German Car Day 2014

Saturday 20th September 2014 was a glorious, sunny day but the Bureau of Meteorology forecast 90% chance of thunderstorms and rain for Sunday.  Such a dramatic change in the weather didn't really seem possible.

About 70 cars showed up at the start in East Perth. Most were modern of course as German Car Day is more of a modern car event.  There were a couple of nice old Mercedes-Benz 220s thought including a very nice two door coupe.





The DKW stood out a little amongst the moderns.

NSU's revolutionary (revolutionary! Get it?) rotary engined Ro80.

Setting off time.  At this point the sky was still blue and it seemed like it was going to be a good day for a car show.

But....  as the cars set off the first drizzle of rain began to fall...

The Bureau of Meteorology updated their forecast to 100% chance of thunderstorms and issued a road weather alert.  Things were getting serious.



Halfway to the rendezvous in Rockingham I pulled over at a gas station to check my tyre pressure.  It felt like the left wheel was a little unbalanced.  Three vintage cars and about 30 motorcyclists were sheltering at the station.  It was not turning out to be such a great day.

The SIVA contingent at Rockingham Park.  The weather was truly atrocious by this point but still about 100 cars attended. The rain however never let up and people began to drift away very quickly.  Still, it was great people made the effort to attend as all the money goes to charity.  http://www.motorindustryfoundation.com.au/

Lloyd, DKW and NSU (photographed from the tent)

Time to put the Lloyd away

Forney Transportation Museum

The Forney Museum of Transport is located in an industrial area north of central Denver, Colorado. The museum houses a diverse collection of cars, trucks, motorcycles, carriages and - interestingly - trains. In fact, the star of the collection is the Big Boy locomotive No X4005, a vehicle which really does live up to its name. It's positively gigantic and far too large to get a decent photo of. There are some other interesting vehicles in the collection which I'll cover in the post. It's not a huge collection, but certainly worth a good hour or so visit. http://www.forneymuseum.org/  

A small collection of horse draw carriages and buggies. The yellow buggy is a 1905 Auto Buggy, which was both a horse-drawn carriage and had a small electric powered engine. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1905autobuggy.htm

Military motorbikes and scooters. This is a Cushman utility van.

One of the stars of the collection is Amelia Earhart's 1923 Kissell model 45 roadster.
http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_AmeliaEarhartGoldBug.html Kissell is a relatively obscure American car manufacturer but Forney has almost a dozen of them.

1909 Empire A20 Tourer. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1909empiretouringa20.htm

1924 Jewett Special Tourer. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1924jewett.htm

1923 Hispano Suiza 6 wheel custom Victoria Town Car. The car was owned by the film director D W Griffith. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_HispanoSuiza.html

1912 Metz Model 22 Roadster. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1912metz.htm

1922 Hupmobile Roadster. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1922hupmobile.htm

1917 Vauxhall

There were several interesting comments left by outraged and disappointed parents on TripAdvisor complaining that the cars were roped off and their children couldn't climb on them. Honestly! Have these people ever been to a museum before? Why would anyone think their little monsters should have a right to do what they please?



Rolls-Royce



1937 Cord 812. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1937cordbeverly.htm

1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom 1 formerly owned by Prince Ali-Khan. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_HispanoSuiza.html

1934 Pierce-Arrow limousine. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_PierceArrow.html









1941 Packard 120 Town Car (Rollson Bodied)

Packard

Trolley car



Vintage caravan display

1981 HMV Freeway http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1981freeway.htm and 1959 Messerschmitt KR200 three-wheelers http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1959messerschmitt.htm

1967 Amphicar. The strange, German built amphibious car was powered by a British Austin engine. Although it was a reasonably decent car and was quite capable in the water, it's still difficult to discern just what market this car was aiming for. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_Amphicar.html

A unique experimental flying, aquatic car. If the Amphicar was a confused concept, this was positively bonkers!



1923 Stutz Fire Engine. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1923stutz.htm



Samson truck

International Harvester







Two veteran cars sold through mail order catalogs. 1904 Searchmont http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1903searchmont.htm and a 1906 Sears on the right. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1906sears.htm

1904 Knox. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1904knox.htm

1906 Cadillac http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1906cadillac.htm

1905 Ford Model F. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1905fordroadster.htm

1905 Franklin Type A runabout. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1904franklin.htm

1908 Overland Roadster. http://barthworks.com/cars/forneycars/1908overland.htm

1916 Detroit Electric. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_Detroit_Electric.html

Neracar tricycle

Indian motorcycle collection

1923 Case steam traction engine. The Case was clearly modeled on a British steam traction design. These type of machines were largely obsolete by the 1920s, being replaced by diesel engined vehicles. Case would go on to become a major tractor manufacturer. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_CaseTractor.html



The front end of the Big Boy. The car is just visible in the distance. http://www.forneymuseum.org/Featured_Exhibit.html

1897 Forney Tank Engine. http://www.forneymuseum.org/FE_Forney_Locomotive.html