I only just made it down to the Alexandra Gardens where the Tourclassica drive was starting in time before they set off, but the rush was worth it! Seeing the cars in the open air is quite different from inside a building, not to mention seeing them move. The trio of Saab 93, Maserati Mexico and Toyota Crown represent the ‘normal’ end of things, but even they are not something you see on the roads very often.
The head of the queue of cars was made up of this pair of Bullitt Mustangs, a 2019 and a replica. One of the drawcards of Motorclassica now that there are no traditional motor shows in Australia is the launch of select new cars, and there were a few of these for the weekend.
To go right to the other end of the scale in terms of exoticness from our first photo, this Delage is pretty spectacular especially in a park with a city skyline backdrop.
Here is another view of the car – you could say this was the equivalent of a Mercedes SL of its day. It has been beautifully restored.
This 1968 HK Holden Monaro GTS won the People’s Choice award for the show, it too was in amazing condition. This is the 186S six-cylinder version, which would have been more common than the 327 V8 when new but probably not now.
This 1926 Salmson race car is from the late 20s, and has a small, 1,100cc 4-cylinder dohc engine.
Another glamour shot, with what would be another prize-winning car (1967 Porsche 911s) leading a trio of Mercedes convertibles, while on the other side of the road we have a Holden Station Sedan (as it was officially called), a pair of Corvettes and a Chrysler 300B.
Obviously one is a 1963, while I think the other was a 1965.
A nice Fiat pairing – a 124 Spider and a 1949-55 500 C, which was a restyled version of the more well-known 500 “Topolino”.
This 1925 Hudson was the oldest of a few representatives of the make. Mid-20’s cars like this with 4-wheel brakes must represent a turning point where the basic format of the car was finally settled, and from then on it was development and refinement. The added-on indicators have been done in a way that I like – easy to see, but added neatly and not overly intrusive. The Dino in the background was a very nice example of what must be one of the best cars ever – they can sell for over half a million dollars did you know?
Ferrari, MG and Bentley waiting for the off.
This 1924 Minvera AB Tourer survivor would go on to win the Preservation class for pre-1950 cars, and looks to be a deserving winner. Not having immaculate, shiny paint would make it much more useable.
This Bristol 405 D drophead coupe had just 50 brothers (including some conversions) and was built alongside the 405 sedan, the sole 4-door Bristol model. The front of the car is styled after the air intakes on the engines of the Bristol Brabazon airliner, quite a departure from the BMW kidney-style grille on the earlier 401/403 ‘Aerodyne’ cars.
Some more sports cars around this Aston Martin DB5 – Riley and Alfa Romeo to the left and Austin Healey and Allard (with the roll bar) behind.
Quite a few of the cars on the Tourclassica ended up winning prizes! This 1963-1/2 Galaxie fastback is an R-code, meaning it has a 427 engine, and it won the “Last days of the American Supercar” class. More of those in a moment…
Winning that class was quite an accolade, as all the entrants were fantastically-presented. Here we have a 1969 Camaro Z/28 and Chevelle SS.
Don’s post announcing the Motorclassica Meet-up featured a blue Superbird – I wonder if he knew there would be another one at the show?
This Stutz Blackhawk was part of the Art Deco Cars class, and it is rolling past another couple of cars that would qualify too.
To come back down from the clouds, here is a 1934 Plymouth, or at least I think that is the model. It is right-hand drive, so likely was built by GM-Holden’s in Adelaide. I am aiming to get my article on early Holdens finished before Christmas…
If this boat-tail Auburn roadster looks familiar, it may be from seeing it in one of my posts from the Winton Historic races – there are some more photos there.
By the time I reached the end of the road, so to speak, one line of cars had left including this 1950 Cadillac Coupe De Ville, a similar model to one of the CC mascot vehicles. Its story couldn’t be more different to that car’s though, which I will cover in a post on the Cadillac invited class next week.
This Bugatti was having an issue; speaking to the driver’s wife I gather it isn’t the first time, but old cars not behaving perfectly can’t be a surprise – indeed to have everything functioning perfectly with no issues from fuel vaporisation and such is quite the achievement.
International readers may not appreciate the location from the photos up to now, so here is one to show just how close we are to the centre of Melbourne. The buildings are just over a quarter of a mile away, across the Yarra River and the Birrarung Marr park, which was opened in 2002 after a large rail yard was relocated over the preceding 20 years, and a road diverted. Behind me is nearly 300 acres of parkland, including Government House, the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance. The slogan on our registration plates used to be “Victoria – The Garden State”, and this is the jewel in the crown.
Here is a closer view of the “Angel”, by sculptor Deborah Halpern. It was originally installed in the ‘moat’ of the National Gallery of Victoria (which is also a quarter of a mile to the west), before being moved to its current location on the riverbank.
There are 16 images made from a mosaic of tiles, it took 3 years to build the scuplture.
Finally, as I waited to cross the road and head back to the real world, I saw the Bugatti heading off for the 6 kilometre drive to the Royal Exhibition Buildings and the Motorclassica show. There will be more to come from both Don and I over the coming weeks.
Luv the yellow Munro, rare certainly, and I saw another recently but with wide wheels and custom paint but still sporting 186 and powerblide badging, I wonder how many poverty pack 161 tree shift 3 speed examples survive? V8 transplants were SOP for many years continuing even today. Havent been to Melbourne town for 16 years its certainly changing from when I lived there at Bon beach in 1990.
It has changed quite a lot, Batman Avenue would have run past the site of that statue for one thing.
