hewey
Well-known member
Loud exhaust, flashing lights underneath, I can see where this is headed... 
Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT New home and 3 car garage in Melbourne, Australia
- Thread starter Geoff289
- Start date
Workspaces between 705 and 1200 squarefeet.
Looks like Hewey has sussed out my plan.
Just a follow up to post 788 about my daughter being caught up in a multi vehicle pile up on the Western Freeway. As was predicted her beloved Mitsu ASX was declared a total loss by her insurer. Her policy provided for new for old replacement of a car under two years old and bought brand new by the policy holder.
After considerable stuffing around where they tried to offer her a couple of different makes and models, which surprisingly enough were cheaper than a new ASX, misleading and disingenuous communications about what the wording of the policy meant, she stuck to her guns and is now eagerly anticipating delivery of a nice new ASX at the end of this week. Not that being in a prang like this is worth it, but the outcome is a one model year newer car with more or less zero on the odometer and a new warranty. Living in the bush as she does, she had been putting the k's on the other one.
I don't know if the ASX is sold in the US, maybe under another label, but for anyone interested.
https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/vehicles/asx.html
Since I know you're all hanging out to know, the new one is to be christened Myrtle.
Just a follow up to post 788 about my daughter being caught up in a multi vehicle pile up on the Western Freeway. As was predicted her beloved Mitsu ASX was declared a total loss by her insurer. Her policy provided for new for old replacement of a car under two years old and bought brand new by the policy holder.
After considerable stuffing around where they tried to offer her a couple of different makes and models, which surprisingly enough were cheaper than a new ASX, misleading and disingenuous communications about what the wording of the policy meant, she stuck to her guns and is now eagerly anticipating delivery of a nice new ASX at the end of this week. Not that being in a prang like this is worth it, but the outcome is a one model year newer car with more or less zero on the odometer and a new warranty. Living in the bush as she does, she had been putting the k's on the other one.
I don't know if the ASX is sold in the US, maybe under another label, but for anyone interested.
https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/vehicles/asx.html
Since I know you're all hanging out to know, the new one is to be christened Myrtle.
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Ralf99
Well-known member
Good news on the insurance front - nothing surprises with their efforts to minimise payouts.
I've not owned an ASX but have had a couple as hire cars - a very practical car and quite ok for long highway miles. Myrtle seems entirely appropriate too.
I've not owned an ASX but have had a couple as hire cars - a very practical car and quite ok for long highway miles. Myrtle seems entirely appropriate too.
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Geoff, I checked with Mrs. Google and am told it's called an Outlander Sport in the US. She sent me to a local Florida dealership and I thought the first few "Special Offers" were interesting. The Mitsubishi dealership lists a four year old 7,035 mile Ferarri GTC4Lusso, two year old 613 mile Rolls-Royce Cullinan Base (?) and two year old 860 mile Mercedes-Benz Maybach on sale for huge savings. The "You Save" numbers are soooo tempting. I mean, how can you pass up on $25,612 off on the Ferarri, $78,912 off on the Rolls and $50,812 off on the Maybach? I can almost buy one Outlander Sport with the savings on the Ferarri, almost three with the Rolls and almost two with the Maybach. If we sell the house and move into the Rolls....
I bet Courtney can set me up
I think any one of those automotive bargains would make a fine 80th birthday present for you Bob.
There is also an Outlander sold by Mitsubishi here. The ASX is kind of a scaled down version of it.
https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/vehicles/outlander.html
There is also an Outlander sold by Mitsubishi here. The ASX is kind of a scaled down version of it.
https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/vehicles/outlander.html
hewey
Well-known member
Speaking of automotive bargains, the NSW "1" numberplate is being offered for the first time via public auction. Bidding is a whopping $10M with 4 days still to go. They predicted big numbers, but I think even this has blown everyone away.
Auction link with plate history:
www.lloydsonline.com.au
Auction link with plate history:
Classic, Muscle & Barn Finds Auction - Lot 2001
The Ultimate Never Before Seen Unicorn! FOUND!, , The New South Wales Heritage Plates "NSW 1", , This is the most sought-after Heritage Plate in Australia.
www.lloydsonline.com.au
Like many of my recent posts, this one comes with a potentially boring warning, but it keeps my journal going I guess.
