Melbourne's Australia Day car display

[johnh875]

Each year there is a display of historic cars in central Melbourne on Australia Day on January 26th, which is a public holiday. The last few years it has been in the King's Domain park just south of the city across the Yarra River. There were hundreds of cars on display, mainly from the various car clubs, and some of which would have been having their sole outing for the year!

I have uploaded my photos to my Fotopic album, and I plan to link some images for a few of the more interesting cars - when I get the chance! The actual event was a month ago, so I thought if I at least link the album it will be a start...

Link: http://gallery123720.fotopic.net/c1216913.html

Marques I have photos of include:
Alvis, Aquila Italiana, Ariel, Armstrong Siddeley, Aston Martin, Austin (newest being an Atlantic), Bayliss Thomas, Benelli m/c, Bentley, Borgward, Bristol, BSA car, Buick, Cadillac, Chev, Chrysler, Citroen, Daimler, Datsun, De Soto, DKW, Dodge, Fabrique Nationale, Fargo, Foden, Ford (newest 1964), Hillman, Holden, Humber, Hupmobile, Jaguar, Jeep, Lamborghini, Lancia, Leyland, Lincoln, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury, MG, Morgan, Morris, Nash, Nissan, NSU, Oldsmobile, Opel, Packard, Pierce Arrow, Plymouth, Porsche, Rambler, Renault, Riley, Rover, Rolls Royce, Singer, Standard, Studebaker, Talbot, Trojan, Vauxhall, Volvo and Willys.

Let me know if there is any car you would like more info about - I certainly don't know everything about everything, but I'm not completely useless Got to keep telling myself that

[John Turner]

John, fantastic stuff. Lots of interest and nostalgia. I'd be interested in many of them, but why don't you pick out, say, 6 of your favourites, post the pics here and tell us about them? Might get some discussion going then.

[johnh875]

Good idea John.

Many of the cars people will be familiar with, eg Aston DB5, 1959 Cadillac etc, and a lot of the prewar cars I don’t know much about, luckily they have radiator badges and/or hubcaps! Or occasionally info sheets – such as the first car:

1926 Rolls Royce Phantom 1

This car was owned by the legendary bookmaker Solomon Green. It was rebodied in 1933 by local coachbuilders Martin & King, and unfortunately the original stored body was lost in a fire that destroyed the premises. While the car itself is very original and has a wonderful patina, the story of its owner is more interesting. Sol Green arrived in Victoria at age 17 with sixpence in his pocket and went on to become the biggest bookmaker in the country, running a mail order doubles book that advertised nationally. In 1907 he took a bet of £1000 at 100 to 1 on a double of the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, the two biggest races in the country. Both horses won, and the bet was paid in full the next morning – such was the size of his business that he “only” lost £20,000 on those races. In the 1930s and 40s he became famous for philanthropy before dying in 1947. (from the information in the car’s window)

1951 Ford utility

This is a direct descendant of one of the unique Australian vehicles, the ute or as the first examples were named the “coupe utility”. It started with a farmer’s wife writing a letter to Ford in 1932 asking if they could build a car that they could drive to church on Sunday and take the pigs to market in on Monday – the vehicles of the time were normally open top and uncomfortable (see photo of a 1936 British Bedford below). The photo shows the coupe part of the name was apt, it is not the basic square, chopped-off cabin – the back window actually has double-curvature (top-to-bottom as well as side-to-side). The tray extends under the back window, leaving a parcel shelf.


As you can see, it became virtually compulsory for ute versions of sedans to be made. Below: Standard Vanguard, Vauxhall, Morris, Mercedes 170, Holden and a big vintage (~1927) Chrysler pickup


Leyland P76

200L is not a very large boot for a car, but how many could hold a 200L drum? (44 gallon or 55 US gallon) As you can see the Leyland P76 can do it easily – I’m not sure if the question of why you would want to was ever asked! The styling was originally done by Michelotti but was very much altered afterwards including raising the height of the boot – mind you it very accurately echoes the proportions of a 2007 sedan! Ahead of its time perhaps. The car was produced in (and contributed to) the dying days of BMC/Leyland in Australia. An example of the problems is many of the cars had doors dented on the production line because they were so much wider than the Austin 1100 & 1800 the line had been set up for. Of course there was no money to alter the line – but it cost a lot of money in repairs.

Opel Kadett

This car is owned by one of our car club members who bought it when he worked at Holden. It had been brought out as an evaluation vehicle (at that stage they were only producing the one model) so I doubt there would be too many more in the country. Holden used an Opel gearbox in some of there cars, while later they produced the Vauxhall Viva which transformed into the Holden Torana.

Willys Overland Jeep Ambulance

Another car with an information board! And with good reason, it is a very unique vehicle – this 1953 model Jeep was bodied by a Sydney builder to become the country’s first 4wd ambulance, along with another 6 which were exported to Malaysia. It was originally based at Bourke in far west NSW where they had trouble with 2wd vehicles - not too much bitumen out that way in the 1950s (ie none!). The vehicle carried 3 stretchers and included equipment to tap into the party telephone lines for communication.

Anyway there you go, a varied overview of the day. Not necessarily my favourite cars, but some that caught the eye or were a bit out of the ordinary (or had info boards as mentioned earlier haha)