Your host
It was with Craig’s first pay packet as a journalist with the small-town Collie Mail newspaper in regional WA, that he bought an FE Holden in dire need of some love and attention. Over the course of the next 20 years he sourced parts from paddocks and collectors across the country, eventually restoring it to the immaculate condition in which it now revels.
Although a native of Perth, Perth Vintage Tours and Events proprietor and host Craig Francis has lived and travelled extensively throughout the world. Craig has an impressive background in international media, having worked as online editor and senior journalist for CNN in Europe and Asia and for major daily newspapers in the UK, Middle East, Hong Kong and Australia. A highlight of Craig’s career was his involvement in the launch of CNN.com Asia, during a ten-year stint in Hong Kong. His earlier years at university and backpacking through the US, Europe and South America were funded by hospitality work in pubs, hotels and restaurants.
As someone who has worked and engaged with people and issues around the world, Craig brings intelligence, humour and amicability – not to mention an intimate knowledge of his home town – to each tour he hosts.
On the Road
Fully restored and in pristine condition, ‘Fe’ is a classic piece of Australian automotive history. The 1958 FE Holden is an iconic Australian motor vehicle and offers the perfect way to discover Perth in Aussie style. She is arguably the best example of this model of vehicle in Western Australia today.
Her classic appearance is complemented by modern conveniences such as heating, air conditioning, radio/stereo/mp3 and electronic device charging.
Reliable, comfortable and elegant, Fe adds a photogenic new dimension to holiday snaps and social media uploads.
For the technically-minded, Fe’s powerhouse is a reliable 141 cubic inch original ‘grey motor’, which comfortably cruises at Perth’s top speed limit of 110km/hr. The curvaceous body was built in Adelaide, South Australia, before the car crossed the vast and barren Nullarbor Plain by rail and was licensed in Western Australia. The two toned opal-fleck green body was rebuilt and painted in 2013. The interior was fully restored in 2016, with new bench seats, upholstery and tailored ceiling lining in original Holden material print, concluding a restoration process that began when the vehicle was purchased in 1995.
On the water
Travel in style along Perth’s majestic Swan River on our partner’s ten-seater speed cruiser. Another Australian classic, the Matrix Expression offers a luxuriously fitted interior, with music and storage for cold drinks to be enjoyed on delightful river cruise.
Powered by a 350 cubic inch Chevrolet V8 in-board engine, the 2007-model watercraft is as equally at home taking in the sights with your learned guide and driver at a leisurely five knots, as it is powering skiers and wakeboarders.