to restore it, rebuild the motor and back end. Do a full bare metal respray. Put in some new seats. But, it’s not to be.”
“She’s for sale. Tell you what, for a motivated buyer who’s going to be sympathetic in their restoration, I’ll take $55,000 cash.”
Glenn paused for a minute and smiled.
“But in the meantime, I might just push ahead with my own restoration plans. I’m thinking about taking the engine out this weekend and putting it on a tarp in the downstairs bedroom. I can pull it apart there as to not annoy Peg. I’m actually thinking about getting a reconditioned 302 and dropping it in. Or maybe a 351. Or maybe just a crate Barra? There’s a lot of options. Shame with these Fairlanes, you can’t put a dual system out the back because the fuel tank gets in the way. Well, it does with the NC. A 302 with extractors into a 2.5-inch dual system dumped out the back or under the doors would be cool,” he continued.
“Or maybe I can sort the rust out first. Or the seats. But you know, if I get $55,000 for her, I might just try and buy a rolling XC coupe shell or something like that. That’d be cool.”
Glenn’s ZL Fairlane can be found in the classified liftout of today’s print edition of The Advocate.
More to come.
