This magazine page is to post pictures, stories and news worthy articles regarding the outings of the CLASSIC MOTORING CLUB of WAGGA WAGGA.

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20/03/22

A DAY AT THOMAS’S FARM

Classic motoring club run to The Rock to visit the Thomas’s farm .We checked out the beautiful old Shearing shed built in 1905 and what grand old shed it Is.

Club members enjoyed morning tea inside the shed and then explored the surrounds consisting of machinery bric-a-brac a great morning shared by all

Thanks Leanne and Mark for the interesting visit

After a short drive back to The Rock Thanks John for organising lunch .

Sue Nelson

05/03/2022

QUICK ACTION, INGENUITY, AND A GREAT VENUE: THE GANMAIN TRUCK SHOW.

Like those sudden lockdowns when somebody coughed, the Lockhart Truck Show was cancelled only two days before the event. Only this wasn’t Covid – the Lockhart Show Committee feared rain. So sympathy to those of you who didn’t hear in time and journeyed into the wilderness for a no-show.

BUT – enter our very own ACTION MAN, Tony Elliott. With a polished Blitz ready to go, and incensed that there was nothing at Lockhart, Tony quickly rang around.

So with only a couple of days notice, Tony quickly had the Ganmain Show Society on side. On Saturday 5th March, the Ganmain Truck Show was born. While Wagga was experiencing unprecedented rainfall. (a little ABC-style exaggeration here!), Ganmain was presenting a lovely cool, dry day – ideal for a show.

To get a show under way at short notice in Ganmain was all the more remarkable because Tony had to work alone. Normally Stewart Winrow would have been there with phone numbers, email addresses and personal contacts, but Stewart was recuperating in Wagga Base.

Next year? A truck show can’t be an on-off affair. Particularly with trucks, entrants have to have travel time. The venue has to be a rain, hail or shine place. There has to be a viable alternative site if the official site becomes soaked or boggy in the days leading up to the show. Ganmain, with its wide, lightly trafficked streets, could offer several such in-town roadside sites, with Council approval.

So congratulations, Tony. Lockhart has forfeited, so where can we go from here?

Keith Wheeler.

Photos by Tony Elliott

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27/02/2022

Marah Coffee run.
A very pleasant cruise To Marrar in Terry and Sue’s Valiant, Countryside is looking very healthy ,crops have been harvested now getting ready for autumn and winter crops. After coffee and chat at the coffee shop we visited Ann and Graham‘s place which was of great interest to everybody

Sue Nelson

Photos by Sue Nelson

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15/02/202

PLENTY TO SEE AT THE BEECHCROFT VINEYARD AT WALLA WALLA.

An invitation to join the Morgan Car Club at Walla Walla on a Tuesday seemed like a good excuse to give the Valiant a long run after so long hiding in the Covid shed. My son-in-law Jim has been wanting to drive the Valiant for a while, and I wanted him to have a go at stopping the car with the handbrake only, without family passengers in the car.These days, cars with single-master-cylinder brakes worry me. During my long driving career I have only had one brake failure incident, but it was scary. On the Hume Highway in about 1967, just south of the steep Jugiong Hill, the slow traffic snaking down the other side suddenly stopped.

In front of me was a tray-truck. The brake pedal of the EK Holden hit the floor. I dived left as I slammed on the handbrake. I had a car load of young ladies, passengers from Tumbarumba that had gone to Sydney with me that weekend. I used the excuse that I was not chancing skidding under the truck, and no-one noticed me using the handbrake for the rest of the journey, except my front seat passenger, who luckily was calm enough to say nothing – until we arrived in Tumbarumba.
Anyway, we headed for Walla Walla, along the Holbrook Road. We had a few practices at stopping from full speed – a scary experience if you haven’t driven a non-power-assisted, drum brake car for a while. Then a couple of stops with just the handbrake. I hope that situation never arises, but with practice over, it was cruising speed to Walla Walla.

We arrived early at Dawn and John Beechcrofts’ vineyard. They are friends and relatives of Ray and Yvonne Murray, who in turn are relatives of Ray Browne, who had accumulated a wonderful collection of stuff at his property Myall, near Lockhart.

