Make a wish day 2012

Seeing as it is Christmas time in the Sunshine we had to leave the J van in the shed and take one of our Mokes out.
The "Make a Wish Foundation" organises a Christmas party for sick Kids every year, and the Moke Association always helps out with rides
We feature in the Yellow Moke
Happy Christmas to all.

Yes its us in the yellow moke

Geelong Revival Show 2012.

We hadn't taken the Messerschmitt to a show since we got it, so now it is repaired we entered it in the GEELONG REVIVAL, a show and time trial race meet.

Forget the time trials - we are not into that, we put the Messerschmitt on display.

We drew crowds around all day - I nearly lost my voice telling people about it

A number of people remembered Messerschmitts from the past, a lot of people had never seen one, but thought it "Cute", and asked if it was road registrable.

At the end of the day we went to see the prizegiving -and won,

"BEST IN SHOW" TO OUR MESSERSCHMITT

Well that was its first show, and it passed with distinction.

Historic Commercial Vehicle Show Melbourne 2012

Historic Commercial Vehicle Show Melbourne 2012

Last year we managed to get 3 J Vans to the show, so this year we had to do something better

SEVEN  J vans together – what a sight – Apart from the UK National rally you can’t beat that

There was a Van sold on Ebay a few days ago, and we even had that van’s new owner (Bernie) come and witness the event – inspiration for him – 7 Vans & 8 Owners

Bernie's van will be at the show next year, we hope, no pressure then!!!

There were lots of old Busses and old cars as well, but no one but the J Group got 7 of a kind!

Even the backs look good.

British Bedford pick up.

Old Bedfords

Fire engines.

Two J's, Five JB's and 8 owners.

Where did that Blue Morris JB go?

Two John's with their respective JB and 101 vans.

The Moke came out for Remembrance Day.

We took our Army Moke for a ride today (It was feeling forgotten in the shed)
Today was Rememberance day, and there was Historic car racing at a local racetrack (Everything had to be 25 years old or more or it could not compete)
We were part of the Rememberance day  service, but the Moke didn't go racing!

1925 Bugatti

1927 Bugatti

Some of the Historic race cars.

Ready for the parade.

All lined up and ready for the race to start.

Morris club run.

We took the Van on a Morris Club run, and ended up at a Car Museum for a BBQ. The Museum was packed full of interesting items including a Messerschmitt the same as ours. (A page from the Messerschmitt owner’s manual was displayed beside the car, but that advice would no longer be politically correct)

A seizure of the engine during a journey occurs as follows:
The engine no longer pulls well and responds only slightly, or not at all, to the accelerator. The sound of the engine is different to usual and mounts to intense scraping noise which increases within the next two or three seconds until finally, and usually with a light screech, the engine stops.
However, this dangerous outcome can be avoided. lt is only necessary, upon noticing the fall in power and the scraping noise of the engine to immediately disengage the clutch and take the foot off the accelerator. By doing so the rear wheel is allowed to turn freely, and the engine immediately idles and thereby cools.
Should skidding occur, due to the clutch not being disengaged in time, then immediately de-clutch and continue to steer in the original direction of travel in order to check the skid. Let the vehicle roll to the side of the road, switch off the ignition, and wait until you have smoked a cigarette.  

On the journey home we called in on Paul (Jbvanman) http://jbmorrisvan.blogspot.com.au

We hadn’t had our vans together before but they looked great. See his site for pictures  and video together with a Sprite!

Gogomobile

Gogomobile

Isetta

Messerschmitt

Morris collection

Nash Metropolitan

Reliant

Suzuki

We went to a Steam and Traction Engine Rally over the weekend. It was 

the 100th Lake Goldsmith Rally (200 km west of Melbourne Australia).

It certainly was impressive with Stationery engines, Traction engines, Steam Rollers, and Steam shovels and more. They were looking for 100 Traction Engines – We counted 48 vehicles in the Grand parade, and there were plenty more in sheds that never made the parade.

100 T steam shovel.

90 T Steam shovel

Fairground Traction Engine.

Imperial Oil Stationery Engine.

Little and Large.

Steam Car.

Steam Lorry.

Steam Boat.

Parade is about to start.

Add caption

Pedal power!

The "Deliverette" van.

Charlie found a picture of a "Deliverette" van and published it on his blog 28.05.11.http://www.victoriajvan.blogspot.com The van is picture outside the Melbourne Exhibition buildings here in Melbourne.

Obviously at the time, manufacturers were looking for new vehicles to produce, after the suspension of vehicle manufacturing during the war. This vehicle has a strong resemblance to the Morris J van – but it was only a prototype

Sir Laurence Hartnett was working for GM Export in Asia and was sent to Australia (1934) to turn around GM Holden’s fortunes. In 1936 GM Holden was one of the founding shareholders of Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) and during the war, CAC under Hartnett’s leadership was involved in the war effort - Holden 

and CAC factories are adjacent.

