It is one of those good problems to have – too many cars to fit into a post. I was working through last week’s and got to the point where I just had to split it. I said at the start that the array of cars at the 2018 Historic Winton was amazing, and it hasn’t stopped yet. Care to take a guess at what is going on with the Austin Healey above? The exhausts, wheels and number plate give a decent clue. Its brother next door is more traditional, and then we have a gullwing Mercedes doing gullwing things.
Here is the front of the 1967 Austin Healey 3000 BJ8, with an earlier 1956-59 100/6. The 8 takes on another meaning now, and the car has custom 17×8 & 9” wheels, big brakes, a 5-link rear end etc. Note the different windscreen pillars because the earlier car does not have side windows.
The engine is a 6-litre V8 from a Commodore, as is the 6-speed T56 gearbox. It may be counter-intuitive, but the all-aluminium V8 is actually about 200 lb (90 kg) lighter than the original 2.9-L cast-iron inline six. Power will have at least tripled.
The interior is fantastic, and has been comprehensively updated – there won’t be many Big Healeys with air conditioning and cruise control. I’m sure those seats to a good job of holding you in place on a twisty road.
One of the oldest cars present was this Overland tourer. It looks like a 1910-12 model, after that the cars seem to have a painted grille rather than brass.
This one probably out-does the Moke for having a stark interior – no instruments of any sort. Despite that, I expect that some of the controls would take quite an explanation.
Behind the Overland there was a Saab 93, on site to promote the great Geelong Revival event which is a beachfront quarter mile drag or ‘sprint’ in more traditional terms. Surprisingly enough for an 850cc car, the 93’s motorsport heritage is in rallying rather than straight line events but this one makes a fair fist of it.
Here is the reason, a screaming 2-stroke triple with one carburettor for each cylinder, and a tennis ball of course! Don’t leave home without one… The engine in front of transaxle layout has the radiator located over the gearbox so as not to add to the overhang, and note the jackshaft for the fan.
There were a lot of early Holdens there because of the 70th anniversary of its launch this year – not far off now, November 26. For what is widely known at a 1948 car, no more than 163 were actually built in 1948. The car on the left is a 1949, but I’m not sure when the unrestored car was built – it could have been as late as August 1953.
Earlier we saw a 1951 Humber Super Snipe, now here is its big brother: a 1950 Humber Pullman limousine. Believe it or not, this isn’t the biggest Humber featured on CC! This car was owned by the government in Tasmania, Australia’s Island state, and used for the Governor. The current owner did a lot of research prior to the restoration, and one tricky aspect was the colour – period black and white photographs meant that it was only finding people who had been involved with the car originally and a chance find of a rare colour photograph revealed the soft yellow colour.
A predecessor to the Plymouth ute seen out on the Oval area was this 1938 Dodge coupe utility. From the front you might notice the integrated sides that are a bit sleeker than the typical pickup bed,
… but from the rear the sloping roof line is much more striking even in this unfortunately out of focus shot. The small turn down at the end of the bed is an interesting touch.
Inside is pretty straightforward, as you would expect from a commercial vehicle of the era, but nicely trimmed nonetheless.
Past the cars we started with was this ‘halfa’ MGB trailer. I presume there was a matching car somewhere. The motorcycle is a 1916 Triumph.
Then we had an interesting pairing of Heinkel and Messerschmitt ‘bubble’ cars. How do you like the luggage rack on the side with the skis and poles? Anyone care to guess how well the Messerschmitt’s heater works for a trip to the ski fields?
Around the corner was a customised pairing of 1966 Mustang and a(nother) 48-215 Holden. This one has a 1980’s flavour with the black paint, tinted windows and chromed mags. The rear view mirror looks like it is from a Falcon GT. I think the Mustang with its Boss scoop is more dress-up than actual competition machine.