Ray Browne is long gone, but when I was at the school in Lockhart, the whole school had several visits to Ray’s very entertaining property. A star attraction was his steam engine that powered the woodshed via a long belt from the steam engine to a shaft that ran the length of the shed.
Ray also had some old cars, which of course were his everyday cars at that time. His 1954 Customline is now at the Beechcrofts in fully restored condition. So is his Ford Prefect, and his Anglia utility which was a regular visitor to Lockhart’s main street.
The cars were on display along the roadside, along with some of the Morgan Club’s cars, so we chatted with the Morgan group while we waited for the special guests to arrive. We were not disappointed – some quite exotic cars were in the group, including a Daimler sports car, of a type I had never seen before. Unfortunately the Covid scare had reduced expected numbers.
In a shed on the property is a wonderful military display, mostly from Ray Browne’s collection, I suspect. But as well as farm stuff there are other cars, too. As you may gather, I am hinting that this is a very interesting property.A lovely morning tea was provided, but since the hint had been given that the local cafe couldn’t cater for such a large lunchtime crowd, we chatted until everyone was driving away, and, once we were in the car, my son-in-law suggested that we turn left and take a longer drive. So we did, lunching in Howlong, wandering through Albury, then back roads home.
Oh, dear! Too much Covid holiday! The exhaust flap had seized in the “choke” position. No wonder the engine looked hot. So, with some patient soaking with WD40, and gentle tapping, the Valiant is breathing freely again.

Our cars, and us, all need a long run now and then.

Keith Wheeler

A “barn find” De Soto that has recently joined the Morgan Club

Photos by Keith Wheeler

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14/11/2021

Classic motoring club run to Gundagai visiting the old Gundagai jail ,truck museum ,lunch at the Crichton hotel then on to see the bridge that is no more. The old jail was built in 1860 thanks to Shirley for an informative talk ,the most infamous prisoners were four members of Captain moonlights gang Andrew Scott (captain moonlight) Graham Bennett ,Thomas Rogan and Thomas Williams it closed as a holding cell in the late 70s . Eighteen club members had a great lunch at the Criterion hotel .After lunch it was onto the truck museum to check out the big heavy hardware in the shed thanks to the organisers for a great day had by all

Sue Nelson

Photos by Sue Nelson

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24/10/2021 Morning coffee at the Beckwith’s

I was a bit busy to get around to photograph all the people and cars. 14 in all with great weather. Chilly breeze but the sun made up for it.

Photos Trevor Beckwith

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17/10/2021 Run to Boree Creek and Urana.

Covid hibernation hasn’t been kind to anyone, but we’ve done very much better than most. No-one in our club has had Covid. We’ve been able to get out on several local runs, and even for a weekend to Deniliquin.
So starting with a large mix of vehicles, old and modern, we spread out as we headed west on the Sturt Highway. A mystery run so far – we knew that we were going to lunch in Urana, but the further we drove, the more some of us thought that we were going via Adelaide!
And it maybe was going to be that way until our tour leader decided that a rapid halt before we reached the SA border would be a good idea. Our planned route turned out to include a dirt road!
My Valiant was champing at the bit, because with my grandkids I’ve been exploring dirt lanes north of Coolamon, and the Valiant has been having a wonderful time. But I digress. Just as my enthusiasm reached its peak, we turned and headed up a more civilised road.
We last went to Boree Creek when Tim Fischer was alive, so that’s well before Covid. A train was parked in the yards with historic rail enthusiasts, and of course Tim was there.

The well-prepared in our group picnicked in Tim’s memorial park. Others, including me, headed for the pub in the hope of good coffee, which was served with a helping of entertaining conversation. Apparently a good way to start a fight in Boree Creek is to talk about masks and Covid-19 restrictions.
The picnic area at Urana is rather beautiful. The cabins on one side of the car park hint at good crowds in season, and the very full lake looked restful. “Plenty of fish out there,” a local told us. He was unhitching a home-made boat from a purpose-built sidecar on his vintage BSA. The boat was launched and he motored away.
So lunch, and conversation, and walking along the bank with no-one falling in. It occurred to me that we didn’t have any kids with us on this occasion, which included my car. My grandkids were lapping up visiting mates that the end of Covid-19 restrictions was allowing, so no passengers.

The boat returned just after we finished lunch. A small group of us gathered to watch the boat winched onto the side car. Before leaving, our new vintage bike mate asked if anyone had seen a Beaufort.
“I only live 300 metres down the road,” he said, “I’ll be back.” And sure enough, in came this long, 1930’s style immaculate car. Apparently Beaufort produced these kit cars in the early 1970s, this one with a Nissan motor, Cortina front end, and so on.

Time to move on, so we assembled outside the old Court House where an art exhibition was in full swing. The Court House also harbours many historical items and artifacts. Urana has lost its Council, but on a nice sunny day with people playing bowls and a few locals moving about it looks alive – much more so than the freezing morning in July when we were heading for Deniliquin.
Another great day out, and with restrictions easing even more, hopefully these trips will return to normal – very important if your car has been in hibernation – and even more important if your car will be going across the plains to the Bay to Birdwood in 2022!

Keith Wheeler