Way, way back at post 110 I put up a couple of pics of my workbench (in my old garage in those pics). As I said at the time, this indestructible bit of equipment is something of a family heirloom having been constructed by my great grandfather, my dad's mother's father, in the early part of the 20th century.
I've since learned that he, Jim Stock, and my great grandmother Jessie took up the old farm in what is these days is, coincidentally, the same suburb of Melbourne I live in today not long after they married in 1903. The next generation, my grandmother, was born in 1904. I don't know what the deal was in terms of ownership of the farm. I know enough about the family to think it unlikely they had the resources to have purchased it then but by the time my great grandmother died in 1972 she definitely owned what was left of it, about the equivalent of a dozen or so house blocks in my memory.
Anyway, as I said in that earlier post, in my memory my bench was a fixture in my grandfather's garage - Jim and Jessie's son in law. He told me Jim had built it himself. It seems reasonable to presume he probably knocked it up pretty soon after taking up the farm as he'd need a bench, right? Piecing all this together I think it reasonable to say my bench is something like 120 years old. This might not seem like a big deal to members in North America and Europe but this represents about half the history of Australia since us European folk rocked up on this continent.
So, maybe illogically, I'm pretty attached to my workbench and it's great for belting the daylights out of things. Sometimes, though, the very worn, uneven, splintery work surface is not ideal for the job at hand and the lack of any front overhang worked against clamping things down to it. Given my sentimental attachment to it, permanently resurfacing it wasn't an option so a removable alternative work surface was the answer.
I cadged an offcut of yellow tongue flooring from the builders next door, added a support underneath to allow for the lower level of the bench as well as a rail to prevent things from rolling off the back of it, a cut out to allow for the vice handle, and there we are.
Before
After
Couple of other things - for no good reason I decided to take a few pics in the nature reserve at the rear of our property this morning as I was heading off on my bike to do a couple of errands. The reserve is one of the main reasons we bought this property and we think we're pretty fortunate to have this as a neighbour right in the middle of suburbia. Anyway, i thought I'd share them. I see I got my finger in one of them.
Yesterday I had to take my mower out to my daughter and son in law's place and bring their own back to address a "the mower won't start, Dad" situation. Somehow I ended up mowing their lawns while i was there. So this involved a trip in The Eyesore in its new stealth mode. It might be a slight exaggeration but relative to how it was before a Tesla has nothing on the old girl.
That's all for now.
Way, way back at post 110 I put up a couple of pics of my workbench (in my old garage in those pics). As I said at the time, this indestructible bit of equipment is something of a family heirloom having been constructed by my great grandfather, my dad's mother's father, in the early part of the 20th century.
I've since learned that he, Jim Stock, and my great grandmother Jessie took up the old farm in what is these days is, coincidentally, the same suburb of Melbourne I live in today not long after they married in 1903. The next generation, my grandmother, was born in 1904. I don't know what the deal was in terms of ownership of the farm. I know enough about the family to think it unlikely they had the resources to have purchased it then but by the time my great grandmother died in 1972 she definitely owned what was left of it, about the equivalent of a dozen or so house blocks in my memory.
Anyway, as I said in that earlier post, in my memory my bench was a fixture in my grandfather's garage - Jim and Jessie's son in law. He told me Jim had built it himself. It seems reasonable to presume he probably knocked it up pretty soon after taking up the farm as he'd need a bench, right? Piecing all this together I think it reasonable to say my bench is something like 120 years old. This might not seem like a big deal to members in North America and Europe but this represents about half the history of Australia since us European folk rocked up on this continent.
So, maybe illogically, I'm pretty attached to my workbench and it's great for belting the daylights out of things. Sometimes, though, the very worn, uneven, splintery work surface is not ideal for the job at hand and the lack of any front overhang worked against clamping things down to it. Given my sentimental attachment to it, permanently resurfacing it wasn't an option so a removable alternative work surface was the answer.
I cadged an offcut of yellow tongue flooring from the builders next door, added a support underneath to allow for the lower level of the bench as well as a rail to prevent things from rolling off the back of it, a cut out to allow for the vice handle, and there we are.
