Here is a selection of pictures taken at the well attended Wheels 2014 display put on by Canberra's car clubs on Sunday, March 16. Despite cold and blustery conditions hundreds of car enthusiasts turned out with their vehicles and thousands more took the time to appreciate some of the rare, exotic and just plain interesting machinery that is to be found in the National Capital. A highlight was the presence of numerous overseas Rolls Royce Silver Ghosts currently visiting Australia for their international tour. ``Eleanor'', a very special car restored by a Canberran, was unveiled at the event. Her story is told at length elsewhere on this website.
Much of the attention at this year’s Wheels, Canberra’s annual display of cars, motorbikes and other vehicles staged by the city state’s plethora of car clubs and motoring associations, centred on Eleanor, the ``Spirit of Ecstasy’’ Rolls Royce Silver Ghost restored by Ian Irwin.
Many other bonnet mascots featured on cars on display were just as impressive however.
A rare locally-owned Bugatti sportscar bore a brass ``three wise monkeys’’ above its radiator cap and a 1950s Bentley showcased a stunning version of the winged B.
A Kermit-green Morgan three-wheeler, one of the rarest `cars’ at the show, was almost dwarfed by the egret it was carrying and there were various iterations of the R-R silver lady everywhere you turned.
My favourite, and one you would never get away with today, was the massively phallic leaping cat that graced a 1950s Jaguar 3.5. This would have to be the ultimate attack weapon against recalcitrant cyclists and pedestrians I suggest.
(Originally published in The Canberra Times)
A sole vintage caravan was tucked up the back of Kings Park at Wheels on Sunday.
This was disappointing really. I would have expected more given the attention paid to classic vanning during the recent centenary year when the celebration of the long weekend and the participation of a number of vans in the Canberra centenary rally threw a spotlight on a very popular Canberran pastime.
The Wheels caravan was a particularly rare example of the vintage breed. The 1964 Valiant 15 footer (that’s 4.6 metres in the new money Gladys) is proudly owned by Narrabundah’s Dave Sullivan.
Mr Sullivan, a ``mobile caravan repairman’’, has been hooked on the homes on wheels for most of his life.
This little showpiece, which is dwarfed by the plastic fantastics that now clog our highways and byways, instantly evokes a simpler age when you didn’t demand to be able to take it (all) with you.
That said, unlike many modern mobile homes, the Valiant is sheathed in a 2mm thick aluminium hide that can take the odd knock and scrape without suffering catastrophic damage.
Mr Sullivan has polished his and the effect is much more striking than the powdercoated finishes that came to dominate the Australian industry from the 1970s on. Ribbed for additional strength, the semi-matt panels make more sense than highly polished and mirror finished panels fitted to the phenomenally expensive American airstreams.
Because of their bulk, caravans were never a cost effective import item and, as a result, by the 1960s a strong Australian manufacturing industry had emerged to cater for a country that was enjoying a boom and wanted to explore the great beyond.
Valiant (no relation to the car) was a relatively small player in a market dominated by firms such as Millard, Viscount and the like.
Mr Sullivan tows his with either the 1964 EH Holden wagon he had at Wheels on Sunday or an immaculate 1969 VF Valiant Regal 770 fitted with the 318 Fireball V8.
He and the EH go back a long way.
``It is a family heirloom,’’ he said. ``Mum and Dad bought it as a low mileage second hand car in 1970. It is hard to believe it is turning 50.’’
That is just two years younger than its owner who makes his living breathing new life back into other peoples’ ``pride and joys’’.
``You get to work on anything and everything,’’ he said. ``To work with caravans you need to cross a lot of different areas and have a working knowledge of all trades.
``Jobs can be for anything from fixing an awning to a complete rebuild. The other day I was working on a van worth $95,000.’’
Asked if he would rather a van like that than his Valiant which is valued at less than a 10th of that amount, Mr Sullivan says ``No. I like old vans the most. They remind us of another time. They are part of our collective memory.’’
And his work? ``Caravan people are the nicest people,'' he said. ``I think it is because of the holiday association.''
This was disappointing really. I would have expected more given the attention paid to classic vanning during the recent centenary year when the celebration of the long weekend and the participation of a number of vans in the Canberra centenary rally threw a spotlight on a very popular Canberran pastime.
The Wheels caravan was a particularly rare example of the vintage breed. The 1964 Valiant 15 footer (that’s 4.6 metres in the new money Gladys) is proudly owned by Narrabundah’s Dave Sullivan.
Mr Sullivan, a ``mobile caravan repairman’’, has been hooked on the homes on wheels for most of his life.
This little showpiece, which is dwarfed by the plastic fantastics that now clog our highways and byways, instantly evokes a simpler age when you didn’t demand to be able to take it (all) with you.
That said, unlike many modern mobile homes, the Valiant is sheathed in a 2mm thick aluminium hide that can take the odd knock and scrape without suffering catastrophic damage.
Mr Sullivan has polished his and the effect is much more striking than the powdercoated finishes that came to dominate the Australian industry from the 1970s on. Ribbed for additional strength, the semi-matt panels make more sense than highly polished and mirror finished panels fitted to the phenomenally expensive American airstreams.
