Day 13 - Monday, October 20, 2008

The principal characters in the re-enactment of the Ned Kelly Trial, October, 1880.

L to R: David McDonald, Melbourne, as Edward (Ned) Kelly; Brian Pooley, UK, as Police Constable McIntyre; Chris Storrar, UK, as defence counsel Mr. Bindon; David Webster, UK, prosecuting Crown counsel, Mr. Smythe; Allan Willingham, Melbourne, as Justice Sir Redmond Berry ; and Michael Beattie, the actor who frequently plays Ned Kelly.

A cooler, yet still warm, rest day in Beechworth.

The morning’s activity comprised a technical talk by Nick Simpson of Earley Engineering on vintage and post vintage classic car maintenance in general, and Alvis cars in particular. This was a boys’ only event, with nary a sheila in sight.

In the afternoon we participated in a re-enactment of the 1880 trial of Ned Kelly, Australia’s best known outlaw. Despite the best arguments by the defence counsel, Ned was once again found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.

As usual, the car park was a hive of activity with minor maintenance, valve adjustments, and fuel leak suppression taking place.

A lively dinner, followed by a ghost tour of the uninhabited wing of the old psychiatric hospital rounded off the day.

Day 12 - Sunday, October 19, 2008

Before (below) and after photos of the manifold repair on the Boothman 1927 12/50. As always, left click on any photo for a full screen view.

Echuca to Beechworth

Having decided on a plan, Martin and I were already working on a manifold fix at 7:00 AM in the motel car park (that’s a parking lot to the Americans reading).

One of the reasons the manifold has cracked may be that the manifold flange holes have ovalled themselves over time, allowing too much play between retaining stud and flange. We tried to remedy this by cutting ¼” pieces of split pin and inserting between the stud and the flange hole, after replacing the gasket. Next, how to cover and repair the fracture?

We covered the crack with silencer/muffler repair bandage, wrapping around the manifold 4-5 times tightly. Then, remembering Boy Scout First Aid Merit Badge guidelines, we created four “broken arm” splints made up of cut-up stainless steel dinner forks held in place as tightly as possible with three stainless steel hose clamps. Scoutmaster Ben Pumo of Miami’s Troop 305 would have been proud! My Eagle Scout son Brett will now see that some of this stuff does indeed come in handy later in life!

Then came the test! Today was a long drive, 177 miles in 37 C/ 100 F temperatures. Alan McKinnon asked me to ferry his son Ben’s car to Beachworth, so we drove in convoy, Alan and Noeline McKinnon in the 1926 12/50 tourer, followed by me in the similar 12/50 1926 tourer, with Martin Boothman in the repaired manifold 1927 12/50 wide two-seater bringing up the rear, all at a steady 40-50 mph.

Much of the drive was along the lightly driven B400 to Yarrawonga. Not much for me to report as we didn’t stop there, but I just like the name!

Several cars, primarily the cars from England unaccustomed to the heat, suffered some overheating and/or fuel vaporization in the extreme heat and climb along the way, and our trio of 80 plus year old 12/50s all made it without incident, with the repaired manifold holding, at least for today!

The Harvey 1951 TA21 DHC ground to a halt with a failed condenser within the distributor, which was quickly replaced.

We now spend two nights in a former long-stay psychiatric hospital currently run as the Hospitality Industry Training School of LaTrobe University (Melbourne).

About 100 Alvis people staying in a previous mental asylum! We are definitely in the right place!

Cumulative miles on the tour so far: 1,209

Day 11 - Saturday, October 18, 2008

An unusual sight, three different model Cross & Ellis bodied Alvis 4 seat tourers, with owners. L to R: David & Kaye Webster, 1933 Firefly; David Head, 1934 Silver Eagle; Tony, Tash & Beni Hannam, 1936 Firebird.

Bendigo to Echuca

A complete change in the weather. Temperatures rose to about 30 C/90 F.

A short day’s drive today, just 62 miles. Martin Boothman drove David Head’s 1934 Silver Eagle, while I was alone in Martin’s 12/50. During the drive, one of the exhaust manifold gaskets blew, further increasing the raspy ness of the exhaust. Fortunately Martin brought spare gaskets with him, and upon removal of the manifold to change the gasket we discovered the crack previously mentioned and patched had now become a full clean complete fracture.

Hmmm, let’s think about this!

In the afternoon we took a one hour Murray River cruise aboard the paddle steamer “Canberra”, built in 1912 and powered by a 1923 wood-fired Marshall compound steam engine, in full view. The river is extremely low, at least 15-20 feet lower than the highs of 1974/1975.

