SUMMER 2018 THE MURRAY BRIDGE NATIONALS 28 – 31 DECEMBER MAGAZINE DISCLAIMER This is the official Magazine of the 48-FJ Holden Club of S.A Inc. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the correctness and accuracy of the information contained herein, be it of general or technical nature, no responsibility can be accepted by the 48-FJ Holden Club of S.A. Inc as a result of such information. The views expressed in the articles in this publication are the views of the author/s and are not necessarily the views of the Committee, Editors or Club Members. 2018- 2019 COMMITTEE MEMBERS LIFE MEMBERS: Craig Price Don Lines+ Adrian Mander+ Peter Papageorgiou PRESIDENT: Debbi Gehlken 0413 902 181 SECRETARY: Debra West TREASURER: John Nitschke 0407 400 326 VICE PRESIDENT: Owen Smith PUBLIC OFFICER: John Nitschke AUDITOR: Bob Wilkeson MEET & GREET: Don Loffler SPARES: Steve Gehlken 0421 852 451 Peter Papageorgiou SOCIAL COMMITTEE: Debra & Wayne West Bob & Lyn Wilkeson Glen Nalty Deb & Rob Seidel Pam & Graeme Nelson A.E.H.F. DELEGATES: Don Loffler Kym Gregory F.H.M.C DELEGATES: Owen Smith HISTORIC REGISTRAR: Peter Papageorgiou CLUB VEHICLE INSPECTORS: Frank McHugh Peter Papageorgiou Owen Smith Bob Wilkeson LIBRARIAN: John Liersch DOCUMENT SECRETARY: Don Loffler PHOTO ALBUM: Pam Nelson MAGAZINE EDITORS: Deb & Rob Seidel 0424 048 215 KITCHEN MANAGER: Jeanette Hardy RISK MANAGEMENT: Daren Isemonger WEB MASTER: Simon Brewer FACEBOOK: Pam Nelson 48-FJ Holden Club Of S.A. Inc. PO BOX 2590 KENT TOWN BUSINESS CENTRE S.A. 5071 Email: [email protected] Website: www.48fjholdenclubofsa.org.au 2 PRESIDENT’S REPORT Christmas already!!! Where has the year gone. Wasn’t it just yesterday that the jolly old fella graced us with his presence? Hope you are all prepared and ready to go. Luckily I got in early this year and we are all done. Bring it on!!! We have had a great year with exciting club events and weekends away. Next year’s itinerary promises to be another great one with many new places to visit and see. Of course our final event for this year, The Nationals, is fast approaching and will be upon us before we know it. Our numbers are finally increasing which is great news for our state, club and our wonderful team of tireless organisers. We had our second BBQ at Bunnings this month to raise more funds for the Nationals. Thanks to all who organised this and to those volunteers who helped on the stand to make it a very successful day. 70 years of Holden was celebrated last month by our club arranging a cruise for members. This was well attended and organised. Hats off to all who attended and members who made it all possible. Glen also had a passenger with him - Mr Adison who was celebrating his 70th with a surprise ride in an FJ. Here’s to a great Christmas and fantastic New Year. May it be happy, safe and prosperous for all members, families and friends. MERRY CHRISTMAS Debbi Gehlken _______________________________________________________________________________________________ THE ULTIMATE BREAKDOWN 3 FROM THE EDITORS Our final magazine for 2018! We’ve learned a lot over the course of the year with four magazines now under our belts. Our confidence has grown, buoyed by you, our appreciative audience. It’s been wonderful to get to know so many club members and to discover the fascinating stories that you are all sharing with us. Sometimes it just takes a tiny scrap of conversation, followed by a bit of probing from us, and some fabulous memories and experiences emerge. We always get excited and can’t wait to include those in the magazine. This is a big issue because of our club’s involvement in the December Nationals and also due to a very busy couple of months with lots of events. We have a couple of Acquisition Stories for you – from Frank McHugh and Bruce Sleep; “Behind The Wheel” with some revealing information from Glen Nalty; another of Don’s Flashbacks and…..also from Don, an intriguing article called “An Amazing Discovery” – about something no-one else besides Don would have deciphered. As well, we have a summary of the very recent 70th Birthday Cruise organized to celebrate the 70th birthday of the production of the Holden in Australia on the 29th November. An extremely nostalgic and memorable occasion. Our feature piece by Tony Hitchin is a very informative article about the Nationals which are now just a few short weeks away. Participants and spectators are in for a treat! There’s a travel story from Pauline and John Nitschke and a book review from our librarian John Liersch, in addition to reports and photos of social club events and much more! We wish you all happiness at Christmas and the very best for a wonderful, fast approaching 2019. Deb and Rob Seidel Rob: Ph: 0424 048 215 Email: [email protected] Deb: Ph: 0404 804 326 Email: [email