I'm landing in melborne late december to spend a few months for a holiday and i'll be needing some wheels up to/around $3k.

As title says im looking along the lines of an EA onwards falcon/ fairmont/ fairlane /wagon (not ute), but pref EBII onwards, AIRCON is a must, LPG would be good too but not essential, not fussy if its a base model or ex taxi etc but it must be clean and tidy and extremely reliable! minor cosmetic damage ok (hail, faded paint, carpark dings etc) but i don't want a filthy old hack which has been dragged out of a paddock!

I'm a mechanic so i'm confident i can avoid buying a car with glaring problems, but im unsure of prices of this sort of vehicle in oz and also don't want to hear "oh, you didn't buy it from THAT caryard did you?" or "sheeit! i coulda got you same thing for half the price!" etc

I've had a quick look on tradingpost.com and it seems a fair budget for a reasonable vehicle but im after your input- What can i expect to get for $1500?, for $3k, am i better paying $3500 and getting an ef onwards? any caryards to steer clear of? do any of you guys have anything that might fit this description?
Any advice or ideas would be excellent......

What state (i.e. Victora, New South Wales, Quensland) are you planning to buy the car in will help

Does that help?

Yeah, Melbourne would be ideal or Bendigo is fine too.

Also are there any tricks or scams with rego etc to watch out for (ie: over here in nz its getting buyer stuck with paying overdue milage on diesel vehicles)
I understand that as long as rego is paid up then theres no ongoing roadworthy checks until its time to sell, so if i parked it up until next time i came over, as long as i kept paying rego, i could just gas her up and go? I also have heard that if you get caught with an unroadworthy car then you get shot!
What the go with having vic plates but visiting other states? time limit, permits etc?

totally ok to drive in other states with any aussie plates. only time u have a problem is once u live in the other state u have 3 months to change the rego into the other state... so yes thats correct about parking and paying rego and itll be fine. as long as u have somewhere safe to park it

oh yeh in NSW theres annual roadworthy checks so if u plan to do that u wanna find one with VIC or QLD rego.. or WA... do SA and NT have checks?

In my opinion, you should be able to find a reasonable EB Series 2, Falcon or similar for $3,000 fairly easily.
Your best bet, is to look on
www.melbournetradingpost.com.au
Have a browse, you'll get one cheaper and probably in better condition if you buy privately.
Everything people have said above is correct. As long as its not a bucket of s**t that shouldn't be on the road, the cops wont pull you up for anything. Just get it rego'd (if its not already when you buy it) will need a Roadworthy, too (again, if it hasn't been sold with one) Then just keep paying your rego, $450-500ish a year and you can use it whenever and however you feel!
If you don keep paying your rego, you'll just need to get another Roadworthy done on it. If nothings wrong they should cost anything from $60-$100 also.

Yeah, like EL XR8 said, theres a fair few EA-EB's popping up for sale now around the 3k mark.
Not that hard to find a duel fuel one either.
If they sell with roadworthy, the only other cost you're looking at is stamp duty when you transfer registration, and registration itself.
It's something like $50 for every thousand spent on vehicle for stamp duty, but check on vicroads site, cause I'm not 100% sure.
As for unroadworthiness, if it looks clean and stock, you'll be fine.

I live in South Australia.....can u explain to me what a "Roadworthy" is?

(yes thats sarcasm)

only two situations you get a roadworthy in SA,

(a) you let your rego expire for a few months, they make u roadworthy it before u can re-register it

(b) the cops bust you driving your piece of s**t, with the muffler dragging on the road throwing a trail of sparks behind you, and upon pulling you over they realise 3 of your tires have no tread, your lights are all smashed in, and you dont have a bonnet...then they defect ya, give ya a list of s**t to fix, you fix it, then get it roadworthied and off you go.

SA Great!

Look if your a Kiwi you dont have to register your car in SA, you dont have to even have a license, just outrun the keystone cops hehe...

buy my ed fairmont.
pity i'm up in qld.