After the war, GM wanted to create a new “Australian” car. Hartnett wanted a small light car, and when GM decided it was to be a big car , Hartnett  resigned

He built the small light car himself – A “Hartnett”, strongly on aircraft  principals, because of his association with CAC, and with a power unit of a 600 cc BMW Motorcycle engine. Because of supply problems, few were produced. 

Hartnett was also involved in the "Deliverette", a small light van, again based on aircraft principals and again with a power unit of a 600 cc BMW Motorcycle engine. The "Deliverette" was never produced, but Hartnett bought a prototype off CAC and used it personally. His Deliverette is now in the Melbourne Museum. If it had worked out, it could have been the GM competition to the Morris J

John

Messerschmitt repairs.

To continue the story of the replacement roof, the new dome was despatched by airfreight from UK and arrived in a huge box. These replacement domes are made oversized (50 mm all round approximately) to fit any irregularity in the cars, so the first job is to cut it to fit. There is no base starting point, and as the dome cost A$2500 and is made of 2 mm plastic, it is not a job for the faint hearted. It took two of us three full days to grind the dome little by little so it fitted. Some glue and a packing strip and it was locked into place and I was more than relieved that we hadn’t cracked it or ground it too small. The car passed a roadworthy with flying colours (MOT to you guys in UK) and is now on the road. We have taken it out on a couple of occasions, and everybody stops and takes a picture

John

Another toy joins the fleet.

We thought our J Van could do with some more company, so as Annette has been eying up Messerschmitt cars for some time (They remind her of her home town in her youth) we have been looking for one to buy.

They are scarce, and even more scarce restored to concourse condition.

We found one in Brisbane Australia (1700 KM from here) so a quick plane trip and a deal was done.

Transporting it home was now a problem as car transport companies want 4 wheels on the transporter, and 3 wheels  don’t fit on their two wheel tracks.

The quick answer was to drive the 1700 KM to Brisbane, we loaded the Messerschmitt on to a flatbed trailer and then we set off, heading for home.

All went well but 300 KM's into our journey we had a disaster.

The Dome top opens to get in and out of the car, and the catch somehow unclipped while we were travelling. The top flew open, breaking the restraining strap and smashed the dome top onto the trailer mudguard – it is not as strong as a J roof so it destroyed the dome.

You can get replacement domes from the Messerschmitt Club in UK so after a payment of over A$2000.00  for the Dome and freight, we have a replacement dome on the water

Our J Van will have the company of a complete Messerschmitt soon, as well as the 2 Mokes it already shares the garage with.

A Holiday to the USA.

We have recently been on holiday in America, but no holiday passing Vancouver (Canada) would be complete without looking in on the J Vans there.

We were passing where VICTORIA (http://www.victoriajvan.blogspot.com.) is housed in a big shed belonging to Arron (Charlie’s panel beater/ painter) Charlie made the journey out especially to meet us.

Charlie & Victoria.

The shed is big, and Victoria had its corner. It was a rolling chassis at the time we saw it, with lots of refabricated parts around to be installed. Seeing it in reality, it is amazing how much has been done. So much has been refabricated it looks ex factory. Arron showed  us his other “work in progress” for other customers – he sure is a good tradesman.

John admiring the workmanship.

We had to move on and Charlie promised us a BBQ when we returned in a few days

We visited Charlie at his home when we returned, and Charlie is a dab hand with the BBQ. We met his wife children and his Dad. Charlie showed us pictures of the van (more than is on the blog) I would have called the van a “donor” but not a “restorer” if I had seen it in that condition.

Charlie let it slip his other achievements. He is an accomplished author, and in his spare time is finishing off a law degree. Maybe he should lecture in “Time management” as he seems to have that sorted

During the evening Charlie took us to see Steve D and DUNCAN. 

Annette, John and Duncan the van.

Duncan's owner Steve with John.

Well DUNCAN looks very complete apart from having virtually no inside floor – all the parts are there apart from one back door. There will be a lot of work taking it apart to clean and fix everything, and who knows, with a good clean a lot of flaws tend to be discovered as Charlie found out

I am not sure Steve has the time for DUNCAN He has restored two Austin cars, and had a Morris tourer. He is working on full rebuild of another Morris, and had a 2 ton Austin truck and a couple of other projects (not much more than chassis at the present time) to do as well. He might need another life to get time – unless he speaks to Charlie about Time management

In all it was great to touch and see Charlie’s project in reality. It will be concourse  when it is finished, I hope Charlie likes driving it when it is complete – He hasn’t driven a J Van yet – Charlie let’s say it is different to drive. Well done – anyone will have a hard job to make a better van than yours.