This Pommie pairing is more unique than you might think, being an Australian market adaptation of the 1957 Wolseley 1500. Based on a Morris Minor floorpan with a larger engine, it was sold here as both the Morris Major (left) and Austin Lancer (right). The Austin is close to the original UK sheetmetal, and it is interesting that there was such a change made for the Morris version.
This 1996 VS Series II model Holden Statesman has the 3.8 V6 Series II engine, instead of the available supercharged V6 or 5.0 V8 engines, perhaps because it had only 25-30 hp less than the alternatives. Holden had not only lifted its base model engine game but the whole car was much better than earlier versions in every area. The Statesman is a long-wheelbase version of the Commodore (100 mm/4″ longer), see the link for more information on this generation car.
There is quite the contrast here between the understated, genteel 1946-52 Bentley Mark VI and a fairly rowdy, modified 1971 HG Holden Monaro!
You might have noticed something unique (in Australia at least) in the background of the last shot – a 1973-74 Plymouth Road Runner! These cars saw the 318 lower the entry horsepower level no doubt to chase some extra sales, but with the scoops and decals I expect this one has one of the bigger engine options.
The Coyote in the window was a nice touch.
This 1930s Bentley tourer was parked behind the lead Vauxhall from last week’s post, and I think it is another one I should have taken a closer look at. I had assumed it was based on a Mark VI sedan like the one above, which is a reasonably popular way to spice a fairly mundane car, but seeing the front leaf springs and live axle it is clearly an earlier car (pre-WW2). It is still just as likely to have been a sedan originally.
Here is another extraordinarily rare car, which I think is a 1947-48 Wolseley 25, which was a continuation of the 1938-39 Super Six 25 (or could it be one of those?). Only 75 were built as a 141” WB limousine; this is a seriously big car.
The interior has very high-quality cloth in the rear compartment in contrast to utilitarian black leather for the driver’s compartment. It is interesting that the divider and rear side windows have roller blinds, but the door window does not – defeating the purpose?
Obviously the dashboard is also quite different from a modern car, but also when would the last limousine with a manual gearbox have been built?
Here is the 3.5L (213ci) engine, with twin carburettors that would drag this heavy behemoth up to a top speed of 80 mph.
Only slightly smaller in the grille department but much smaller everywhere else is a Wolseley 6/80 that was parked behind the 25. I’m sure it is just a feature of the camera lens that makes it look like the bonnet slopes upwards to the grille. This car is a fancy version of the six cylinder version of the Morris Oxford MO – which I always thought should have been called the Morris Major instead of the car above, because it looked like a scaled-up Morris Minor. It has a 2.2L OHC six cylinder engine. Note the 1953-56 FJ Holden next door. Also the Mark 1 handbrake – a rock placed by hand!
Then was a 1938 Ford sedan, which had been sold originally in South Africa. Perhaps the most awkward 1930’s Ford grille?
For the sake of completeness, here is the right-hand drive interior.
The Austin A30-A35 club are always present, and are worth a look for what must be the world’s least practical ute – no opening tailgate!
Then there is the four-door sedan, which crams said doors into a sub-80″ wheelbase. Despite shortening the front door to make space, the bottom of the rear door betrays the diminutive size.
To follow on from the highly-unrestored ute (probably technically a Light Delivery), there were a lot of early Fords present because of the 110th anniversary of the Model T.
The AC Ace and Bristol 400 are quite different, but have something in common: the same BMW-derived engine. That is the most likely case, as there were 475 built with the Bristol 2L inline six compared with around 220 with the AC engine and 40 or so with the 2.6L Zephyr/Ruddspeed engine – and most of the latter had a slight restyle of the front that was shared with the Cobra.
And in the background, an Alfa Romeo Giulietta spider which has an interesting cut-down windscreen. Not to ignore the Jaguar C-Type replica, which also has an unusual full-width windscreen.