Before
After
Couple of other things - for no good reason I decided to take a few pics in the nature reserve at the rear of our property this morning as I was heading off on my bike to do a couple of errands. The reserve is one of the main reasons we bought this property and we think we're pretty fortunate to have this as a neighbour right in the middle of suburbia. Anyway, i thought I'd share them. I see I got my finger in one of them.
Yesterday I had to take my mower out to my daughter and son in law's place and bring their own back to address a "the mower won't start, Dad" situation. Somehow I ended up mowing their lawns while i was there. So this involved a trip in The Eyesore in its new stealth mode. It might be a slight exaggeration but relative to how it was before a Tesla has nothing on the old girl.
That's all for now.
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Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Geoff, as a serial boring poster I may be biased but I didn't find anything boring in your post. I match your boring warning and raise it. My great grandmother died in 1953 when I was eight but I remember her quite clearly. Our combined lifespans total 160 years, from the American Civil War to today. She was 12 years old when the United States celebrated its Centennial in 1876 (Liane has a pressed glass goblet from that celebration). Great Grandma Stellie lived with my uncle from the end of World War II until her death so he retained all her keepsakes and memorabilia so all I have are a few photos.
If your great grandmother was 20ish when she married and settled down, that means she was alive for the Australian Centennial in 1888. I missed the Australian Bicentennial by a year but my co-workers gifted me a panoramic photo of the event. It hangs on a wall in my office. In the 'time flies' world, that celebration was 36 years ago on January 26 (for you that's tomorrow).
Thanks for the photos of the nature reserve. I know how precious that is. Our place on Cliff Street in Manly was close enough to our neighbors that opening the awning style windows required coordination.
You might have to hold on to the Eyesore so your great-grandchildren can enjoy it. It will be as interesting to them as a steam car is to us. Not to mention it'll be something they'll enjoy "belting the daylights out of."
hewey
Well-known member
Geoff that pathway in the nature reserve looks pretty damn nice. Likewise, having greenspace close to us is really important, particularly when we'll be getting another dog in the future. Glad to hear the eyesore is earning it's own keep too after coming back.
Lyndon
Well-known member
Bob
(Sorry for the hijack Geoff)...
Irene and I are in that Bicentennial photo (taken 36 years ago tomorrow BTW). We had only met (on a blind date) 3 months earlier, and had taken up a very good vantage point at, I think,McKell Park Darling Point Duff Reserve Point Piper (edited after looking up Google Maps), (See arrow).
These are pictures from the same day (we were both 28):
In the centre photo Irene has my hat on, my Mum is to her right and to her left (back to photo) is Irene's good friend, also named Irene (who was with us at Trivia last night). To my Mum's right, and turning around is my 11 year younger sister, and to her left (also back to photo) is an international exchange student who 's name eludes me now, but who was from Denmark if I recall correctly. This is some of what we saw:
Cheers - and Happy Australia Day all for tomorrow.
Lyndon
(Sorry for the hijack Geoff)...
Irene and I are in that Bicentennial photo (taken 36 years ago tomorrow BTW). We had only met (on a blind date) 3 months earlier, and had taken up a very good vantage point at, I think,
These are pictures from the same day (we were both 28):
In the centre photo Irene has my hat on, my Mum is to her right and to her left (back to photo) is Irene's good friend, also named Irene (who was with us at Trivia last night). To my Mum's right, and turning around is my 11 year younger sister, and to her left (also back to photo) is an international exchange student who 's name eludes me now, but who was from Denmark if I recall correctly. This is some of what we saw:
Cheers - and Happy Australia Day all for tomorrow.
Lyndon
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you're giving me licence to continue with the boring I'll take it Bob.Geoff, as a serial boring poster I may be biased but I didn't find anything boring in your post. I match your boring warning and raise it. My great grandmother died in 1953 when I was eight but I remember her quite clearly. Our combined lifespans total 160 years, from the American Civil War to today. She was 12 years old when the United States celebrated its Centennial in 1876 (Liane has a pressed glass goblet from that celebration). Great Grandma Stellie lived with my uncle from the end of World War II until her death so he retained all her keepsakes and memorabilia so all I have are a few photos.