Because of their bulk, caravans were never a cost effective import item and, as a result, by the 1960s a strong Australian manufacturing industry had emerged to cater for a country that was enjoying a boom and wanted to explore the great beyond.
Valiant (no relation to the car) was a relatively small player in a market dominated by firms such as Millard, Viscount and the like.
Mr Sullivan tows his with either the 1964 EH Holden wagon he had at Wheels on Sunday or an immaculate 1969 VF Valiant Regal 770 fitted with the 318 Fireball V8.
He and the EH go back a long way.
``It is a family heirloom,’’ he said. ``Mum and Dad bought it as a low mileage second hand car in 1970. It is hard to believe it is turning 50.’’
That is just two years younger than its owner who makes his living breathing new life back into other peoples’ ``pride and joys’’.
``You get to work on anything and everything,’’ he said. ``To work with caravans you need to cross a lot of different areas and have a working knowledge of all trades.
``Jobs can be for anything from fixing an awning to a complete rebuild. The other day I was working on a van worth $95,000.’’
Asked if he would rather a van like that than his Valiant which is valued at less than a 10th of that amount, Mr Sullivan says ``No. I like old vans the most. They remind us of another time. They are part of our collective memory.’’
And his work? ``Caravan people are the nicest people,'' he said. ``I think it is because of the holiday association.''
This beautiful NSU Ro80 is owned by Murray from MB Spares (the Cadillac Elvis we featured on the Canberra Centenary Rally page). The car is in beautiful condition inside and out and is completely original. If only they had made it with a good conventional engine (say a small six) it would have been very serious competition for Mercedes and BMW. According to my 1968 Observer's Book of Automobiles the world's first production rotary car had an NSU/Wankel twin rotor engine that pumped out 113 bhp and delivered a 112 mile per hour (180km/h) top speed. At 15 foot eight inches long and five foot nine inches wide it was fractionally smaller than DS21 Citroen.
This stunning Bristol 403 two-door saloon, which would have been built around 1950, bettered the Jensen's top speed and wasn't far behind the XK120 despite the apparent handicap of making do with a 2000cc engine. That engine was pretty special, it was an updated version of the pre-war BMW 328 motor that had been allocated to Bristol (also a famous plane maker) as war reparations. The 1971cc motor had overhead valves and a unique ``cross pushrod'' design. It is frequently mistakenly referred to as a DOHC motor. The first Bristol to use this engine was the 400 which was released in 1946. The 401 came out in 1949 and Tony Crook, the racing driver who was to later buy the company, set a one hour speed record of 105 mph (about 170km/h) in one in 1951. Built to aircraft standards, Bristols sold on quality of craftsmanship, superb design and performance. Acceleration was on a par with the Jensen Interceptor but top speed was fractionally higher.
Magnificent is the only word to describe this early 1950s Jaguar 3.5 litre (a Mark V I believe). It is one of the last cars before the advent of XK DOHC engine and a direct link to the pre-war heritage. The engine is an adaptation of a six-cylinder Standard unit which dated back to before the war. This body was replaced by the much sleeker Mk VII in the early 1950s which used the same DOHC 3.4 litre engine found in the XK120.
According to Wikipedia:
The Mark V was launched at the 1948 London Motor Show at the same time as the XK120, with which it shared a stand. However, the Mark V vastly outsold the XK120 by roughly 5,000 cars per year as compared to 2,000 cars per year for the XK120. While the XK120 had a new overhead-camshaft XK engine, the Mark V retained the 1936 driveline including the "Jaguar" overhead-valve pushrod straight-6 2½L and 3½L units for which the company was renamed after the war. No 1½L version was offered. Claimed power output in this application was 104 bhp (78 kW) for the 2664 cc Mark V and 126 bhp (94 kW) for its more popular 3486 cc sibling.[3] The chassis was new with independent front suspension by double wishbones and torsion bar, an arrangement that would be used by Jaguar for many future vehicles. It also had hydraulic brakes, which Jaguar had been slow to adopt compared to other manufacturers, and an all pressed steel body.
The styling of the car followed prewar SS-Jaguar lines with upright chrome grille and the leaping Jaguar radiator cap mascot became available as an option. There is a distinct hint of the recently modernised Bentley look in the style of the front grill.[3]
The wheels were 16-inch (410 mm) steel-disc type, significantly smaller than the 18-inch (460 mm) ones on the MK IV. From the side, a distinctive styling touch was a "tuck in" curve at the base of the rear window following the curved profile of the side glass. Rear-wheel spats (fender skirts) were standard. There was also a drophead coupé version which is now highly sought after.
A 3.5 litre car tested by The Motor magazine in 1949 had a top speed of 90.7 mph (146.0 km/h) and could accelerate from 0–60 mph (97 km/h) in 20.4 seconds. Jaguar's inimitable test engineer Norman Dewis used a Mark V regularly. Recently asked about the top speed he saw in his car, he commented that he verified 90 mph once, but the thrill of the moment did not encourage repeating the feat. A fuel consumption of 18.2 miles per imperial gallon (15.5 L/100 km; 15.2 mpg-US) was recorded. The test car cost £1263 including taxes.[2]