Monday, February 8, 2010

Veteran Car Day 2010


On Sunday morning 7 February 2010 Shelly and I got up early to see the Veteran Car Club display ahead of their annual Perth to Northam run. There was an excellent collection of interesting veteran (pre 1919) vehicles, including a 1920 Harley Davidson. Here's a selection of photos.

A 1908 Swift

An British Albion and an American Buick

The back end of an Austin

And the front end

A French 1906 De Dion Bouton. This interesting little veteran was resurrected from a shocking state of decay. It had been abandoned in a swamp on a farm and had completely rotted away. Almost nothing was left except the chassis and a few mechanical parts. The engine had been sold to a local and was being used as an anchor weight for their farm workbench. It took ten years to restore the car.

It's amazing how much technology changed between 1906 when the De Dion Bouton was built and 1913 when the Austin was built. The De Dion literally is a horseless carriage but the Austin is definitely a motorcar.

And speaking of horseless carriages... this 1913 American Shlacht must have looked anachronisticly old fashioned in it's day.

A very basic looking Swift

This 1918 Oldsmobile took 8 years to restore. Some owners had before and after photos of their cars which really highlighted the labour of love (and just labour) it is to restore an old car.

A 1908 Rover.



Faster, slower... you've got to love the early controls

The Buick

Another Rover









1906 Humber

A very nice 1923 Harley Davidson. There were no end of admirers for this one.

A line up of American cars

A cut down Ford model T. At some point this model T was cut down into two seater coupe. Compare it to the black model T above.

One of Shelly's arty shots