If your great grandmother was 20ish when she married and settled down, that means she was alive for the Australian Centennial in 1888. I missed the Australian Bicentennial by a year but my co-workers gifted me a panoramic photo of the event. It hangs on a wall in my office. In the 'time flies' world, that celebration was 36 years ago on January 26 (for you that's tomorrow).
Thanks for the photos of the nature reserve. I know how precious that is. Our place on Cliff Street in Manly was close enough to our neighbors that opening the awning style windows required coordination.
You might have to hold on to the Eyesore so your great-grandchildren can enjoy it. It will be as interesting to them as a steam car is to us. Not to mention it'll be something they'll enjoy "belting the daylights out of."
My great grandmother Jessie was born in 1880 and married Jim, born in 1877, a month before her 23rd birthday so she did indeed witness the centenary of Australia's white settlement. At the age of 8 and with the media and communications available then I doubt she paid much attention. Jim died in 1958 when I was 3 and I have no real memory of him but Jessie went on until 1972 until she gave it away on my 17th birthday at the age of 92.
Until about 6 weeks before her death she was still living on the farm, growing and harvesting a lot of vegetables and fruit, chopping firewood for the solid fuel stove that was her only source of cooking in a skillion roofed kitchen with a brick floor. Other than that the farm had long since ceased operating commercially and most of what was left of it was given over to agistment of horses for the local kids. Occasionally a horse would get into her orchard or vegetable beds and be introduced to her broom as a result, a mistake it would only make once.
Here is the place in 1951.
By 1963 suburbia was well and truly encroaching on it.
The council used to have some aerial shots from the '70's on their website but they seem to have vanished so 1982 is the next one available. This shows the farmhouse and outbuildings gone and the site being sub-divided for more housing.
This is the most recent from 2022.
While its not the Blue Mountains that you have on your doorstep the reserve is pretty special. It's about 15 hectares/37 acres in total.
The path behind our place connects to the bike path network. I could, and plan to some day, take my bike out the back gate and ride all the way to the CBD/downtown without having to ride on a road with cars (have to cross some but at traffic lights) or lots of other places in other directions. Importantly, I can ride to Supercheap, Bunnings and Total Tools with only a couple of hundred metres on the road on those trips (and I break the law and ride on the footpath/sidewalk then).
Hijack away Lyndon. You're rocking the Croc Dundee vibe with that hat.Bob
(Sorry for the hijack Geoff)...
Irene and I are in that Bicentennial photo (taken 36 years ago tomorrow BTW). We had only met (on a blind date) 3 months earlier, and had taken up a very good vantage point at, I think, McKell Park Darling Point (See arrow).
These are pictures from the same day (we were both 28):
In the centre photo Irene has my hat on, my Mum is to her right and to her left (back to photo) is Irene's good friend, also named Irene (who was with us at Trivia last night). To my Mum's right, and turning around is my 11 year younger sister, and to her left (also back to photo) is an international exchange student who 's name eludes me now, but who was from Denmark if I recall correctly. This is some of what we saw:
Cheers - and Happy Australia Day all for tomorrow.
I was living and working in Canberra in 1988. I don't really recall what was going on celebration wise but the biggest issue there was the construction of the new Parliament House which opened in May that year.
Australia Day is increasingly controversial here but since I don't think GJ is any place for politics I won't express a view. Tomorrow is taken up with the Mustang Owners Club Australia Day picnic, this year in beachside Portarlington on the Bellarine Peninsula past Geelong. Looking forward to that, even if it does involve a trip down the Melbourne to Geelong freeway, easily the worst motoring experience available with horrendous traffic all the time that will be worse on a long weekend, grim scenery for most of it, and endless and seemingly permanent roadworks. Oh well.
Some pics from the Mustang Owners Club Australia Day picnic here
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMOCAVIC
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMOCAVIC
Tactile
Well-known member
Interesting to read this thread and view the countdown to Covid through different eyes. I'm in Southbank where we did it pretty easy and I often wondered how people out in the 'burbs handled it...away from the hoards of Coppers!
