Our Touring Past

Confirmations have arrived for the Sydney NRMA Motorfest on Australia Day, 26th January 2012. This is the first time I will have attended with a van although I've been lots of times with various Vauxhalls and the MG TC so I'll look forward to meeting any Forum members who may be attending, with or without a van.

It's always been a good day, although a long one for those participating, and any time I've been its been great weather. If you have never been to one it's a good day out, heaps of vehicles the length of Macquarie Street and then some. Cars with vans will be down the Quay end as always.

Look forward to seeing some of you

George

The weather leading up to, and on the day of Motorfest this year thinned the numbers considerably. There was a good turn out all the same and it was good to see the number of Veterans remained about the same as in good weather; obviously not deterred by some rain. I find the Veterans of great interest these days and a gorgeous Stanley Steamer was my favourite this year. I’d spent a fair bit of time giving the Olympic a tidy for the day and decided we would go rain hail or shine. The forecast the night before was for showers clearing so I thought that sounded fair, after all we had the van to sit in if it rained and I was heading off to the Mitchell Library for a couple of hours as well. With no rain through the night I hooked the van on at 5.30am, went inside to get some of the tucker and it started to bucket down. It was still raining when we set off but eased and stopped soon after.

Arriving in Macquarie Street we found four vans in place so we joined the line up and a short time later a sixth van, towed by a Rolls-Royce no less, became the final van of the day.

Heading the line-up was Cobber, his FJ and Old ’36, mrfj55 with his FJ convertible and Sportsman Teardrop, Reddo with his new new FJ ute and new Supalite Cadet, ‘Old Blue’, Len Withnall from Old Bar (lot of use of the word ‘old’) with an MGBGT and home built teardrop, us with the Velox and Olympic,
and Belinda and Robert with a 1961 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II and 1950 Atlantic caravan. Unfortunately the Roller’s paint didn’t match the van so hopefully in the future its nice original paint will be replaced with pink and white to match the van

A nice touch on Reddo’s van is a Caravan Club of Australia plate. There were a few showers during the day and the vans all got more than their fair share of attention from the crowds. I found there was a lot of tapping on the Olympic to see what it is made of and despite the sign lots of people asking how old it was. I didn’t realise the sign had fallen down but I don’t think it would make any difference. A common remark about the Olympic was that it seemed very modern compared to the bondwoods, I don’t see much difference apart from the material they are made of, but I guess other people perceive things differently. No one said they had ever owned an Olympic but someone had just bought a new one for about $67k!! One gent got talking about an old Don he had owned years ago, an ex circus van but it was falling to bits and he gave it to a mate who eventually dumped it. His father had built a few vans and sold them and he promised to send some photos of them.

All in all I thought it was a good day despite (and maybe because) it was down in numbers. Macquarie Street is a great venue for this event, we had a wander down a few streets and there are some great old buildings in the area down to the Quay. It is an outing to put on you calendar even if you only take the train in for a look about.
Unfortunately Richard couldn’t make it this year.

These photos of the vans were taken early before the crowds got in the way, I should have taken one later to show how well they were received.

George

Hi George.
Thanks for the photos. It looks as though you all had a great day even though the weather was a bit iffy.

It always takes a bit of effort to get to motorfest, early morning start and a drive through Sydney, but it is all worth it when you see the number of people that take an interest in the old caravans, and the endless line of people that you chat to for most of the day with their stories and memories of historic caravans.

It was also fantastic to see several members from ourtouringpast.com there.

Hi George and Richard.
Thanks for putting up the photos and your account of the day at NRMA Motorfest 2012.
Always a big day out and this year was no different.
Bit of a challenge driving the FJ ute to sydney wednesaday arvo in torrential rain.

Vacumn wipers giving stirling service... down hill. and ... doing absolutely nothing going up hill.

Had an uneventfull run home. 2 hours from Macquarie st , Sydney back to Barnsley which included a 15 min stop at Ourimbah rest area. .
Seen a lot of the cars that where at motorfest heading back up the F3 on the way home.
I beeped and waved to most of them as they overtook me ... most gave a wave back.

Some didnt ..... i suspect they totally despise old wobbly caravans even being on the road.

They dont know what they are missing out on the poor souls.

Regards
Reddo

Too true Reddo, poor souls, hopefully no Clarkson and Co among them trying to do you a mischief at least
Here's a couple more photos, the taxi I'd not seen before and was quite eye catching. The vintage Hupmobile would look great with an old lantern roof van behind it and no doubt has plenty of grunt to shift it along. The Prefect, well, I'm not a Ford man although I could be persuaded with a big Aussie proper Ford, but when in the company of 'she who must be obeyed', Prefects have to be photographed. She learnt to drive in one, might explain a lot of things And that oil spill, who would have thought one little Austin, I think it was, could hold so much oil and require a HAZMAT team to clear it up

The Obelisk is off Bridge Street in Macquarie Place and is the original point from which the State mileages were determined. I don't know if that is still the case, I have a feeling it may have changed to the G.P.O. at some stage, at least a lot of distances were quoted from there, it might have just been a bit easier than 'from the obelisk in Macquarie Place.' George