MAY 2017

The Official magazine of the GOLD COAST ANTIQUE AUTO CLUB

Austin Se7en outside our clubhouse

Crankhandle News

GCAAC COMMITTEE

Position Name Phone Email President David Mitchell 5577 1787 [email protected] Vice President Peter Amey 5525 0250 [email protected] 0407 374 196 Secretary Richard Brown 0417 704 726 [email protected]

Treasurer Colin Hayes 5525 3312 [email protected] 0409 825 913 Events coordinator John 0421 185 419 [email protected]

Dating Officer Bill Budd 5535 8882 [email protected] 0409 358 888 Publicity Officer John Talbot 0421 185 419 [email protected] Editor Peter A. Jones 0413 379 410 [email protected] Spare parts & prop- Graham 5554 5659 [email protected] erty Tattersall Librarian/Historian Wayne Robson 5522 8000 [email protected] 0409 610 229 Hall & Social Officer Pam Giles 0400 278 807 [email protected]

Gold Coast Antique Auto club: PO Box 228, Mudgeeraba, Qld, 4213 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.gcaac.com.au Club meetings are held 2nd Monday of every month (except January) at 7.00pm for 7.30pm start. Visitors welcome Street Address: 238 Mudgeeraba Road, Mudgeeraba Q 4213

Life Members: Graham Hetherington, Peter Harris, Margaret Hession, John Wood, Graham Tattersall

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed within are not necessarily shared by the editor or officers of the GCAAC. Whilst all care is taken to ensure the technical information and advice offered in these pages is correct, the editor and officers of the GCAAC cannot be held responsible for any problems that may occur from acting on such advice and information.

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PRESIDENTS REPORT

We have had our annual Easter break and our Gold Coast weather has been “Just The Best” with slightly cooler sunny days, most enjoyable.

By the time this goes to print our 2-day Autorama will be upon us, it’s good to see that some late entries are still coming in and at the last count was almost 60 entered.

This year`s Autorama is the first at the new earlier in the year time, previously they have been held around November and if the weather stays like this it will be perfect.

Recently over 6 days in Toowoomba the National Tour was held and I went to the display day on Sunday 9th April. It was great to see 120 Austin 7s from all over Australia between 80 & 90+ years old lined up together.

The array of models was amazing ranging from race cars, Nippy 2-seaters, Chummys, Ruby sedans, Vans, many Australian bodied cars including our own Tricia Hanley in her 1927 Sports and 2 very rare Austin 7 Swallow sedans, [Swallow produced the first Jaguars]. When are 90 years old I wonder if there will be display days like this?

I have rediscovered a report that David King wrote in the Crankhandle 9 years ago when he was our President and I would like to repeat a small part of it as it is so appropriate today. It is called –

Strength through Diversity. Our club will change - all we need to do is look at the wonderful array of photos on the walls of the club house to see that. Today the cars look different but the range of marquis is as diverse today as it was 30 years ago. And in 30 years, when a new member with a 2016 MAZDA MX5 wants to join, our club will still be around.

To survive we must recognise that it is our diversity, and our willingness to celebrate that motoring diversity, is why we maintain strong membership. In accepting our members cars – we also accept and celebrate our members. Strength through Diversity - Sounds good to me.

Happy Motoring. Cheers David Mitchell.

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EDITORIAL Well here we are, already May and the year will soon be half over, and by the time you read this newsletter Autorama will be over and I hope all those that attended had a great time. With the swap getting closer it’s time to help the usual few and lend a hand. If you are able to help, all you need to do is contact a committee member with the times you are free to help and your name will be added to the roster. We will need helpers some of Saturday and most of Sunday including cleaning up after the swap, the more helpers we get the easier it will be for everyone on the day. Just remember, most of the committee will be at the showground Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I have even put in for a day’s leave to help on the Saturday, so how about you? In the past I have asked for articles like ‘Cars I have owned’, two members sent an item in. I also tried ‘Members Cars’ - two stories and ‘Restoration Tips’ - no sto- ries received so therefore I have had to drop four pages from this and future newsletters. At the last committee meeting it was decided that the Sunday club run will be held back on the second Weekend of the month from August onwards, this give a longer gap between the weekend and mid-week runs. We also have a lot of extra events during the next couple months so keep an eye on the GCAAC Events pages on the newsletters. Well I think that’s all from me this month, keep those wheels rolling and I hope to see more of you on Sunday runs Cheers Peter aJ

RACQ MotorFest 2017 - Sunday, 9 July 2017 The fun, atmosphere and excitement of RACQ MotorFest will return to Eagle Farm Racecourse, Ascot on Sunday, 9 July 2017 Registration fees include your vehicle entry and a commemorative badge, which you’ll receive with your exhibitor kit prior to the event.

