Big Al's Poker Run 2012

Big Al's Poker Run was held on Saturday 12th February 2012 and was bigger and better than ever. I think there were a few less hot-rods and 1950s American cars and a much bigger contingent of Australian classics this year. There were also some classic cars on display.



This magnificent 1930s Chevrolet car had a career as an endurance racer.

The boat tailed bodywork was constructed from canvas stretched over a wood frame. This made the car both streamlined and light. The two cockpit-like seats in the rear were actually built to hold double fuel tanks for endurance racing. In the days before safety regulations the on-board mechanic's would refuel their cars and check and top up the oil while the cars were in motion, moving back and forth along the running boards.

Shelly chatting with the owner.

Rusty the co-pilot takes a rest

1927 Pontiac Sports Roadster. Apparently one of only three in the world.



1927 Chrysler Model 75



1938 Dodge

A lovely 1940 Ford Deluxe.

Not all cars, there was a few odd balls like this 1940s tow truck.

A stunningly restored Edsel. http://www.edsel.com/

The Edsel can't escape its reputation as "one of the worst car's of all time" but that's scarcely fair. The Edsel was a relatively good car for its era with lots of excellent and unusual features. But it was ill-timed, coming on the market just as the American economy went into a downturn. And of course its marketing was ultimately to blame, trumpeting the Edsel as something more than it really was - which was after all just a car. The Edsel was in production for 3 years.

Push button gear shifters appeared in several American cars in the 1940s and 50s but only the Edsel put push button gears on the steering hub.

1955 Cadillac. A gorgeous car

Something new this year - a stall selling toy cars and other collectables.

The Ford Customline was a popular car at the show. I think we saw about four there.

Ford Customline



1961 EK Holden - lovely cars

Part of the American contingent


1959 Chevrolet Impala. I always wanted one of these beautiful cars. You gotta love the wings!




Thunderbirds are go!





A bit of an oddity among the American cars - a hotted up Triumph wagon

A Lincoln Continental

Those amazing outward opening doors are just made for a big entrance. This is the kind of car you'd expect John F Kennedy to have ridden in.

Ford Mustang



Ford Fairlane

A HR Holden (right) and EH Holden (left)

Holden Monaro. These now obtain ridiculous prices.

1970s Aussie muscle - Fords versus Holden

Chevrolet Camaro

Pontiac Firebird

Ford Falcon interceptor. Some might find it odd, given my taste in arcane vehicles, but I almost bought one of these when I was seventeen years old. It was this very model with the green and white paint scheme and was $6000. Not a lot today of course but at that time my annual wage. Then my grandfather died and inherited his 1963 EH Holden which I drove and loved for almost ten years.

Mad Max's Ford Interceptor. What a car! What a fantastic opening chase scene. As a teenage boy I loved that film and watched it over and over on video. It was this car that made me want to buy the Falcon pictured above. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max#Plot_summary



The sleek lines of the Chevrolet Corvette


Here's a really interesting car. 1948 Debonde Sports V8. Although you wouldn't recognise it now this was originally a 1939 Ford V8 sedan that was stripped down for racing. In 1948 Fred Debonde and Ron Possett stripped the ford down to its chassis and installed this new, sleek bodywork. A 4800cc Ford Mercury V8 engine was slipped under the hood and the car went on to a successful racing career in the late 1940s and early 1950s.


A wee rippa! Honda S600. http://www.hondas600.com/ With these little cars the Japanese were able to undercut the market for light sports cars that was dominated by British brands like MG and Triumph.



The run gets underway



The Edsel hits the road. I don't care what anyone says - this car makes a statement.

A jet boat roars past on the river side.

For anyone who missed the show or can't get enough there is the Max Murray Auto Xtravaganza on Easter Saturday 7th April 2012 at the Sir Ross McLarty Oval, Pinjarra. Details can be found online http://www.maxpinjarra.com.au/

For photos of previous years shows -
http://www.heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/big-al.html

http://www.heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/big-als-poker-run-2011.html

DKW Repairs

I organised a temporary movement permit (http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/licensing/20779.asp) which allows you to drive an unregistered vehicle on the road for the purpose of repair or registration with the intention of taking the straight over the pits on Wednesday morning, but after I'd reviewed the car and taken it for a short drive I changed my mind. The brakes felt weak so I thought I should get them checked out. There'd be no sense taking the car for inspection only to fail on something so obvious.

I took the car down to Auto-Masters in Fremantle. The guys were puzzled by the car but happy to give it the once over.

It turned out the brakes were okay, needing only a top up of the fluid and little adjustment. They are about as good as 50 year old drum brakes get. The underside of the car was 'immaculate', without a spot of rust. But they did advise that the right hand inner tie rod end was worn and this was making the steering veer, especially when braking.

