A truck load of drifters.

Ha! Bet you thought I meant a load of Valiant panel vans.

Renault 4CV

Accompanying the old motorbikes on their run through our area a few weeks back was this little beauty.

I expected to see it again the following Sunday on the Bay to Birdwood but it wasn't there (I don't think). There was at least a couple of others complete with the obviously mandatory "Yes! Another Renault" stickers.
I've never owned one but I still think they are among the best "baby" cars. I might not fit into one now, I'm not all that flexible. When we were kids a couple of guys had them as alternatives to the Morris 8s, FJs and Customlines and with a bit of tweaking they were regular little buzz boxes. They were always called Renault 750s in my recollection. I also recall at least one that was pretty fast around Lanac Park and at Collingrove. Even today, Bolwell Mark 7 owner Brian D has one that does incredible things. I have a feeling it's Gordini powered.
It looks like these 4CV owners have lots of fun on their Easters too.

Langley Park fly-in.

Barry C went to the fly-in and sent a few photos. For the non-Sandgropers, Langley Park is a strip of land along the foreshore in Perth. It was where the Targa West had their prologue, preceded by the VSCC-WA historic sprint which was a dash up the Esplanade and back. When Rally Australia was in WA things kicked off at Langley Park with a night time stage where 2 cars ran at a time over 2 similar courses side by side so to speak. Langley Park was also the site of the very first landing strip in WA and this event commemorates that. Maybe it's an annual event because I recall Ulysses Club members talking about previous ones. Ulysses club people must have an event to ride to every weekend as they grow old disgracefully, they were even up here in Kapunda last week and rode in the Celtic Festival street parade. There is only a short strip of grass for the planes to drop in on so I guess it was only for light planes and ultralights and vintage aircraft that don't need much space to land. Anyway here's some of Barry's pics.

I know a Moth when I see one and a BD5, a Victa, an Auster or a Cessna but I'm not all that clued up on little planes so maybe all you plane spotters can have a crack at identifying them all.

More Hurricane pics.

Restoration complete.

This beautiful Mark 7 has left the Healey Factory and been delivered to Bolwell Corp. Nagari no. B8/65 is also ready for delivery to its new owner after refurbishment.

Clan Crusader.

This is a Clan Crusader.

They were built in England and run Hillman Imp mechanicals. Later, I think under new ownership, the operation was moved to Belfast where a further 140 examples were produced.
This one is raced in the under 1000cc class in the Portuguese Classic Cup by Ricardo's friend Veloso Amaral, a first year competitor.

The headlights above the body line is interesting. It reminds me of the Ikara. The Ikara's lights were mounted high to cover the design rule relating to minimum height above the ground. I presume these headlights are covering the same issue.
Later Crusaders had pop-ups - that fixed it.

While still on racing in Portugal, how's this for a race driver school? A fleet of Clubbies.

hurricane at Autoclassica.

The 1969 Holden Hurricane has been restored, a project that began in 2006 and its debut this time around is at the Autoclassica.

Yes Mr Purvis, your car had a lift up canopy too but the Eureka didn't have rising seats.

Some great old motorbikes and some great old riders.

A few weeks ago a huge collection of old bikes rolled into town. The rally was based at the Tanunda Caravan Park and they rode from there all the way over to Burra where they spent 3 days riding around the area. On their way back from Burra they had a stop at the Kapunda museum. We've got a few interesting motorbikes there ourselves including a round tank BSA. Anyway here's one or two of the more interesting bikes.

This is a 1953 Tilbrook, made in Adelaide. Rex Tilbrook, a renowned bike racer in the old days, was always coming up with innovations to improve his race bikes and decided to build his own, both race bikes and road bikes. One of the Tilbrook family, Bob, lives in Kapunda and I took this photo mainly for him. Bob has incredible mechanical skills too and was the mainstay in the building of the mechanicals from a pile of collected bits for the Morris Commercial hearse that was built at the museum and was a bit busy on Saturday when the single cylinder Bulldog tractor wouldn't start for the Celtic Festival parade. However, start it did and it managed the trip down Main Street, shaking the ground each time it fired. anyway, I digress. Tilbrook were much more famous for their sidecars and there were any number of them on the day.

Here's one mounted on a big black Vincent twin. I say "twin" because I'll show you a single cylinder Vincent in a tick. In the background you can see another Tilbrook sidecar.

The place was teeming with Indians. No really old Harleys though. Does this mean that the good old Indian has managed to withstand the test of time far better?

Look at the horn. Even that's an Indian.

Check out the quarter elliptic  front spring.

This old Rudge single was unrestored but must have been good mechanically as it loped along with the others. Devoid of brakes on the front, I don't think there was much stopping power on the back either.

Same with this Coventry Victor. As a precaution, the owner has fitted a modern disc brake to the rear. Probably a good idea on a long relatively high speed run.

This old Triumph has the back brake of the time. Levers and rods operate a shoe that is pushed into the rim of that big wheel.

This Henderson was my favourite though. A couple came out hopped on and powered down the street just like a modern bike.

4 cylinders in line. No wonder it sounded so smooth and powerful.

Here's the Vincent single I mentioned before. In the week following the bike rally, potential new BCCA member, Graeme Ruby, mentioned he was up our way. He was on that same rally and here's his Vincent. Potential new member? I hope the Opel GTs don't end up outnumbering the Bolwells. Graeme will be over in Melbourne most of this month. He works for a bookie and it's spring Carnival time.
The rally ended on the Saturday and I half expected to see a lot of these bikes again the next day on the  Bay to Birdwood, but no, most of them packed up and went home to their respective states. The older ones would have been ineligible this year anyway.