Early Bird Registration (Monday, 27 February - Sunday, 30 April 2017): $15 inc GST Full Registration (Monday, 1 May - Friday, 9 June 201&): $25 inc GST

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GCAAC EVENTS

MAY 2017 3 May Committee meeting - Clubhouse @ 7pm 8 May General Meeting and Supper—Clubhouse @ 7.30pm 17 May Cut off date for June newsletter 20 May Cars N Coffee - meet at club house @ 8 am 21 May National Motoring Heritage Display Day at club house, with yearly Show and Shine - meet at club house between 9 and 9 30 am, BYO morning tea, lunch will be provided 31 May Mid-week run TBA

JUNE 2017 7 June Committee meeting - Clubhouse @ 7pm 12 June General Meeting and Supper—Clubhouse @ 7.30pm 17 June Cars N Coffee - meet at club house @ 8 am 18 June King of the Mountain TBA 21 June Cut off date for July newsletter 24-25 June June Mudgeeraba Show details TBA.

28 June Mid-week run TBA

JULY 2017 5 July Committee meeting - Clubhouse @ 7pm 9 July RACQ Motorfest, Eagle Farm Racecourse 10 July General Meeting and Supper—Clubhouse @ 7.30pm 15 July Cars N Coffee - meet at club house @ 8 am 19 July Cut off date for July newsletter 21-23 July Original Gold Coast Swap, contact the committee and offer help please 26 July Mid-week run TBA

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March Cars & Coffee with Military Police livery was a beautiful sight. With plenty of modern machines Cars & Coffee Gold Coast was fantastic. like Ford Focus RS, Civic Type R, Toyota However with the whole week forecasted 86’s, Skyline’s, and a wholes host of to have plentiful showers, Bruce Lynton others, it made for a wonderful morning. Jaguar cancelled on bringing their The usual suspects were ’39 Ford 4 door Jaguar F-TYPE SVR. They however did Saloon, little Austin 7, Traction bring along a F-Pace 4WD, very nice but Avant, 3500, Chevrolet Sloper. not as thrilling as the SVR would have Lastly one of my personal favourites been. However the weather proved to be were the pair of Porsche Turbo’s. The ’78 splendid and we had a wonderful 930 Kremer Turbo being an extremely morning. Several unique and wonderful rare and capable boost machine had vehicles turned up including a 1950’s good company with the grandson in the Buchanan. Painted in bright red with a 997 Twin Turbo, a vehicle which some racing decals plastered on its doors and simple mods capable to doing sub 4 hood it certainly looked like Ferrari race second 0-100 sprints. To view all the ve- cars from the era. It was extremely well hicles, please visit our facebook page restored and it deservedly won the Car https://www.facebook.com/ of the Meet. It was truly a crowd pleaser carsandcoffeegoldcoast and attracted plenty of attention. Right next to it was a NSX, Honda’s Photos and story Sohan answer to the Ferrari F40 of the 90’s and truly Asia’s 1st Supercar. Paul drove down his always highly-admired 1913 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost and treated everyone to a short demonstration of starting his behemoth. A truly engaging process. They certainly do not make cars like this anymore with its open valve system and 1.5m long 7.6L . We had several Jaguars with the XJC in all its original beauty with supple ruby red leather interior, the ultra powerful MK II 3.8L, a car infamous for being used in bank robberies due to its speed and agility. Who can forget the mighty modded MGB and the happy little Yellow Austin Bug Eye Sprite. Adding extra British flair to the event were the luxurious RR Corniches, a Drop Head and a Fixed Head. The Landy Series 2

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We were invited to display cars from each decade to assist the Burleigh Heads State School celebrate their Centenary today. It was a terrible day as the rain bucketed down but we even had a 1915 Saxon in attendance.

Members car Peter Amey 1954 Citroen Light 15

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Events 2017 Sunday May 21 2017-Show and Shine Coolibah Downs Private Estate 41 Mt Nathan Road Nerang is where Classic Cars from all vintages, makes and models will compete to be the Best of the Best at our Show and Shine. Again, celebrating the regions best cars from all car shows in the region and those from interstate. This event is fast earning the crown as a must attend event on a car lovers bucket lists. Music, Fashion Pa- rades, Billy Cart Sprint Racing and Chinese Culture and much more will be on display from 10 am until the 2 p.m. presentations on the beautiful Coolibah Downs Private Estate on Mt. Nathan Road Nerang. FREE for families to view