Thanks for dropping in and reading my thread, always good to have another local on GJ.Interesting to read this thread and view the countdown to Covid through different eyes. I'm in Southbank where we did it pretty easy and I often wondered how people out in the 'burbs handled it...away from the hoards of Coppers!
I guess the impact of Covid varied with a not of factors - location, age, employment situation, financial situation, family situation to name just a few. For us, in our 60's, happily retired, plenty of interests and projects around our brand new home when it all kicked off I can't find much to complain about.
Not being able to see the extended family, particularly the grandchildren, was a bummer but modern comms enabling online "visits" etc. made it way better than it would have been a couple of decades earlier. For me personally the biggest irritation was online shopping and waiting for stuff to be delivered or ready for collection. I don't know how many times I ordered something from Bunnings and by the time it was ready for collection I'd thought of three other things I should have ordered at the same time.
We had our sixth Covid jab recently and a month or so ago had a bit of a scare when we had brunch with a friend visiting from Brisbane who tested positive the next day. We tested daily for a week or so but dodged that bullet.
Thanks again for dropping in.
Tactile
Well-known member
I wouldn't be surprised if we have crossed paths at some stage, my brother has a Landau and is pretty active with Ford scene in Vic. and a cousin in Geelong who used to work at Ford and also gets around a bit too.
I did jury duty in Melbourne a few years ago with a guy who was all-in with Mustangs. I noticed he used to come into the jury room and read his Mustang mags! I got taking to him quite a bit, he had an old one and his new one was on order. I'm pretty sure he was in the club. Wish I could remember his name...strangely, the only thing I do remember is his wife bred special cats! Main ***** I think!
I did jury duty in Melbourne a few years ago with a guy who was all-in with Mustangs. I noticed he used to come into the jury room and read his Mustang mags! I got taking to him quite a bit, he had an old one and his new one was on order. I'm pretty sure he was in the club. Wish I could remember his name...strangely, the only thing I do remember is his wife bred special cats! Main ***** I think!
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Maybe we have but it wasn't me in that jury room with you. I've been on a jury twice but the last time was about 30 years ago and well before I had a Mustang. There are over 1,000 members in the Victorian chapter of the club but if you think of his name I may know him. I'm a couple of years off getting my 20 year club badge.
Those Laundaus were pretty cool I always thought. For those outside Oz, these were a Ford product produced for only few years in the mid 70's. They were based on the 2 door XB Falcon coupe but were upgraded to the max to be sort of uber luxe personal transports. There was a 4 door longer wheelbase version based on the Fairlane which had the same trim and equipment levels badged as an LTD. They were both powered by 351 Clevelands with FMX trans behind them. I think both badges have been used by Ford in the US in the past.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Landau_(Australia)
https://www.ford-wiki.com/wiki/Ford_LTD_(Australia)
Interesting your brother had a Landau. My kid brother had an XA coupe that he fitted the nose from a wrecked LTD to along with a lot of the interior trim. This included the centre console with those cool AC and heater controls but since his car didn't actually have air he modified them to operate some exhaust cut outs which he eventually disabled after several fines and eventually a canary. I remember hiring a car trailer to go get his car with the Patrol I had at the time from where the cops had slapped the canary on the windscreen.
For those wondering why our law enforcement people are going around beating innocent birdlife against car windows, a canary is local slang for an unroadworthy vehicle sticker the wallopers stick to the windscreen. These stickers are or were (not sure these days) bright yellow. If you cop one of these you aren't allowed to drive the vehicle from where they stopped you, other than to move it to a safe position under police direction.
Tactile
Well-known member
Yeah, this guy was from the Northern suburbs from memory.
This is the brothers car in all its glory...
Coolabah
Well-known member
*Sigh* so many great cars around, so little money , so little garage/ storage space anyway.....
Yep , just perfectly rationalised it- totally hate that supremely awesome car !!!
Ain't that the truth.
I undertook a small (and possibly boring) project today. I have a couple of vehicle moving dolly things usually called gojacks. Note that I only have two, not four. I bought them ages ago when I was building my Mustang. While four would have been better, its no big deal to swap them from one end of the car to another and back again to position it where I want it. I could rotate the car basically on its own axis in the much smaller 6 x6 metre/20 x 20 feet garage I had at the time.
