At the time (2009) this was just a routine semi-regional car show set up as a picnic day for car clubs, but looking back now at the cars present, it was really quite extraordinary and I don’t say that lightly. Just think what might cause everyone to ignore this magnificent Packard convertible!
One artefact of being so long ago in technology terms is that the photos were taken at a pretty low-resolution, just 640×480 pixels, so please understand that making out fine details won’t be possible. I’ll add vehicle identification where I can because I don’t imagine that anyone will recognise all of the cars, including me! (Edit – thanks to the commenters who corrected some I got wrong) The first photo of the post is one example; because they weren’t sold here by GM and didn’t change a whole lot during their run I can’t say what year or variant the Cadillac is. The Packard is a 1949 or 50 Clipper, but I’m not sure which model/trim.
This one is easy, Mk2 (left) and Mk1 versions of the Austin 1800. The MkII registration number refers to the car’s nickname, the ‘Landcrab’.
Here is a rarity, a Vauxhall Velox ute, note the signature Vauxhall chrome flash on the bonnet. Beside it is a very original-looking 1953 Chevrolet; the white roof is typical of the pre-air conditioning times.
A 1955 Hillman Minx Mark VIII with the last of the side-valve 4-cyl wheezers; power went up something like 20% with the change to overhead valves, plus an Alfa Romeo Spider.
A Hillman Super Minx convertible, one of very few sold here. As a fair weather cruiser, this would make a good smaller alternative to an early Mustang or Falcon. The Citroen 2CV beside it is something rarely seen here.
Some variety of Riley RM, a 1948 Pontiac, MG TC, and I think a 1938 Chevrolet.
A Jaguar 240 or 340, the facelifted Mark 2 with the slimmer bumper, and a mid-50s Humber Hawk.
1953 Buick Roadmaster (not Super – thanks oldcarguy). I saw this car again recently, and it looks essentially the same.
1948-51 Vauxhall Wyvern, as proposed by Old Pete as a lower-cost alternative to producing a separate car in the Holden. Note that this was merely a more modern front end on a pre-war car, albeit with unitary construction.
Ford Falcon 500 (XB model) in the oh-so-70s Copper Bronze colour, alongside Wolesley 15/60.
A varied line-up here; Ford Model A tourer and sedan, 1966 Holden HR, a car I’ll come back to and maybe a Packard? The fourth car looks too small to be American, but is pre-war; perhaps a Hillman 14 or Humber Snipe?
A 1932 Dodge and a Ford Model A roadster ute now in a state of careful preservation.
Ford Zephyr Mark 2 convertible, Mazda 121 coupe (aka Cosmo, possibly RX-5?), a 1954 Ford and then a 5-window coupe from about 1932 – a Ford?
Here is another shot of the Packard convertible that looks like it is from around 1938 or so (actually 1937 – thanks tonyola!), and is large enough that I think parade rather than cruise.
To change tack completely, here is a 1964 Hello Kitty Imp. You don’t have to be serious about things all the time!
A 1957 Holden FC model ute, quite a contrast to the recently posted 1958 FE ute.
Here is a 1934 Lagonda Rapier, which has a dohc 1,100 cc engine making 50 bhp – very good for the time – and a pre-selector gearbox. This car was sold new in Australia, and restored in 1973! Did anyone recognise this?
Leyland P76 sedan, customised with an extra window added in the C-pilllar, to deviate from the Michelotti design more than the factory did.
Austin A40 Sports, with an aluminium body built by Jensen. The engine had twin carbs for four whole extra horsepower! Acceleration was described as “not startling”…
A range of 1969-71 Ford Fairlanes, ZC (with their bonnets open) and ZD models. These were the models that saw the Fairlane firmly take over from the local CKD assembly of North American cars.
Here is an XW Falcon panel van from the same era (1969-70), dressed up here with the GS pack accessories and some aftermarket Globe Bathurst alloy wheels. Beside it is a late-1990s Fairlane.
1946 Mercury convertible. I expect Ford Australia only made a tiny number of these, assuming it is not an import.
1936 Ford convertible.
1940 and 1939 Fords
1954 Ford Mainline ute
Ford Prefect sedan and ute. I think these would have been the last Fords with the transverse leaf springs and mechanical brakes – built until 1953.
1936 Cadillac. General Motors-Holden assembled some Cadillacs with local bodies, but only a handful.
Jaguar XK140. This is largely the same as the XK120 but has full bumpers.
Obviously a World War 2 Jeep – but does anyone have any further input here? At this point I will hold fire (pun only slightly intended…) until next time, we are only about half-way through. There is still that car that overshadowed the Packard, plus more Packards believe it or not, as well as some trucks and at least one muscle car.
Please comment if you would like to know any more about any of the cars and I can look into them; some I know more about than others.
I think your Cadillac in the second shot is an 83-86. That grille came back in 89 but the Cadillac script was mounted lower in the newer one.
The car IDd as a 48 Cadillac in your 7th shot is actually a 48 Pontiac. Don’t feel bad, GM had a very strong family resemblance in those years.
I have an affinity for the postwar Mercury like the 46 in your shot near the end. My father’s first (functional) car was a 47 Mercury convertible. He was a FoMoCo man for the rest of his life, so it must have made a powerful impression.
Aha, the silver streak, or whatever the chrome strip on the hood is called, is a bit of a giveaway!
