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AN AUTOMOTIVE ATARI 2600, DAVID DOWLING'S 'SATNAV' FC HOLDEN WAS ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF SHOW-CAR TECHNOLOGY IN THE EARLY 90s

- STORY SIMON MAJOR

TO SOME, this FC might look to be a clean, crisp early Holden sporting nice wheels - and they wouldn't be wrong. But those of us with a nostalgic lust for history and number plates will know this car as much more than that. David Dowling's FC Holden, which we featured way back in the March 1994 issue of SM, was at the forefront of automotive technological innovation for its time. Those number plates weren't kidding - this car was equipped with satellite navigation.

Of course, sat nav is something we take for granted these days - even the dumbest of mobile phones has the ability to point you in the right direction and keep you there. But in an era when young blokes had to sneak a peek at The Picture mag to see some rude bits, a car equipped with sat nav was just about unheard of.

David created the tech-laden FC with his brothers Neil, Gavin and Damien. The plan was simple enough: build a mostly stock-looking 1958 Holden jammed full of the latest in 1990s technology. The Brothers Dowling wanted it to feature a fully digital electronic interior, so they bought a written-off ZL Fairlane - then itself only a few years old - and started surgery.

The Fairlane interior was cut-and-shut to fit, and sported all of the big Fairs mod-cons, such as central locking, power windows, air conditioning and the 'Star Wars' digital instruments. And it wasn't just the fancy 'leccy stuff either; the Fairlane seats, door hardware and tilt steering column found their way into the FC, along with the dash and centre console.