National Motor Museum, Birdwood
I did the oldie thing and took a country bus out into the hills to Birdwood, formerly Blumberg (we changed the name in WW1. Aussie boys with German names were allowed to die for Britain, but they could not come from towns with German names). The bus service runs between Mt Torrens, and Modbury Interchange in the outer suburbs. Birdwood costs around $6 one way, less for concession. It's about 35 min by the short route and a little over an hour for the runs that take in a few extra towns. And excuse me if I remind you that you can click images for enlarged views.
Of the few passengers on board, four were for Birdwood and I saw three in the museum. The National Motor Museum is in fact a worthwhile place to visit, and it marks the end of the Bay to Birdwood classic car run. The town itself is an attraction in its own right.
The Blumberg Hotel is a classic Aussie pub, with terrace lace verandahs. It's distinctive in having a vintage truck getting tossed out for getting too rowdy in the bar.
I first visited here in the 'sixties when most of the complex was housed in or near this old mill. Then it had a lot of curios, a few vehicles and even a biplane, now residing elsewhere.
The motor Museum entrance is to the rear of the mill - the bus actually stops in the car-park. The Museum currently charges $9 for adult admission.
A short way inside this WM Holden racer caught my eye. The racer began as a 1952 UK-built Cooper Bristol CB/1/52. It raced in the Aussie Grand Prix before getting a DOHC Holden engine in 1956. Two years later it got a new chassis and was recognised as the WM Holden Special. It got a Corvette engine in 1963 but apparently ended its racing life.
Another racer, the classic 1927 Bugatti Type 35B, which I consider appealing and aesthetic, and will accept any donations of one for my collection which presently numbers zero. A Grand Prix winner in the '20s and '30s, it also had prototypical "mag wheels", one-piece cast alloy wheels and brake drums.
From the sublime to the Civic. I used to have one of these, the same colour but not held together with paper and plastic. 1974 Honda Civic, whose owner Bethany Alldridge was apparently passionate about causes and decorated her car with stickers.
Some heavy metal.A 1944 Ford bus at left, then a 1960 Reo C332 tipper which worked for 40 years on country dirt roads; a 1926 Garford double-decker bus which operated in Adelaide; and a 1934 Leyland Metz got from England, who only used it during the German blitz. Fire service recruits were sent up the ladder and, if they got dizzy, they failed the entry test.
The 1963 Lightburn Zeta; 363 were built from '63 to '68. They faced competition from similarly priced VWs and Minis, both of which looked a bit less as if they'd been designed for - or by - Kermit the Frog.
1923 Ford T "station wagon", a US term for vehicles transporting passengers and luggage to and from railway stations. Behind it is a classier 1910 Daimler Landaulette.
On to the legendary stuff, the 1956 Holden FJ sedan, built in Australia by the former Holden saddlery company. Holdens became a part of General Motors in 1931, and thereafter were referred to as General Motors Holdens or simply GMH. The FX and FJ models are Aussie icons.
On to 1958, and the Holden FC Special Station Wagon. At the time, half the cars sold in Australia were Holdens. I know you are dying to hear that the poster is a 1954 Jantzen billboard. Billboards thrived in the 1950s as car ownership grew. With television, and tighter regulation of roadside kitsch, they faded from popularity.
A giant leap to 1995. A factory prepared Holden VR Commodore which, after 19 days and 20,000 km, won the 1995 Mobil 1 Around Australia Rally.
Of course, the world is divided in many ways, and not least between General Motors zealots and Ford fanatics. One of the hot cars of my youth was the Ford Falcon GT , which appeared in 1967. The 1971 version was the XY Falcon GTHO Phase 3. They were intended to race in a class based on family sedans but of course, that implied some families drove them. A 1972 headline, "160 mph Supercars", and public pressure, led to no Phase 4 being built.
Something a little different but very Aussie, a rather unique 1952/1964 Vanguard "Overland". Two brothers, having done an outback trip in a 1928 Chrysler in 1962, decided to update. They got a 1952 Vanguard panel van (see inset) for $150. It was so rusted, they built their own body for it. The van has been all over the country, east, west, north and south, and through the middle.
Back to the Future; the 1981 DeLorean DMC12 Coupe. Built in Northern Ireland for the North American market, about 9200 were produced from 1981 to late 1982. The body consists of unpainted stainless steel panels. The company closed in late 1982 due to financial problems.
Paul Halstead, coming from the computer industry, wanted to build a super-car, which shows IT people can be comfortable away from a keyboard. His 1988 Giocattolo Group B Coupe, shown here, was one of 11 built, selling between $92,000 and $96,000 each. It was capable of 241 kph, based on the Alfasud Sprint with a 5 lit. Holden V8 engine.
Not all Aussie cars are sleek and sexy, but this one's an achiever. This is the oldest driveable Australian-built vehicle, the 1899 Shearer steam carriage. It was built by a farm machinery manufacturer in Mannum. The following year it made the 150 km return run from Mannum to Adelaide and back.
Also not pretty, but gutsy, the first car to cross Australia was this Talbot driven by Henry Dutton and Murray Aunger. They reached Darwin in August 1908 at the end of a 51 day trip from Adelaide across deserts, creeks and rivers, and braving a bushfire. They travelled where there were no roads or bridges. You'll note it has a couple of spare tyres, still good practice today, and an axe on one side.
Wish I could tell you more about this sculpture. It seems to be our answer to Fremont, Seattle's Volkswagen-eating bridge troll, but I can't seem to identify the artist. The victim is an FX-model Holden.
After I dragged myself away from the museum, I grabbed lunch at a local bakery - there are some nice places to eat in Birdwood - and got the bus home. The mini-bus took the longer route (over an hour) home, and here is somewhere past Lobethal (another German village!)
