One for the Petrolheads

As promised, some photos from the Nelson WOW Auto Museum we visited a couple of weeks ago. This place was awesome for anyone with a hint of petrol in the blood, some lovingly restored vintage classics through to current motoring exotica. We shall start at the beginning, sort of, with the worlds first production-line manufactured vehicle, the Model T Ford. This one actually predates the production line by a couple of years, but is instantly recogniseable nonetheless, in its original paintscheme, as Henry Ford famously quipped, available in any colour you like as long as its black!

 

Fast Forward a few years, and dammit, I’ve already forgotten the name of this model. A Packard maybe ? Suffice it to say, if you were wanting to impress the folk about town with the latest in wizzbang ve-hicular technology in the 30s, then I guess you’d have been wanting one of these behemoths. Love the swivelling headlamps (Lexus just recently are trumpetting this “new innovation” on some of their models).

A classic 50s Caddy. At first I thought maybe it was a Hudson Hornet (like Doc Hudson in Cars, the pixar movie), but it seems that just like today, cars of bygone eras shared many a similar design spec, even often drivetrains and identical body parts.

A Dellorean, as featured in Back to the Future. First one I’ve seen ” in the flesh”, got to say I was disappointed. No flux capacitor, no Mr Fusion alternate power source, not even the standard hover pack that we all know cars are going to be running in the next decade or so, right ?

Heck, even the all-steel look was nothing new. Check out this old Alvin :

Next up a supercharged Cord A12, circa late 30s. They sure don’t build ’em like they used to. You wouldn’t lose this one in the woolworths carpark I’m guessing.

Ok, we’ll stick with the yellow. A genuine 1919 Stutz Bearcat in racing trim (headlights removed).  With their minimalist design and racetrack sucess, this was the boy racers wet dream back in the day. I’d read about them, never seen one until now.

The 50s was in American automotive circles also the Age of the Fin, when designs were allowed to be as outrageous as the fuel economy figures. One of the icons of the time was undoubtably the Plymouth Fury, as epitomised in the Stephen King novel and movie, Christine. These cars don’t look right in any colour but red.

Who among you (guys) didn’t have the Matchbox version of one of these when you were a kid? A (replica I think) Ford GT40. Uber cool!

 

And it was not only 4 wheeled heaven incarnate, but 2  wheeled afficionados were catered for as well. A small but expensive collection of mainly Italian ware, racing Ducatis, a couple of Bimotas including the hub-steered Tesi and even an old army BSA which unfortunately I didn’t get a shot of. Of these, I have only ridden the Honda RC30, as seen on the right, which was a racers favourite in the early 90s. One day, my shed will look something like this, honest. One powerball…. *sigh*

Now this was different. A Napier Sabre VII engine as fitted to the Hawker Typhoon fighter aircraft which entered service with the RAF in 1941.   Size is hard to judge here, but it was big. Over a tonne comprising 24 cylinders (twin-supercharged) displacing 2,238 ci or 36.6 l ! Output was listed as 3050 bhp, serious grunt in anyones language.

Even the Aussies were represented. There was a pristine Valiant Pacer, but of course, I am a Ford man, so we get a Ford shot, and not just any Ford, but the defining Aussie Muscle car of the 70s, the XY Phase III GTHO Falcon. What a beast, designed solely to win the Bathurst Mountain race (which it did, in a memorable 1-2 finish), the GT remained for years afterward the fastest 4 door car in the world at around 240 kmh. Highly collectable now, this model is a modern legend in aussie motoring.

Well, that about wraps it up folks. There were many many fine examples I wouldn’t have the space for here (well, I might, but not the patience to upload), Ferraris, Porsches, Mercedes recent answer to Rolls Royce, the Maybach….

But I’ll close with one last shot of one old beauty the restorers haven’t quite finished with. An old Buick that proves that some things, maybe, are best left to Rust in Peace.