I’ll finish with this rather nice 1953 Buick Super convertible that I didn’t get in the display area, alongside the Jaguar SS replica we saw also earlier on the Oval. There are a few special cars that I will throw a bit more of a spotlight on, but you can understand why I said the array of cars here was exceptional – including those I didn’t see on the day!
Further Reading from the Winton Historics:
Car Show Classics: Historic Winton Main Display Area Part One
Car Show Classics: 2018 Historic Winton – Car Park Part Two
Car Show Classics: 2018 Historic Winton Car Park, Part One
Car Show Classics: The Oval At 2018 Historic Winton, Part Three
Car Show Classics: The Oval At 2018 Historic Winton, Part Two
Car Show Classics: The Oval At 2018 Historic Winton, Part One
Neat bunch of photos. I wonder how many people were turned off back in the day by the Wolseley 6/80’s resemblance to the Morris Minor? There was even a Morris version of this car – the Morris Six. It was a little less deluxe, but no prettier.
But that didn’t stop Wolseley from trying to sell the 6/80 with a less-than-subtle status/sex-appeal approach. This ad is from 1954 and the car was seriously outdated by this point.
The word of the day is ‘snout’!
Would love to hear that Saab 93 at full noise. With a nice bit of pop and crackle on the over-run as well I’ll bet…
I saw it run at the Geelong Revival, and it does sound as good as you are imagining
This video is a classic example of the madness of a Saab triple at full noise.
I’m slightly hoping that modified A-H is a Sebring fibreglass replica and not a real 3000, distant cousin to the one I saw here?
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/vacation-cc-classic-roadsters-sebring-mx/
Love that unrestored Holden, that looks like well earned patina.
No I am 99% sure it’s real, there was a board of build photos showing a lot of chassis details. Apart from the inner wheel arches I don’t think the body was really changed. There was one built a few years ago where they widened the body maybe 8″ to fit wide tyres.
I’m torn by the V8 Healey 3000 – terrible to do this to a classic car – but then that 3-litre straight six was hardly a work of art. At least it wasn’t a 100/6 or a 100/4 that was desecrated.
I think I’m more upset by the wheels than by the motor.
There were something like 75,000 Big Healeys built in total, and they have a much higher than average survival rate.
The car had a photo board showing chassis reinforcements and a shot of the rear end – the original underslung chassis layout remains. It would be a big job, but I think you could convert this back to original if desired, or even put a Healey engine/gearbox back in and swap the brakes/wheels fairly easily. I think that 15″ wheels would fit, depending on style.
I do see this as a bit ‘too much’, and I wonder if you wouldn’t be happier with one of the later BMW 3.0 sixes.
The old two-stroke Saabs and DKWs with expansion chambers would make one’s ears bleed.
The SAAB is a 96.
1963? (badge in grill).
Thanks, I’m sure my first draft had 96
Very eclectic selection!
Never saw a Vauxhall limo like that before. It’s a bit too huge though, just like that Humber. The unrestored 48 Holden would be much more my size.
Last limo with a manual gearbox? Hmmm… Peugeot 604 Heuliez?
“Last limo with a manual gearbox? Hmmm… Peugeot 604 Heuliez?”
Sounds legit…
My, that large custardy Humber is heavyset, though almost outdone by the Wolseley limo. A serious pair of the stolid, and neither moves me. For the life of me, I’ll never understand that English ability to make large conveyances so grim-looking. Particularly when they could at times also make aesthetic wonders.
And that A35 ute! For who? Who had a business needing to move, I dunno, one large cantaloupe about?
Bristol 400’s are really nice things up close, quite modern in aero detailing. I’ll take it.
“And that A35 ute! For who? Who had a business needing to move, I dunno, one large cantaloupe about?”
Perhaps they were meant for moving potted Aspidistras about. In modern times they could have been marketed as the C-ute or maybe as a rival to the Suzuki X-90 as a ‘lifestyle’ vehicle.
The shape of the X-90 is just like the ute isn’t it!