As I needed to import the tie rod end anyway, I considered replacing the drum brakes with disc brakes, which DKW introduced as an option in 1960. Spares can be found in Germany, South Africa and Brazil. In Brazil DKW-Vemag manufactured DKW cars right through to 1968 and many thousands are still on the road. Dekabras still manufacture spares and performance parts and have begun advertising internationally. Their website is - http://www.dekabras.com.br/inicio.php The website is in Portuguese and needs some work but they responded very promptly to my emails and sent me photos of their spares and disc brake kits. Here's a photo:

Nevertheless, after some correspondence I opted not to pursue this option. Replacing the drum brakes would require complete replacement of the front axles and all the brake cylinders. After the Auto Masters guys retuning the brakes they proved to be quite good enough.

Then I needed to fix two defects in the instrumentation requiring specialist parts.  Firstly, the petrol gauge didn't work. This is a common problem with old Deeks and there are no spares/replacement parts available. Arne Guldenstein at Mobilitaeten offers a repair service, so the gauge was shipped over to Germany for repair.

The temperature gauge was also faulty so it also went back to Germany. While the petrol gauge was easy to remove, the temperature gauge was not. The whole instrument, from the sensor to the gauge is a single piece. The sensor was easy enough to unscrew and feed back through the firewall, but removing the gauge was a challenge that required removing the dashboard instrument panel. That required a lot of fiddling around under the dash to undo the tiny screws holding it on and then some real grunt to pull it through - without scratching the paintwork or disconnecting any of the wiring. I pray that I'll be able to get it all back in without damaging anything. I'm hoping that the instruments and the tie rods will be back in about three weeks. Crossed fingers!

Update 2 March 2012
I heard from Arne that the parts have arrived in Germany but are with Customs who may take up to two weeks to inspect and release them. This is disappointing. It doesn't sound like the parts will be back by April.

Here is a link to DKW spare parts suppliers (including Mobilitaeten) - http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/dkw-spare-parts-suppliers-and-repairers.html

To part two: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2012/04/dkw-crunch-time.html

The DKW Arrives

The Tijuca arrived in Fremantle in the early hours of 2 February 2012. She stayed in port long enough to unload her cargo before setting sail for Melbourne that very day. I was quite surprised at the speed of the turnaround as I see plenty of cargo carriers parked dockside for days. I had intended to ride down and see the ship unloading but it wasn't to be.

Cargo Online handled all the import paperwork, Customs and the obligatory Quarantine inspection. Quarantine can request vehicles be steam cleaned and this can take up to a week to arrange. Fortunately I had arranged with Marcelo to have the car thoroughly cleaned before it was shipped so Quarantined passed the car.

Only authorized drivers are allowed dockside so Jason from Cargo Online organized for the car to be delivered directly to our house. It was dropped off on Tuesday 7th February 2012.

Rolling down the ramp

This is my first view of the car as I arrived home after work.



The walk around. Although there are some little flaws in the paintwork the car DOES look as good as it did in the pics from South Africa.

The interior is all original and unrestored.

Settling in behind the wheel. It still has that old car smell that I remember from my old EH Holden (1963); the smell of real leather upholstery.

The moment of truth! The transporter driver said the battery was flat but clearly he didn't know how to start it. I inserted the key, turned it to 'Fahrt', pressed the starter button and the engine whirred into life. I was surprised how quiet the engine was. It simply purrs.

DKW Shipping: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2012/01/das-auto-kommt.html
DKW Repairs: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2012/02/dkw-repairs-and-spares.html

Das Auto Kommt

After almost three months the DKW is finally on its way. The lengthiest part of the process was obtaining the import approval from the Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure. The usual timeline for processing an application for import approval is between four and six weeks. In my case it took slightly longer at seven weeks, but I guess that's within an acceptable margin.
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/vehicle_regulation/bulletin/importing_vehicles/general/index.aspx

The time it takes to turn around an international car sale certainly makes it an unattractive proposition for the seller. Without Marcelo's patience and willingness to help this process would have been impossible. He assisted with organising the South African police clearances, insurance, vehicle inspections and valuations as well liaising directly with the shipping agents. Thanks Marcelo for all your help.

For shipping I used Cargo Online, who were also very helpful. Thank you Scott for your advice. http://www.cargoonline.com.au/. Most of the legwork was done by Maurita of Lochhead White and Womersley Pty Ltd in Durban, who co-ordinated things on the South African side. Thank you Maurita for all your good work.

The cost of shipping from Johannesburg was almost half the price of the car as vehicles need to be shipped in a container, which inevitably requires specialised handling with all associated costs. It's much cheaper to ship as 'roll-on,roll-off' cargo from ports so we arranged to transport the DKW on a car carrier from Johannesburg to Durban. The car was picked up in Johannesburg on Monday 16th January and dropped off in Durban on Wednesday 19th. As long as there are no delays with the ship, she will be loaded on the MV Tijuca on Thursday or Friday.