Since then I've only used them a handful of times, one of which was recently when I needed to move the Mustang from its usual home in the end bay of the garage to the middle bay to get it out of the way of some minor plaster/drywall repair and painting. Since it was raining and I really don't like starting any car and not letting it get up to full operating temperature anyway, I put the gojacks to use.
This equipment lives on a mobile rack thing that is designed for four of them, not two. It's this one.
https://www.joelsgaragegear.com.au/products/wheels-tyres/go-jack-dolly-rack/
This rack lives just inside the roller door at the back of the garage that gives access to the trailer deck. There is also my mitre saw on a folding wheeled stand in that location. The unnecessary extra length of the gojack rack meant it either protruded too far into the garage for our liking, or turned sideways, compromised the pedestrian access out to the trailer, something I do frequently to make sawdust or metal filings or something outside the garage.
So using them recently just reminded me what a nuisance the too big rack is and I decided to do something about it. There is really zero prospect of me getting another two gojacks, so I consulted Dr. Google about a similar thing for just two jacks. The good doctor came up empty handed, which I have to say surprised me.
So today I attacked the four jack rack with an angle grinder and my drill press and converted it to a two jack rack. A very satisfying couple of hours in the garage, while the plasterer was doing his thing.
I undertook a small (and possibly boring) project today. I have a couple of vehicle moving dolly things usually called gojacks. Note that I only have two, not four. I bought them ages ago when I was building my Mustang. While four would have been better, its no big deal to swap them from one end of the car to another and back again to position it where I want it. I could rotate the car basically on its own axis in the much smaller 6 x6 metre/20 x 20 feet garage I had at the time.
Since then I've only used them a handful of times, one of which was recently when I needed to move the Mustang from its usual home in the end bay of the garage to the middle bay to get it out of the way of some minor plaster/drywall repair and painting. Since it was raining and I really don't like starting any car and not letting it get up to full operating temperature anyway, I put the gojacks to use.
This equipment lives on a mobile rack thing that is designed for four of them, not two. It's this one.
https://www.joelsgaragegear.com.au/products/wheels-tyres/go-jack-dolly-rack/
This rack lives just inside the roller door at the back of the garage that gives access to the trailer deck. There is also my mitre saw on a folding wheeled stand in that location. The unnecessary extra length of the gojack rack meant it either protruded too far into the garage for our liking, or turned sideways, compromised the pedestrian access out to the trailer, something I do frequently to make sawdust or metal filings or something outside the garage.
So using them recently just reminded me what a nuisance the too big rack is and I decided to do something about it. There is really zero prospect of me getting another two gojacks, so I consulted Dr. Google about a similar thing for just two jacks. The good doctor came up empty handed, which I have to say surprised me.
So today I attacked the four jack rack with an angle grinder and my drill press and converted it to a two jack rack. A very satisfying couple of hours in the garage, while the plasterer was doing his thing.
The Mustang Owners Club participated in an open day at Penrite Racing today.
https://penrite-racing.com.au/
The weather was great, if a bit hot in the absence of much shade. I like these events because there's a wide variety of cars. Pictures on the club FB here.
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMOCAVIC
I also took a couple of pics myself, one of my car for my grandson's collection
and a couple of these matching colour international cousins
Yes, they are both the real deal.
https://penrite-racing.com.au/
The weather was great, if a bit hot in the absence of much shade. I like these events because there's a wide variety of cars. Pictures on the club FB here.
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMOCAVIC
I also took a couple of pics myself, one of my car for my grandson's collection
and a couple of these matching colour international cousins
Yes, they are both the real deal.
ajohno
Well-known member
Both are very nice.
hewey
Well-known member
Looks like a nice variety at that Penrite show. Seemed a little bias towards blue ovals, not sure if that's the photographer or a reflection of the blue oval V8 supercar sponsorship.
