Newstead rods and Chopped

I recently visited Newstead in Central Victoria. While walking around, I noticed this very nice 32 Ford roadster. I wandered over and saw a few people in the front yard of the house it was parked in front of. It turned out that these two cars are owned by Ryan Ford, who is incredibly busy running Chopped this weekend. On the way up the Hume I saw dozens of rods and customs heading the other direction. I will definitely go in 2015.

Nice Flathead with twin Strombergs

Wheels Motoring Expo Mar 2010 - part 4

I crossed over to the lawn area between the High Court and Scienceworks, to view more cars. It was getting late in the day and between drizzle, people were starting to leave. 

As always, the Ford GT guys were there.

As were the X-Falcon crew. 

Nice Red Pepper XB GT Falcon Coupe.

RT Charger

Ride on lawn mower.

Chevrolet Monza.

XR Falcon club had quite a few cars. 

I guess he has an underbonnet cooling problem. 

I think the Boss bonnet bulge will become as iconic as the XB bonnet nostrils. Ive already seen a few transplanted onto XE's

Lincoln Continental

Lincoln Continental

Chrysler 300 Coupe

Chrysler ?

Dodge Challenger

Dodge Challenger

Plymouth 'Cuda

Datsun 240K

FJ Holden Panelvan

Then the nude bicycle riders started dinging their bells and riding through the Wheels Motoring Expo displays, as part of Naked Bike Ride Day. Most people thought it was pretty funny. I did hear one old dear shout 'what about the children'. On a serious note, it probably wasnt a good idea to steer them through the several thousands of people milling about the gorgeous cars spread over four lawns, and as the police had already sealed off the area from traffic for the event I dont know who allowed this. If the bike riders thought they were being anarchic, i think they were just lucky they didnt hit someone walking backwards taking a photo and not expecting a hundred nude bicycle riders to appear from nowhere. 

One less car. Notice how the model car racers took no interest - they had a race to win!

Renault Alpine A610.

This is a fascinating, complex car. Renault and Alpine had a long relationship making sporting versions of Renault cars, designed for sporting purposes. Few made it to Australia. The Renault Alpine 610 had the worlds lowest drag coefficient at 0.28.  Im not sure what version this car is, but most left the factory with a high tech alloy V6 of between 2.4 and 3 liters. There was also a turbocharged version available. The engine and transmission in this car was selected for use in the DeLorean sports coupe built in Ireland. 

Daimler V8

And so we say farewell to the motoring expo for 2010. As one of the years leading car shows in Canberra, it is a must for car nuts to attend. Sadly, I didnt get to see a few cars I briefly glanced, such as a white 1959 Cadillac limo and a de Tomaso Pantera. Too many cars, too great an area, too little time. However - there is always next year!

All Ford Day - Part 5 - EA to BF Falcons, Lotus Cortina

Ford lost its way in the 1980's. They dropped the V8 engine to focus on a six cylinder range. This did not include turbos sadly. Without the performance jewels in the crown, the brand lost its lustre. It wasnt until the EB Falcon that performance returned to Fords range. A break from 1982 to 1992 from the V8 engine did great harm to Fords image, and also in Police fleet sales. 

To restore this performance image, the 'XR' range was developed for the EB series of Falcons, with the XR6 a strong seller which continues today as a GT-lite performance car. The XR8 also appeared in the EB Falcon, and also continues today. At the All Ford Day, quite a few of these models were on display. 

EB XR6

The GT nameplate reappeared, to celebrate the GT 25th anniversary, after going AWOL since the XB days, with a bizarre bodykit, performance suspension and 5.0 litre V8

EL Falcon

Great car, nice stance and bold custom induction system.

EB Series II XR6 - beautiful car, with engine dropped a few cm to allow the turbo piping to remain under the bonnet. 

BA Falcon Boss 260

FTE Falcon

AU Falcon

A pair of Lotus Cortinas were on display. 

Built from 1963 to 1966, the engine was quite advanced, with 1600cc and twin overhead cams.

Only a few rods, I liked this even though it had a six cylinder GM engine. Supercharged however, which mitigates the crime. Check out the fuel pressure gauge hanging off the blower. This tops all ricer bonnet mounted gauges.

Next post - All the rest!