protected] _______________________________________________________________________________________________ WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS … John Wilkins Denis Southern Trevor Greenshields Eli Sleiman Barry Gaghan Charli Demack & Cass Phillis 4 SOCIAL CALENDAR - CLUB EVENTS 2019 Lyn Wilkeson, Social Committee Convenor JANUARY: MONDAY 14th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 01/19 SUNDAY 20th Annual Club Breakfast ERN 02/19 Plaza Pier Hotel, Glenelg All Holden Day, Wigley Reserve FEBRUARY: MONDAY 11th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 03/19 SATURDAY 23rd Don’s talk at Clubrooms ERN 04/19 MARCH: MONDAY 11th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 05/19 SUNDAY 24th Picnic lunch with other car clubs ERN 06/19 APRIL: MONDAY 9th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 07/19 SUNDAY 7h McLaren Vale Vintage ERN 08/19 MAY: MONDAY 13th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 09/19 SAT/SUN 18/19th Short Weekend ERN 10/19 JUNE: MONDAY 10th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 11/19 SUNDAY 16th President’s Run ERN 12/19 JULY: MONDAY 8th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 13/19 SUNDAY 21st Quiz night at clubrooms ERN 14/19 AUGUST: MONDAY 132h Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 15/19 SUNDAY 24th TBA – maybe afternoon tea @ Glanville Hall ERN 16/19 SEPTEMBER: MONDAY 9th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 17/19 SUNDAY Rockin’ Victor ERN 18/19 OCTOBER: MONDAY 14th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 19/19 FRI 4th – MON 7th Long Weekend ERN 20/19 NOVEMBER: MONDAY 11th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 21/19 SUNDAY 17th TBA ERN 22/19 DECEMBER: SATURDAY 7th Club Xmas BBQ ERN 23/19 MONDAY 9th Club Meeting 8.00pm ERN 24/19 There may be changes to dates etc within this program 5 PROUD CLUB SPONSORS at FINDON PLEASE TRY TO UTILISE THE SERVICES OF OUR VERY IMPORTANT AND MUCH APPRECIATED SPONSORS WHEREVER POSSIBLE 6 MANDER MEANDER - YORKE PENINSULA AT MARION BAY. TH ST FRIDAY 28 SEPT – MONDAY 1 OCT A group from our club met at the OTR on Pt Wakefield Road at 8.30 for an 8.45 departure ready for a fairly relaxing weekend based in Marion Bay on Yorke Peninsula. As usual there was a mixture of our old cars and some moderns. And as always there were a few bonnets up with lots of bodies over the engines, discussing what needed to be done, as well as a wheel off looking for a squeak! We stopped in Pt Wakefield for morning tea and then lunch in Minlaton before travelling through Warooka on to Marion Bay and booking into our units. Friday evening tends to be a ‘bring your own meal’ evening and Saturday was a free day - some drove to Warooka and Yorketown, others took a walk along the beach, visited an art gallery, went fishing at Corny Point (wonder who that was!!). There was some bonnet lifting in the caravan park as members took the opportunity to ask others for advice on some smallish problems. The grand final was watched by those interested – an exciting game with a close finish - before our usual bbq in the camp kitchen. We had a lovely evening with good food, quizzes, baby photo identification and music. Sunday morning started with a cooked breakfast provided by the club, followed by some driving, visiting Innes National park – beautiful views with glorious coloured ocean – then to Warooka for a break before heading to the Inland Sea restaurant for a late lunch which was most enjoyable. Nothing official was planned for Sunday evening and members did their own ‘thing’. Monday saw us driving home, with an interesting visit to an alpaca farm where we saw an animal being shorn, discussions on looking after the alpacas, breeding, sales etc before a visit to their shop where there were some lovely items for sale and well worth the visit. Then we drove to Dublin for lunch at the hotel before heading home. We had lovely weather the whole weekend and no major breakdowns of the cars. Thanks Pam and Graeme for taking on the planning – it’s not always an easy task organizing these weekends as there can be many variables. 7 THE ROAD TO MURRAY BRIDGE - PART 3 By Tony Hitchin, secretary of AEHF, and club member “The Show and Shine saw some amazing workmanship and stunning vehicles on display, all the award categories were hotly contested, the movie night went off without a hitch, the presentation dinner was eagerly consumed, the fashion parade models strutted their stuff, funds were raised for charity, the trophies presented and following the farewell breakfast, the 170 or so entrants and their families are heading home, having thoroughly enjoyed the 2018 AEHF Nationals at Murray Bridge.” If all of the above happens, there will be a very relieved group of volunteers who, after three years’ work, will have made it happen.