Around forty-five members and friends attended our dinner meeting this month. Table service replaced the usual buffet and we enjoyed either Chicken Kiev or a Seafood Basket with salad, followed by a selection of deserts.
With Ron away this month, Ray Youlden stepped up to chair this meeting and did so with his usual aplomb disposing efficiently of the regular business before introducing Peter Waghorn whose 1969 ZC Fairlane had taken prime position on the dining room floor.
The Z-series Fairlanes, which were introduced in 1967 with the ZA, were Australian-developed, luxury, long-wheelbase versions of the mainstream Falcon. They were built at the Broadmeadows plant north of Melbourne and the ZC like Peter?s, was the second last of the series which ended after the ZD in 1972. Peter has owned the Fairlane for 22 years, but in 2001 he undertook an extensive restoration of the car which included replacing rusted body sections, fitting new sills, a couple of door skins and a full respray in the original Harmony Grey.
According to Peter, the 302ci V8-engined Fairlane drives like a block of flats and you don?t talk about fuel economy. Having rarely driven the car at night, it was a struggle tonight for Peter to remember the switchgear in the dark. Since its restoration, the Fairlane doesn?t get driven in the rain, so I?m not sure if it stayed overnight at the Golf Club or made a dash home between the showers which were present as the meeting wound up. Thank you to Peter for presenting his car so well at this month?s meeting.