Dinner was at Antonio’s Italian restaurant in Echuca, with, as usual, a great time being had by all.

Cumulative miles on the tour so far: 1,032

Day 10 - Friday, October 17, 2008

Alvis tour participants, L to R foreground: Tony Hannam from Queensland, Maureen Cole from NSW; 2nd row: Helen and Chris Storrar from the UK, and Chris Higgins from Victoria, riding one of several historic trams in Bendigo.

A rest day in Bendigo, riding the Bendigo Vintage Tramway system and touring the Central Debra GoldMine.

We took the service lift to the second level at a depth of 68 meters to tour the gold mine shafts and see what it was like for the predominantly Cornish miners working the mine from 1939 to 1954. Level 13 is at 711 meters depth, much of which is now flooded. The only light in the mine shafts was generated by the battery powered lights on the provided hard hats.

Several cars were being fettled, including my mount, the Boothman 1927 12/50 TG, with its cracked exhaust manifold. The patching we did few days ago has proved ineffectual, so we resorted to a JB Weld patch (my son Brett knew that was coming sooner or later) which appears not to be holding either. Next step is a manifold bandage with two retaining hose clips.

The Galloway 1961 TD21 Saloon has lost its radiator overflow pipe, and although not serious, does require attention, particularly with hotter days ahead.

Quite a few of or contingent, over the past week, have fallen foul of “The Dreaded Lergy”, some quite seriously, requiring full day bed rests, or, in some instances, hospital visits. So far, Martin and I, in car #1, have managed to avoid such inconvenience. Some have suggested it might be Mad Car Disease!

Tomorrow, off to Echuca and the Murray River.

Day 9 - Thursday, October 16, 2008

Alvis people enjoying lunch at the Paramoor Winery, near Kyneton, Victoria

Today was the first full sunshine warm driving day and was absolutely splendid.

Our drive took us from Ballarat to Daylesford, a village in the heart of Victoria’s spa country (and allegedly the gay capital of Victoria), for morning tea and onto the Paramoor Winery for lunch.

Following an excellent lunch organized by the Country Women’s Association, and the Paramoor Winery’s owners, Will & Cathy Fraser, the afternoon’s drive to Bendigo included a cryptic quiz of sights along the way, primary designed to ensure that the lead footed Alvis drivers took it a little easier while attempting to answer the questions.

Total miles for the day: 137.

Cumulative miles on the tour so far: 970

Day 8 - Wednesday, October 15 , 2008

L to R: Margaret Lang, Martin Boothman, John Lang, Frances McDougall, and John Hetheringon.

John & Margaret Lang, Andrew & Frances McDougall, John & Margaret Hetherington, along with Chester & Sally McKaige (not yet pictured) have been responsible for organizing this amazingly brilliant tour. Kudos to them and the Alvis Car Club of Victoria organization for their extraordinary efforts!

Wednesday was a rest day in Ballarat.

In the morning we visited the Sovereign Hill Gold Mining Town of the 1850s. Highlights were watching the wheelwright create wooden wheel hubs, spokes, rims and tires on mid-19th century belt driven machinery, and observing the massive log fired boilers generating steam to power an engine driving a beam pump. The entire town is a faithful recreation of what the mining town would have looked like over 150 years ago.

In the motel car park, the intermittent rough running of the Higgins 1923 SB 12/50 tourer was cured when the graphite spring-loaded contact in the distributor cap of the magneto was found to be inadequately touching the rotor arm. Alan McKinnon to the rescue!

Dinner celebrated 80 years of the front wheel drive (FWD) Alvis, first launched in 1928. Five fully roadworthy FWD cars were on display to augment a virtuoso PowerPoint presentation by FWD guru Tony Cox, ably abetted by John Lang and John Hetherington, on the history to date of the Alvis FWD cars. Most outside Alvis circles are unaware that Alvis were the first FWD cars to be manufactured on a production basis. Only 143 cars were produced as the market in 1928 was not ready for the innovation of FWD.

Day 7 – Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Halls Gap to Ballarat

This morning’s immediate post breakfast activity was to arrange all the cars in chronological order for a photo shoot with the Grampian Mountains of Halls Gap as a spectacular backdrop.

Another invigorating (read: cold) drive ensued, again on winding, deserted B and C country roads, with touring speeds ranging from 40 to 60, depending on the age of the Alvis or the courageousness of the driver.

Lunch was in the town of Maryborough, founded in the 1850’s during Australia’s Gold Rush.

The afternoon’s drive was spectacular as the morning’s.

Total miles for the day: 131. Cumulative miles on the tour so far: 803