Gippsland Sporting and Classic Car Register

Monday, 13^th June?and it didn?t rain! Well, pretty much so. The Warragul Harness Racing Club, via SR member Steve Austen, had invited us to attend their Queen?s Birthday race day, and to display our classic cars, which we did quite successfully. We had 48 members attend, bringing 29 cars, arranged in our own segregated display area. Vehicles ranged from Kombis to Mini; Jags to Chargers; Riley to BWMs, modern to older; and so forth ? a wonderfully varied group.

Lunch was a sit-down affair with a wonderful view across the track. The kitchen was somewhat overwhelmed by the numbers present so meals were some time arriving, but that gave more opportunity for socialising and wandering back outside to check out the cars, or off to the stables to see the horses. Some of our members had a dabble on the horses, but there were no reports of any windfall.

The $500 prize for ?best/desirable? car on display went to Richard and Joy Kaden, for their Charger 770. This is a quite incredible car as Richard was telling me it was 99% original ? he has replaced the exhaust system ? otherwise as he bought it. It is a straight, glossy vehicle with period fittings, and surprisingly, an almost-pristine white upholstery! A ?door? prize of a night?s accommodation was also won by Grace and Rod Smith, who attended the day in their lovely MGTC.

The outing was very successful, and the WHRC seemed thankful to have such a good turnout from our club. Perhaps we could do this again another time?

(NOTE: the photo with the ladies at the stables could be captioned: ‘Five fine fillies.’ This is probably preferable to the suggestion of ‘Five nags’ which is totally rude and won’t be mentioned here.)

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Not a great day for being outdoors, but around 30 hardy souls demonstrated their contempt for the elements by discarding the heater for a wind-blown, drizzly car park this morning. We had the usual interesting diverse collection ranging from Trevor’s Thunderbird down to an X1/9; from several Mercedes coupes (must have good-fitting roofs!) to a 500hp Falcon to VW, Jags, a number of MX-5s; and one of my favourites – a SAAB Aero.

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A couple of keen members drove their sporting vehicles to our meeting and parked them outside the function centre, on display as it were, This would have been nice had it not been for the fact that without daylight saving, darkness now descends from around 6:30pm.

Inside the function centre, our group which numbered about 30, enjoyed a lovely two-course meal, served up between the usual meeting business with reports and discussions on past and coming events. Following dessert, Ian introduced our guest, Martin Paoli who had brought along his immaculate 1948/49 Ford F100 ute to display in the dining room.

Martin is a member of the West Gippsland Restorers? Club and confesses to being a car nut, having previously owned an early Monaro, a GT Falcon and an SLR 5000 Torana. The F100 came into his life about six years ago. It was in a sorry state, but included all the bits and pieces to make it complete. However, there was substantial rust and many panels, including the floor had to be replaced with new ones from the USA. The tub is not standard, but a customised unit typical of the period. Martin?s rebuilding project took three years during which the chassis was boxed and strengthened to cope with the 351 Cleveland 2V engine which sports a 600 Holley carb, an auto transmission and the independent Jaguar rear end. The ute also features, power steering, heating and air conditioning, and Jaguar front disc brakes. The interior is spartan, but the seats have been resprung and fitted with new leather covers. Martin assures us that the underneath is just as clean and well-presented as the outside, which is painted in Aston Martin Tungsten Silver. He is pleased with the way the car drives and performs, and enjoys taking it out on cruises and to local gatherings.

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