28 May, 2017, Mac's Bridge at Belmont - Mac's Bridge is a major sports and classic car festival in Queensland. This will be the second year at Queensland Rifle Association Belmont Range, 1485 Old Cleveland Road . http://www.macleansbridge.com/

2nd—4th June 2017, Wintersun 2.0 Murwillumbah Showgrounds (details Facebook)

4th June 2017 BEAUDESERT SWAP MEET - Beaudesert Racecourse, Boonah Road , Beaudesert QLD 4285 One of Australia's best single day swap meets ,Phone: 0414 066 121

4th -11th June 2017 Cooly Rocks On. http://www.coolyrockson.com/

17th June 2017, MEGA SWAP MEET SHOW & SHINE - CABOOLTURE REGIONAL CAR CLUB, Caboolture Showgrounds, Beerburrum Rd, Caboolture

23rd July 2017 Original Gold Coast Swap (our swap) Mudgeeraba Showgrounds

29th—30th July 2017 South Coast Restoration Society annual rally

27th August 2017 2nd Annual Swap meet at Yatala Drive In organised by Kustoms Gold Coast

!0th September Qld Muster, BMC Round-up and swap Carina State School

17th September 2017 All British Day

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March mid-week run

Photos Peter aJ

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Roosevelt's Limo

HERE IS A BIT OF HISTORY I BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW... Hours after Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, the Secret Service found themselves in a bind. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was to give his Day of Infamy speech to Congress, and although the trip from the White House to Capitol Hill was short, agents weren't sure how to transport him safely. At the time, Federal Law prohibited buying any cars that cost more than $750, so they would have to get clearance from Congress to do that, and nobody had time for that.

One of the Secret Service members, however, discovered that the US Treasury had seized the bulletproof car that mobster Al Capone owned when he was sent to jail in 1931. They cleaned it, made sure it was running perfectly and had it ready for the President the next day. Al Capone's 1928 Cadillac V-8 "Al Capone" Town Sedan became the President's Limo in December 1941.

Mechanics are said to have cleaned and checked each feature of the Caddy well into the night, to make sure that it would run properly the next day for the Commander in Chief. And run properly it did. It had been painted black and green to look identical to Chicago's police cars at the time. To top it off, the gangster's 1928 Cadillac Town Sedan had 3,000 pounds of armour and inch -thick bulletproof windows.

It also had a specially installed siren and flashing lights hidden behind the grille, along with a police scanner radio.

Footnote: The car sold at auction in 2012 for $341,000.00

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Making cars in Australia Ltd. As a result, BMC-A added Daimler and Jaguar to its vehicle One Company’s History marques. The Motor Corporation of Australia Pty Limited was formed in Through the period of time that the 1968 after the merger of BMC and company operated in Australia (1950- Leyland Motor Corporation in UK and 1983), the name of the company consisted of four divisions: changed many times as a result of mergers in the UK. The Victoria Park  Austin Morris Division

Zetland/ Waterloo site was purchased in  Specialist Car Division 1946 by Viscount Nuffield personally and  Truck and Bus Division was later sold to the Nuffield Organisation. Nuffield (Australia) Pty.  Parts and Accessories Division Ltd. was formed in March 1950 and was This merger added , Rover owned by the Nuffield Organisation. and Triumph to the BMC vehicle Nuffield vehicle marques were M.G., marques. The Leyland Motor Morris, Riley and Wolseley. The British Corporation of Australia Ltd., commonly Motor Corporation Ltd. in UK was referred to as Leyland Australia, was formed as a result of the merger of the formed in 1971. Leyland Australia was and the Nuffield formed as a result of a name change Organisation in 1952. from BLMC to British Leyland Ltd. in UK. The British Motor Corporation In Australia, at this time, the vehicle (Australia) Pty. Ltd. was formed in 1954 marque names Morris and Austin were and was composed of: replaced with the marque Leyland. The BMC marque, used for commercials and  The Austin Motor Company Moke was also dropped. Australia was (Australia) Pty. Ltd. the only country to introduce the Leyland  Nuffield (Australia) Pty. Ltd. marque for passenger vehicles - except

 Fisher & Ludlow (Australia) Pty. Ltd. for vehicles exported to New Zealand. The BMC vehicle marques, in addition to Leyland Australia ceased trading in the Nuffield marques, were Austin, and March 1983. Austin Healey. Ltd. was formed by the merger of BMC and Jaguar Cars Ltd. in the UK in 1966. BMH was not established in Australia, but BMC-A took on distribution, sales and support for http://www.bmclaheritage.org.au/

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Austins Over Australia

This bi-annual event was held on the scenic rim based around Ipswich Qld. and coincided with the Austin Se7en rally held the week before.

