The end of 2015 was celebrated in November with the annual Brockwell Run from Fremantle to the Motor Museum at Whiteman Park. It was a beautiful sunny day - not too hot - and there as a good turn out at the start.
Photos from the drive out.
A French Simca sedan
Studebaker
Riley
Bedford truck
Ford Model A
MG TC
Delage - a rare French veteran
Close up of the Delage as it sails past.
A very fine Morgan 3-wheeler. Last time I'd seen this car out was at Arthur Grady day in 2013.
The story of the Tatra company, which originates in the Central European country of Czechoslovakia, is one of great innovation and avant-garde design in automobile engineering. It is also the story of one man – Hans Ledwinka – and his visionary concepts which have become highly influential, although often undervalued contributions, in the development of car technology.
Until now, Hans Ledwinka's talent has hardly been recognizsed; in retrospect, he can be judged equal to car designers such as Benz, Daimler and Porsche, whose endeavours have been fully recorded many times over. With his revolutionary Tatra cars Ledwinka consistently pushed back the frontiers of automobile construction, and it’s certain that without his inspiration, the Volkswagen in its air-cooled rear-engined form would perhaps never have been conceived. This book suggests that Ledwinka played a greater part in this development than has previously been appreciated.
The authors have covered the full history of the Tatra company, which is one of the oldest factories in continuous automobile manufacture, dating back to the 19th century. By doing this, they have placed both Ledwinka and the Czechoslovak Tatra company back in their rightful places in the history of car design, and provided a fully comprehensive assessment of the influence of Tatra car designs and their inspired creator.
The text of this larger format 2nd edition has been fully revised and updated since the 1990 edition. This new edition also contains many additional illustrations.
When Hans Lenwinka passed away in Munich in 1965, his personal Tatra T87 was donated to the Munich Technical Museum, where it can be still be seen today. The Munich Technical Museum has an outstanding collection of vehicles and is well worth a visit.
The Volkswagen Club of Western Australia hosted the Day of the Volkswagen on 6th of December 2015. Unfortunately the weather was unseasonably raining, which probably drove some attendees away. Nevertheless there was a good turnout and it never actually rained. At least it wasn't a stinking hot scorcher.
Given the cars in attendance, it would be more correct to call it "Day of the Kombi"
Custom caravan
A 1956 Kombi panel van restored to original spec
A very fine Kombi bus
Kombi row
This Kombi was for sale for $67,000. A fine looking machine
Coffee and milkshakes
A milkshake was just the ticket as we'd been to Shelly's Christmas party the night before.
Dual cab
1974 Army spec Kombi. This was an ex-Australian Army surplus vehicle. It's unrestored and has driven around Australia several times without a breakdown.
Country Buggy and Kombi
Steff's award winning Kombi
Time to hit the beach
And accessories
A very rotten ute
Steff's magnificent Karmann Ghia
A pair of Karmann Ghias
The dark burgundy colour may not be an 'official' colour, but it really looks marvellous.
There were surprisingly few Beetles and Type 3s
A dog day afternoon....