And finally another scene for overseas viewers. Again en route home, in the Adelaide Hills a little after the previous shot. Nice to see some green, thanks to a wet winter.
Of the few passengers on board, four were for Birdwood and I saw three in the museum. The National Motor Museum is in fact a worthwhile place to visit, and it marks the end of the Bay to Birdwood classic car run. The town itself is an attraction in its own right.
The Blumberg Hotel is a classic Aussie pub, with terrace lace verandahs. It's distinctive in having a vintage truck getting tossed out for getting too rowdy in the bar.
I first visited here in the 'sixties when most of the complex was housed in or near this old mill. Then it had a lot of curios, a few vehicles and even a biplane, now residing elsewhere.
The motor Museum entrance is to the rear of the mill - the bus actually stops in the car-park. The Museum currently charges $9 for adult admission.
A short way inside this WM Holden racer caught my eye. The racer began as a 1952 UK-built Cooper Bristol CB/1/52. It raced in the Aussie Grand Prix before getting a DOHC Holden engine in 1956. Two years later it got a new chassis and was recognised as the WM Holden Special. It got a Corvette engine in 1963 but apparently ended its racing life.
Another racer, the classic 1927 Bugatti Type 35B, which I consider appealing and aesthetic, and will accept any donations of one for my collection which presently numbers zero. A Grand Prix winner in the '20s and '30s, it also had prototypical "mag wheels", one-piece cast alloy wheels and brake drums.
From the sublime to the Civic. I used to have one of these, the same colour but not held together with paper and plastic. 1974 Honda Civic, whose owner Bethany Alldridge was apparently passionate about causes and decorated her car with stickers.
Some heavy metal.A 1944 Ford bus at left, then a 1960 Reo C332 tipper which worked for 40 years on country dirt roads; a 1926 Garford double-decker bus which operated in Adelaide; and a 1934 Leyland Metz got from England, who only used it during the German blitz. Fire service recruits were sent up the ladder and, if they got dizzy, they failed the entry test.
The 1963 Lightburn Zeta; 363 were built from '63 to '68. They faced competition from similarly priced VWs and Minis, both of which looked a bit less as if they'd been designed for - or by - Kermit the Frog.
1923 Ford T "station wagon", a US term for vehicles transporting passengers and luggage to and from railway stations. Behind it is a classier 1910 Daimler Landaulette.
On to the legendary stuff, the 1956 Holden FJ sedan, built in Australia by the former Holden saddlery company. Holdens became a part of General Motors in 1931, and thereafter were referred to as General Motors Holdens or simply GMH. The FX and FJ models are Aussie icons.
On to 1958, and the Holden FC Special Station Wagon. At the time, half the cars sold in Australia were Holdens. I know you are dying to hear that the poster is a 1954 Jantzen billboard. Billboards thrived in the 1950s as car ownership grew. With television, and tighter regulation of roadside kitsch, they faded from popularity.
A giant leap to 1995. A factory prepared Holden VR Commodore which, after 19 days and 20,000 km, won the 1995 Mobil 1 Around Australia Rally.
Of course, the world is divided in many ways, and not least between General Motors zealots and Ford fanatics. One of the hot cars of my youth was the Ford Falcon GT , which appeared in 1967. The 1971 version was the XY Falcon GTHO Phase 3. They were intended to race in a class based on family sedans but of course, that implied some families drove them. A 1972 headline, "160 mph Supercars", and public pressure, led to no Phase 4 being built.
Something a little different but very Aussie, a rather unique 1952/1964 Vanguard "Overland". Two brothers, having done an outback trip in a 1928 Chrysler in 1962, decided to update. They got a 1952 Vanguard panel van (see inset) for $150. It was so rusted, they built their own body for it. The van has been all over the country, east, west, north and south, and through the middle.
Back to the Future; the 1981 DeLorean DMC12 Coupe. Built in Northern Ireland for the North American market, about 9200 were produced from 1981 to late 1982. The body consists of unpainted stainless steel panels. The company closed in late 1982 due to financial problems.
Paul Halstead, coming from the computer industry, wanted to build a super-car, which shows IT people can be comfortable away from a keyboard. His 1988 Giocattolo Group B Coupe, shown here, was one of 11 built, selling between $92,000 and $96,000 each. It was capable of 241 kph, based on the Alfasud Sprint with a 5 lit. Holden V8 engine.
Not all Aussie cars are sleek and sexy, but this one's an achiever. This is the oldest driveable Australian-built vehicle, the 1899 Shearer steam carriage. It was built by a farm machinery manufacturer in Mannum. The following year it made the 150 km return run from Mannum to Adelaide and back.
Also not pretty, but gutsy, the first car to cross Australia was this Talbot driven by Henry Dutton and Murray Aunger. They reached Darwin in August 1908 at the end of a 51 day trip from Adelaide across deserts, creeks and rivers, and braving a bushfire. They travelled where there were no roads or bridges. You'll note it has a couple of spare tyres, still good practice today, and an axe on one side.
Wish I could tell you more about this sculpture. It seems to be our answer to Fremont, Seattle's Volkswagen-eating bridge troll, but I can't seem to identify the artist. The victim is an FX-model Holden.
After I dragged myself away from the museum, I grabbed lunch at a local bakery - there are some nice places to eat in Birdwood - and got the bus home. The mini-bus took the longer route (over an hour) home, and here is somewhere past Lobethal (another German village!)
And finally another scene for overseas viewers. Again en route home, in the Adelaide Hills a little after the previous shot. Nice to see some green, thanks to a wet winter.
posted by DadB | 7:41 PM
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