I have a bit of a soft spot for the 46-48 Ford/Mercury too, even if they are a bit of a throwback with the old Ford mechanical layout.
Parked beside the Blue Leyland P 76 is a partial photo of a 64 ??? Ford convertible that appears to be left hand drive.
Is it legal to operate a left hand drive vehicle in Australia/ N. Z ?
Galaxie (at least in the US).
Yes it is a 64 Galaxie convertible. Vehicles over 30 years old can be registered in LHD here in Victoria, I assume on the basis there will be so few it won’t matter. Newer vehicles can also be registered in South Australia and the Northern Territory due cater for personnel at the large, isolated US military installations.
Nice set of pictures! Please note that the 1953 Buick is a Roadmaster, not a Super. Supers had three portholes (as did the smaller Specials), but only the Roadmasters had four!
Thanks, I had my doubts on the four portholes
Another fine selection. My pick is the XK140 FHC, throw a duffle bag in the boot and drive the Blue Ridge Parkway this spring…
Great selection of pictures. I think the Packard is a 1937 – the ’38 models had bulbous rather than swept front fenders.
Great pictures and descriptions!
I believe the Chevrolet behind the Vauxhall ute in the 4th pic is a ’53, not a ’54, as the grille in the ’54 had much more chrome and was more rectilinear, even in this low-spec 150.
I have a question about the Vauxhall in the 10th picture. There were lots of Wyverns and Veloxes around here from that vintage, and none were 6-light sedans. Was that body a different style?
That was an Australia only model. Vauxhall supplied parts of the pre-War ‘I’ 12hp model to Holden who assembled them. They also made a convertible version, the Caleche.
In those days they catalogued two distinct models, “English Body” and “Australian body” This local body not only looked way more old-fashioned but IIRC was 20 pounds cheaper.
Thanks Rafael. I guessed wrong there, the lights in the grille weren’t there for 54.
These would have been built by Holden in Adelaide, Wikipedia quotes a book on GM-H history stating that they had the model code LBX not LIX as per the UK model.
I really like that ’54 Ford ute. That Jag XK140 is an impossible dream for me.
Me like 54 Ford ute also. Three years later we had the Ranchero.
In the picture of the Falcon sedan, is that a Silver Shadow shyly peaking in from the corner?
That ’37 Packard is gorgeous! Too bad they ruined the nice lines of the Clipper with the postwar ’48-50 models, they just look so dumpy.
I’m in love with that Packard!
Of the cars shown, I think I’ve ridden in three similar models, plus or minus a year or two: my parents’ 1954 Hillman Minx, and family friends’ ‘54 Chevy and similar vintage Buick.
Great and eclectic selection of cars, John.
I am struck by that P76, a very nice thing to drive that was always a bit eye-watering to behold, yet somebody has gone to the effort to make it even worse. Well I never.
And the Minx. I think I’ve mentioned here before that the author Tim Winton wrote a characteristically superb piece about the family’s brown Minx like this one, reflecting on the sheer uptight slow-lane miserableness the car exuded. I do wish I could find the article again. The English had an uncanny knack for making either a lip-licking Jag XK140 or a Minx, as glamorous as has ever been made or as undesireable, with nothing in between.
On a complete discursive side note, you photographed a green Lancia Astura convertible at Castlemaine, published here a few years back (and I know quite a story attached to that very car): you should have bought it then, as I saw yesterday by chance that it’s currently for sale.
Merely $600,000 AUD….
Nice. Gold caddy or P76 for me. That’s an FE ute, and I’ll take that too thanks.
Great assortment!! That brown Falcon is a great-looking car. I also like the Leyland P76 – a car I first learned about on CC (and I don’t think the added window looks terrible). Looking at that picture of the “Hello Kitty” Hillman Imp, you get an idea of how a really airy greenhouse could help the interior of a small car with the illusion of space. Great post, John.
Ah, but you see, the Falc is an XB, direct competitor for the P76 in period. For context, across the time the Leyland was for sale, about 150,000 XB’s were sold, compared to 18,000-odd P76’s. The good looks of the competition were a considerable factor in the failure of the P76. Folks just didn’t like it, me included.
Illustrating the maxim that history belongs to the victors, the Leyland was much better to drive than any of them. Rack steering, coil springs, ventilated discs (front), French-style super-comfy seats, low wind noise, little body roll. The Ford is the 1966 Falcon platform underneath (which is arguably the 1960 platform widened), leaf sprung, 5.5 turns lock recirc ball steering (heavy and vague, feel-free if powered), roly-poly, ordinary seats, less room, roar of wind from 50mph up. I know which I’d rather drive.
When I got out, though, I know which I’d rather look back at. Proving (as if needed) that vanity figures greatly in which cars are winners.
A couple detail corrections on the Packards: the red Convertible Victoria is a 1936 Eight Model 1401 on 134″ wheelbase. The rear-hinged front doors were in their last year, changed for 1937. The radiator grille had more rake than the 1935 model, continued into 1937 in this form.
The two-tone tan and brown Packard called Clipper is a 1948 Eight Deluxe 22nd Series model. A telltale that it is a 1948 22nd Series is the open bumper behind the guards, the bumper became solid latter in the series run. The Clipper name was dropped with the end of the 1947 21st Series until it was revived for the medium-priced 26th Series 1953 line.
The car identified as a 1932 Dodge is a 1929 “Greater Hudson” Model R, the F-Head refinement of the Super Six.