I remember those rail yards. I was always fascinated by the remnants of old technology which were no longer in use – things like individual signal boxes, point levers, and the sheer amount of work represented by all those tracks and points. While I love the past I’d have to say having Birrarung Marr as parkland near the city centre is an improvement.
I left Melbourne in ’90 and have only passed through on the way to destinations on the other side of the state every now and then. Not missing the city one bit!
For one picture, the author says there is a “Ferrari, MG and Bentley waiting for the off”.
I don’t see any red Italian sports car in the photo, and in addition, there’s a dark brown mystery car at the head of the line. Can anyone identify it? (it’s the one with the egg-crate grille..)
Ferrari 250GTE
I believe the vehicle with the eggcrate grill is a 250 GTE, the only Ferrari that I ever aspired to. It’s a shame that so many were cut up to become donors for GTO clones. Also a shame that I didn’t grab a nice one back when they were trading for less than 25K. A beautiful color combination as well. Any color other than red…
veloce marrone. hehehe
I’m still looking, but I don’t see that red Ferrari anywhere…
Is this a somewhat lame attempt at humor, or have you gone color blind, or?
Don’t believe I said red Ferrari? They’re not all resale red
True, but that is the public’s perception, hence my comments.
As is often the case, written words do not convey the subtext…
Well, in a near CC Effect I saw a Ferrari 330 GT the day after this posting. And it was silver not red. I think close counts in this case, as seeing a 1960’s Ferrari of any kind, let alone another coupe, is pretty rare whether in Australia, Italy, or (in my case) California. And it there was no car show or event, it was just one in a parade of oncoming cars as I took a nice rural road backinto town on Friday afternoon.
Nice one. I don’t imagine they are a common sight anywhere, between the risk of damage, extra maintenance and driving being more of a hassle than modern cars all making a casual drive less likely.
Loving the Stutz Blackhawk. It and that Auburn Speedster are representing my home state very nicely. The Stutz factory building is still standing and is sort of an artists mecca.
The whitewall tires are curious on the 63 1/2 Galaxie. First, the front and rear do not quite match. Second, I wonder how many R code pavement rippers actually got whitewalls mounted?
I am looking forward to more.
If it is anything like the Aurburn building it would be well worth the visit
Some sweet classics. That’s a 67 Corvette in front of the 63. The backup light over the license plate is the giveaway clue.
Thanks, I knew someone would know!
The 67 was also a big block car. Can’t recall if it was a 396 or 427.
What a selection! You know it’s a great event when you can’t immediately pick out a Ferrari Dino or Stingray Corvette as your favourite, and seeing the cars run rather than just stationary is a true bonus.
This or Meghan and Harry’s visit? No contest for me!
There has been saturation coverage of that!
The Dino that is in the back of one the shots was very very nice.
As a staunch, lifelong republican – for context, my late mum wouldn’t even let us join Scouts because we had to salute the photo of her Maj! – my nightmare would be Motorclassica opened by the Visitors you’ve mentioned. Rather than “no contest”, it’d be internal turmoil, then…….don’t tell anyone I went, ok?!
I don’t believe it was on the itinerary!
The HK Monaro is truly amongst GM’s finest (for looks only, mind). It’s just pretty. I’d love to know who styled it.
At the other end of the scale, the Bristol is a car I don’t understand. Perhaps “Styled after a massively expensive failed airliner” is too mean?
Love the Salmson and that Crown, but for now it’s the ’24 Minerva for me. Obviously, considering my infatuation with the super-original Vauxhall you put up recently john, I’m going through an Original Twenties phase. (Ask in a week or two from now and I’m sure I’ll ask you what on earth you’re talking about, it’s all ’60’s sportsters now. Such is the never-resting CC disease ).
More like an updated look. Interestingly the previous Superleggera steel tube and aluminium construction reverted to timber frame.
“The HK Monaro is truly amongst GM’s finest (for looks only, mind). It’s just pretty. I’d love to know who styled it.”
Maybe the same person who styled the Opel Reckord/Commodore hardtops 😉
I think it’s the best looking mass produced Australian car ever, and just as attractive as many 1960s US hardtops (even the 1st gen Mustangs and Comaros) that I like. Only the 2nd gen Corvair hardtop and the fist gen Buick Riviera clearly come out ahead in my book. I’ve never driven a Monaro but driven a Kingswood sedan which is the same basic chassis, and it’s wasn’t too confidence inspiring. I imagine any Monaro except the basic versions would have had firmer suspension. Having said that I don’t know how much worse (if at all) these particular Holden’s were dynamically compared to comparable Australia cars or US GM or Ford or Chrysler for that matter.
I need a bib after that collection of drool worthy cars! Thank you!
Nice bunch of pictures. However, I would have liked to see more of the Maserati Mexico parked behind the old Toyota Crown.
David Bowie drove a red Bristol 405 convertible in the movie Absolute Beginners.
I have another shot of the Mexico from the show.
It seems that any shots of the car from the movie have escaped the reaches of the WWW.
Love the Crown in that first shot. They used to be so common in the sixties, a valid alternative to the Aussie Big 3 before Toyota moved the Crown upmarket and our Big 3 got the bloat.
Great cars John. The Monaro and Chevelle I saw the Thursday before the show while they were entering the city. Stunning. Saw them again inside the show.
That route is pretty scenic. Driving besides the Yarra is wonderful.
Luckily the weather was nice so there wouldn’t have been too much cleaning required once they reached the Exhibition Building. I imagine if it had been raining they might have had second thoughts!