Veteran Report

Duncan Grant’s 1913 Unic Coupe (picture taken at the Malvern Run)

It’s been another good month for the veteran owners with two good outings. The first was the monthly Old Cars, Bikes and Coffee (OCBC) morning on Sunday 18 April, when around 10 cars from the Veteran Car Club run joined us at Cutler Park after a short run from Kathryn Smith’s property, before later carrying on to the Groynes for a picnic lunch. At OCBC Malcolm McGibbon was kept very busy teaching members young and old how to drive a Model T Ford, making his Speedster available for anyone who wanted to have a go. For some it was a complete re-write of the “how to drive a car” book, but others took to it easily and mastered it quickly. Apparently one of the outstanding students was Terry McQuinn’s nephew, 12-year-old Hector MCCallum, who came out to OCBC specially to have a go. We think he’s lining up to drive Uncle Terry’s Model T which is due to emerge from the restoration shed any month now.

Two veteran cars arrived at OCBC which were ‘new’ to our branch. The first of these was the 1910 EMF tourer belonging to Ramon Farmer, out on it’s first club run after a restoration spanning the best part of ten years. Ramon bought the car as a road-legal running veteran, and used it for a short while before deciding it needed a full restoration to sort out reliability and engineering issues. It’s a large car and Ramon has executed a superb restoration. (For those of you who get the Hub before

COLIN HEY

Veteran Convenor Ph 359-8737 021 883 807

this month’s noggin, it’s likely you will have the chance to see it there, together with Bruce and Shirley Shadbolt’s 1904 L’Etoile which was finished in 2019, and perhaps even another restoration that Brian Newberry has just completed which may be unveiled at noggin – a surprise I think).

The second ‘new’ car was the 1910 Stanley Model 71 steam car, newly imported by Allan Familton. What a machine!! This is a veteran car that stands alone in awesomeness. It also is a stunning restoration, but it’s not until it starts moving that you realise how impressive it is. Clouds of steam follow in its wake, it has silence, power and acceleration unlike any other veteran I’ve seen, and more taps, pipes and valves than the plumbing department at Bunnings! Alan is to be commended for having the fortitude to a) purchase it from the States, b) get it across the border, c) get it vinned and certified, and d) to drive it. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of this car at our events in future.

After OCBC Jenny and I joined in with the run to the Groynes in our 1909 Wolseley Siddeley, and we had lunch and a delightful afternoon there in perfect autumn weather. This was quite a contrast to driving it from West Melton to Cutler park at 8am that morning, when the first frost for the year made for very cool motoring. The second event was the Dutton Malvern Anzac Run on 25 April. Nineteen veterans took part in this event (reported on elsewhere in this Hub), including a few that we hadn’t seen out for a long time. Included in this list was Brett O’Rourke’s 1910 Brush, Duncan Grant’s 1913 Unic Coupe (formerly restored by Brian Black), a delightful 1915 Model T truck owned by Brendon Wright, Bruce and Shirley Shadbolt’s 1911 Hupmobile, and Kathryn Smith’s 1911 Model T tourer. Allan Familton also brought the Stanley to this event, where it again

Allan Familton’s impressive 1910 Stanley Model 71 steam car

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