There's a wrecking yard about 100 miles from me that is well known for old tin. It is also well known for over inflated prices. Very rarely are you allowed to wander around up to the back of the yard to the old stuff. I got a call from from a mate who has a friend who knows the owner and got us in. Apart from the abundance of mid 30's onwards 4 door sedans, I was amazed at the amount of utes in good condition. Here's some pics, I'll try to keep them of stuff unique to Australia. I'm hoping to go back for this one... Early 50's utes.... White 48? ute 37 Chev sloper.... 46 ute... EK Holden (GM) ute 46 Ford bus used in the Aussie snow fields, I love this thing, the white line above the wheels arches is actually pressed into the body... Don't know what make this was, I thought at first it was a small bus, similar to other coach built stuff I have seen here in Australia, but it looks as though it was a real long hearse.....
Perhaps you can answer a question I have had for years--- in 1939 Chevrolet did not make a Convertible , however I was told by a Chevrolet dealer who was a collector & restorer of Cheverolets that the Holden in Australlia had a convertible in 39. The Holden is a Chevy more or less right, & did they have a convert in 39?
sorry for the OT, or possible hijack, but. me and a pal bought a 66 holden in AU and spent two months driving up the east coast, camping on probably the most uncrowded and beautiful beaches you'll ever see. never saw one 'old' car the whole time. looks like they're all stored in one place heh. here's a pick of our ride. porta walls still in place. "dude, the front end is coming apart! hold on, i'm going to try and get this thing to the side of the road." was just the porta walls coming off at 60 mph. we ended up giving the car to a mate we met. try to sell it but no luck. in classic australian fashion of 'taking the piss', this guy comes up to us at the gas station. sees the for sale sign. and says to us, 'hey, isn't that an old holden?' sure is 'hmm, nice old car' proceeds to ask a hundred questions. then he's like 'yeah, i think i'll be HOLDEN on to my money' we just sat there laughing for ten minutes. gary.
Sheeet!!! there's plenty of seriously cool stuff there. That Bus really needs saving. Good luck with the Jailbar!!! How about letting us know where the location is??? Cheers Bob
You cold hearted bastard!!! Showing us all that cool old stuff .... and out of reach for most of us! SHEESH !!! That old truck your looking at would be WAY cool to have!!! Thanks for sharin'.... (ya SOB)
Thanks for the pics Jimbob! What condition was the Sloper in? Saveable? I don't know about convertibles but we had roadsters up to '39.
I hear Taps playing quietly in the background. But then, I believe in resurrection so get to work>. On the Bus.
Was going to do a separate post, but Jimbob's post is very timely! Here is a bunch of old tin on a property of a friend of mine Geoff aka whodaky
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I'd Dump ALL my Hemis to have THAT !!! Thanks for the pics. That is a TRICK ride & A Roadster yet!!
That's the late Max Knight's roadster, now under the stewardship of his daughter. Max was a great friend to all that knew him. On the passenger door is witten "the Sunnybank Gal, and on Max's Driver's door is "The Sunnybank Kid". Max made the supercharger setup that I now have to run on my stovebolt 6. A great man - missed heaps.
I am trying to find it but so far no luck. this looks interesting google earth coordinates Latitude 36°17'47.39"S longitude 149° 0'58.43"E
there was a 37 sloper on ebay here in the states a couple years ago. man, what a great car. any of the aussies on here have any pics of one fixed up? many of the american built aussie cars had very good lines we didn't have here.
basically, an el camino, or a ranchero. but they made em in australia before elcos, or rancheros were thought of... picture what a 50 ranchero would look like.
Nope 36, 37, 38 and 39 if I'm correct. They used the same doors on roadsters, slopers and utes, which do not fit sedans.
Don't feel you only need to post stuff unique to AU, give us more! The dash in that bus is really cool.
I pass that wrecking yard every year as I head off on my aussie annual ski trip. Knowing its reputation for outrageous pricing I've never bothered to venture in. Nice selction of stuff - lets hope it all gets sold (at a fair price) before it all turns to swiss cheese!
That'd be a HR then, one of those was the first 'hot rod' I ever worked on, I was 13 and a friend owned it, and we put a 208 (202 straight six bored to 208) in place of the stock 186 - with some extractors (headers over here) it was pretty cool. Even had a m22 (i think) 4 speed to replace the traumatic that it came with. All the old cars (even late 70's jappers) started disappearing about 8 years ago when tougher emissions and reg laws made it hard to keep them on the road. I used to ride around in all kinds of stuff as a teenager, XB GT's Landau's Monaro's an SLR5000 clone a friend build, later a real SLR5000, numerous HR's HQ's fast Mini's.... all sorts. They're all gone or in hiding now. I hadn't ever seen a sloper until i came across one for sale when I was home about 5 months ago, awesome looking car and would really really turn heads here - it was CHEAP ! $2500 and came with a spare ute chassis and was pretty much intact. If I could have afforded the $3000 usd shipping I'd have it now. It was one of less than 500 37 Chev Sports built by Holdens... rare as rocking horse poo. When I finish my F1 I am going back home to find a nice old ute of some sort to bring back - one of those early Chevs by Holden in a ute would be perfect. Maybe that junkyard would be a good place to start.
Wow, if this is actually it, I've been past there dozens of times on motorcycle trips in the mountains in summer. Slopers http://members.optusnet.com.au/hartleyfamily/newindex
Been past that place numerous times and was amazed that it was still there when I was through last January.Some of the cars have been there 40years at least but it is up high and dry so the rust is not that bad.Heres a google earth shot of the place just s/w of Cooma.Snowy Mnts Hwy,I think. Maybe someone should buy the lot and have a wrodders wreckers. Keep on roddin'
The Jalopy Journal
