Day 5 – Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Chardonnay Lodge in Coonawarra, South Australia, where many of the tour participants, including your writer, stayed. Coonawarra is a major wine producing region.

Rest day in Coonawarra/Penola

At dinner last night we heard how the Hannams from Brisbane had driven 1000 miles in their 1936 Alvis Firebird tourer to join the tour in Melbourne. Once on the tour, noisy rumblings and vibration alerted them that the universal joint in the driveshaft needed replacing. Once done, they are now back in the hunt.

Frank Mornane offered me a drive of his 1937 Speed 25 “Edinburgh Police force” Charlesworth tourer to compare characteristics with my similar Vanden Plas saloon. I was amazed at how quiet and smooth his was at 60 mph until he told me his gearing was off, and we were actually going under 50! Other than that, the cars are remarkably similar. After the drive, Frank, Martin and I repaired to the hotel (Aussie for ‘pub’) in Penola for ‘Sunday lunch’.

One of the cars suffered a speedometer gear drive collapse in the gearbox, rendering the speedo inoperable for the balance of the trip, but otherwise OK. Not so lucky was the Higgins owned, Woodburn driven, 1932 TJ 12/50 Doctor’s coupe which previously endured the blown head gasket, and is now hors combat for the rest of the tour owing to a stripped timing gear.

There are 52 Alvis motor cars on the tour, with a further seven New South Welshmen who will join us in Beechworth, in N.E. Victoria.