A week prior to pick up the DKW was steam cleaned to remove any dirt from the underside.

The final inspection before shipping at Marcelo's house.

Photographs and a vehicle condition report noting any scratches and scrapes were provided to the shipping agent for insurance purposes.



Two boxes of spares and manuals in the boot.

Steam cleaned engine bay. This should satisfy the Australian Quarantine Services.

The car goes onto the carrier. It's with no little sense of irony that she shared the journey with a new Audi! Now I just hope and pray that the Tijuca doesn't hit a rock or an iceberg.

Happy New Year 2012

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Welcome to 2012. I'm looking forward to an exciting year ahead. The long awaited DKW is due to arrive at the beginning of February. Importing the car has been a long and tiring exercise - not least for the seller - but its almost over now. I'll write up a summary of the process and its challenges shortly.

Outside the iconic Dingo Flour building in Leighton.

After several weeks of unseasonably wet weather the Christmas and New Year were days of glorious sunshine so I tuned up the Ariel and took her out on a couple of long runs to Fremantle, up the coast and around the river. It was a real pleasure to be out on the road and the bike ran like dream. Whenever I stop when I'm out with the bike people always come over for a chat, even on a run up to the local shops. Of course I enjoy the chat. It's always a pleasure to share the interest with people.

I often ride past the port where the roll-on roll-off ships berth. At Christmas the 'Hoegh Africa' Autoliner was in port delivering a load of heavy industrial vehicles and what looked like a fleet of Hyundai's. I stopped to watch the ship leaving port and wondered whether the Deek would be hitching a ride shortly.

The following week I got my answer - No. The Deek was booked on the MV Tijuca, currently on route from Southhampton, UK to Port Elizabeth, South Africa with a load of luxury cars aboard. After Port Elizabeth she will stop in Durban on the 20th of January where she picks up the Deek and heads across the Indian Ocean.

Here is a handy link that actually gives the GPS co-ordinates of the ship.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?MMSI=259805000
On 16th of January she was off Cape Town, South Africa.

As I rode along I noticed this Ford Thunderbird parked dockside. I wonder if its a recent arrival or is awaiting shipping? I'll have to keep an eye out for it at Big Al's Poker Run this February. http://www.bigalspokerrun.com.au/index.html

"And during the meanwhilst..."*
Sadly the Ariel is the only one of my machines fit for the road. The Troll broke down again shortly after I got it back on the road. Firstly the steering started to become unstable. At only 70 kilometres per hour the front end shuddered disturbingly, but there did not appear to be anything obviously wrong. I was about to take the Troll back to the Vespa Shop for a thorough going over but then the kickstarter broke and she wasn't going anywhere.

It took a couple of months to get the Troll dropped off at the Vespa Shop and then, after diagnosis (sheered teeth on the kickstarter damaging the gearbox), it's taken almost two months to source the replacement parts. I'm hoping the Troll will be back on the road by February as I want to drop the Ariel off for a bit of tender love and care.

The Vespa has been off the road even longer than the Troll. It is now most definitely displaying all the signs of a poor quality Asian restoration. Almost all of the 'chrome' has degraded to rust - despite the Vespa having hardly been on the road and always stored under cover in my garage. Poor quality shabby reproduction rubbish!

More seriously the rear wheel is dangerously loose making the scooter unroadworthy. According to Ivo at the Vespa Shop this is a common problem in Balinese and Vietnamese restorations and is due to the use of poor quality materials that are not designed to bear the kind of forces associated with road use. I found this out to my surprise when I replaced the Vespa's exhaust back in 2009. Instead of correct sized automotive parts, the exhaust was held on by roofing bolts which where the wrong size and packed out with washers. Even the engine and rear axle is mounted using a jumble of household odds and ends. They might last for a while - two years in my case - but they always fail and if it fails on the road the results can be catastrophic. Ivo has seen this dozens of times and it infuriates him as it only takes a small effort to use the right quality parts to avoid this issue in the first place.

If you own a Balinese or Vietnamese Vespa I can only suggest you get it properly checked over.
For a great insight into dodgy Asian Vespa restorations go no further than Brett's blog - The 71 Sprint V and Me - http://71sprintveloce.blogspot.com/

This is not to say the Vespa is a write-off. It still runs pretty well and remains a handsome machine. When I get the time and money I'll have her fixed up so that it's road safe and then I'll sell it. I really don't have the space or time to ride it anymore.

And finally there's the Heinkel, which remains in stacked in a pile of boxes at the Vespa Shop. For a variety of reasons neither the guys nor myself have attempted to tackle the restoration. I think I'll bring it all home again shortly and put the project on ice for the time being. With the DKW due in shortly I expect I'll be busy over the coming months. As crazy as it may sound, the cost of the DKW including shipping, is probably on par with what it would end up costing me to complete the Heinkel restoration! http://www.vespashop.net.au/