This year the event was organised by the Austin MVC Qld and attracted over 150 Austin vehicles ranging from pre-WW1 models up to the latest models sold in Australia.

As this event is held every two years and in a different venue, Austin owners travelled from as far away as South Australia and Victoria. The next AOA will be held in September 2019 in the Barossa Valley in SA and we hope to make it.

When we purchase our Landcrab in 1973 it was a trip to SA was the first trip we made in the car, a small amount of work and maybe she we make it again

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Pictures and text Peter aJ

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April Cars & Coffee noisy and I’m sure several bearings loose 244 had some red neck charm about it. Parked right across it was the It certainly seems that Cars & Coffee mighty Honda NSX and the Royal Gold Coast is growing. We had another Enfield bike. Always a pleasure to see wonderful turnout even though we were these on the road. a little sceptical with it being the Easter Weekend, but as the saying goes, it A very sinister Chevy Truck in all black attracted beautiful cars like bees to wore the appropriate rego plate VILN, honey or so I am led to believe. Lexus with its shiny Chrome very nicely adding Southport so graciously showcased their a bit of colour. Beside it was the mighty latest powerhouse a Lexus RCF. Escort Panel Van and the size difference couldn’t be farther apart. The Car of the The RCF being a modified extra horse Meet went to the immaculate Porsche power vehicle meant to take on the 356 Speedster. It arrived late but was a mighty German AMG’s and M Power genuine crowd pleaser. vehicles. This particular RCF was displayed for the 1st time on the Gold Lots of people flocked over to it and Coast at this meet. We were quite were regaled in stories by its owner. A fortunate in this respect. Anyway, I am truly well deserved winner. Honourable certain that what really attracted the mentions were the Orange ’72 Pontiac punters and is of interest to the majority Firebird, Mazda RX 3 in all its rotary of us are the Classics, and boy did we glory, lovely baby Austin, regal RR Cloud have a treat. A very large smattering of III, Chevy UTE, DB7 and American muscle being represented by Rover. To view all the vehicles, please the beautiful Ford Galaxy Convertible of visit our facebook page our very own Terry Gearing, it was just sublime. https://www.facebook.com/ carsandcoffeegoldcoast A coupe version in Black and Grey was also present. A whole host of Mustangs were present, but the one which really drew attention to itself was the ‘65 with upgraded everything and now sporting side exhausts. My personal favourite was the Aqua Thunderbird Convertible, it was in showroom condition and a real testament to its owners care.

Several highly modified Commodores and UTE’s added a little Aussie charm. They were growling beasts and nothing of their former placid self was evident.

Who can forget the Swedish contingent with their Volvo’s. A thoroughly rusted,

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Photos and story by

Sohan J Parekh

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Know your car

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Supper Roster 2017-2018

Pam needs members to arrange suppers for our monthly meeting, if you are able to help please contact her on 0400 278 807

Wanted members to help with supper please contact Pam if you can help

Club Merchandise Club Shirts $15:00, Club Jackets $25:00, Bumper Badges $20:00 Window Stickers $1:00 Contact Graham Tattersall on 5554 5659 or see him at a meeting to purchase any of these items

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**** For Sale, 1981 Rover SD1 3.5L V8, very good mechanical condition, nice looking car. Wheels recently powder-coated, brand-new tyres, new radio with blue-tooth. Nice exhaust note. $10,000 ONO Call Col 0419 825 913 *** For Sale, 1997 Ford Fairlane Ghia Sedan. Immaculate luxury car. Low mileage of 112,000 kms. No rust. Always garaged. New back shock absorbers, new air conditioning compressor, new power steering pump, all replaced very recently. NSW registration until 21 August, 2017. Reluctant sale, but I can't drive all the cars Jim accumulated $7,250. Contact Margaret Hession (07) 55241338 or 0409 241338 ** For Sale, 1976 V8 Saloon , Good condition , blue - $6500 or near offer, John Woods’ car being sold due to health reasons .

Please call John’s daughter Rachael - 0412 755220 ** For Sale, Twin car horns, suit British classic car, working,$50 Contact Peter aJ on 0413379410

** For Sale Towbar to fit a 2000 Mazda 3, any reasonable offer accepted, phone Nancy Waugh 5535 8249 * Wanted Your stories, restoration tips, members car articles, anything that may be of interest to members Email the Editor in word to [email protected] Crankhandle News 22

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4213 Qld Mudgeeraba 228 Box PO to return If undeliverable Coast Official of the Gold Magazine The Antique Inc. Club Auto

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