Random trivia - Penrite make a specialty oil for classic minis, which suites their unique set up where the engine and gearbox share the same oil. They also sponsor local mini events which is cool too. My oil of choice for the mini is definitely Penrite.
penriteoil.com.au
Random trivia - Penrite make a specialty oil for classic minis, which suites their unique set up where the engine and gearbox share the same oil. They also sponsor local mini events which is cool too. My oil of choice for the mini is definitely Penrite.
CLASSIC MINI 20W-50 (Mineral) | Penrite Oil
Classic Mini is a premium mineral, high zinc, SAE 20W-50 viscosity, API SJ/CE, GL-4 engine oil, designed in conjunction with International Mini Clubs and owners in the UK and Australia specifically for all classic Minis (Austin, BMC Leyland). It has been designed to provide an excellent...
penriteoil.com.au
kj_mustang
Well-known member
Those last two photos are really cool.
Well the pics i posted the link to are from the Mustang Owners Club FB page so you gotta expect a bit of bias. There were plenty of other makes there. Penrite HPR 15 or HPR 30 is the go to brew for our old girls.Looks like a nice variety at that Penrite show. Seemed a little bias towards blue ovals, not sure if that's the photographer or a reflection of the blue oval V8 supercar sponsorship.
Random trivia - Penrite make a specialty oil for classic minis, which suites their unique set up where the engine and gearbox share the same oil. They also sponsor local mini events which is cool too. My oil of choice for the mini is definitely Penrite.
CLASSIC MINI 20W-50 (Mineral) | Penrite Oil
Classic Mini is a premium mineral, high zinc, SAE 20W-50 viscosity, API SJ/CE, GL-4 engine oil, designed in conjunction with International Mini Clubs and owners in the UK and Australia specifically for all classic Minis (Austin, BMC Leyland). It has been designed to provide an excellent...
Thanks. The owners waited until many of the cars had left to stage them side by side like that as it does make a pretty unique shot. I take it you know what the four door on the right is?
kj_mustang
Well-known member
Not 100% sure, but my guess is Falcon XW.
This is one of those no pictures, so it didn't happen posts.
For a while the black car has been making this weird clicking or fluttering sound that seemed like it was coming from behind the dash right in front of me. It was speed dependent, i.e. the faster I went the faster it clicked or fluttered.
I ruled out my first suspicion of an exhaust gasket leak - I've dealt with those before - with a stethoscope (ok a bit of fuel hose stuck in my ear). I then thought maybe a leaf or something had got caught in the fresh air system and was fluttering in the breeze. I cleaned it all out as best I could with an air hose in the cowl vent and reaching up under the dash to clear what I could by hand. i got a bit of stuff out of it but a test drive indicated the issue was still there.
So yesterday I took the gauge cluster out of the dash to see what was up and immediately identified the cause of the problem as yours truly. A while back I had the cluster out to install some LED's in the dask lights. I put little bits of masking/painters tape on each wire and labelled them so I knew where to reconnect them. Turns out I had left one of these little flags on a wire and it was merrily fluttering away in the breeze from the not entirely sealed up 1966 fresh air system and the hole in the firewall where I'd pulled the grommet surrounding the speedo cable into the car when I removed the cluster.
So I cut the tape off, buttoned it all up and risked my back with contortions to reinstall the grommet and took it for a quick blast up and down the freeway. Problem solved, you live and learn,
Tomorrow we have my partner's cousin, his wife and one young adult daughter coming to stay for a while from Canada and really looking forward to this. We haven't seen them since we were in Canada in 2012, but another of their daughters stayed with us for a couple of months back in 2018.
The day after they leave we're off to Tasmania on the annual Mustang Owners Club trip. 60 odd cars going on the boat this time. Also looking forward to that, especially as the 1,000 k's/600 miles odd we'll do over 6 days won't be accompanied by an annoying fluttering noise from behind the dash.
For a while the black car has been making this weird clicking or fluttering sound that seemed like it was coming from behind the dash right in front of me. It was speed dependent, i.e. the faster I went the faster it clicked or fluttered.
I ruled out my first suspicion of an exhaust gasket leak - I've dealt with those before - with a stethoscope (ok a bit of fuel hose stuck in my ear). I then thought maybe a leaf or something had got caught in the fresh air system and was fluttering in the breeze. I cleaned it all out as best I could with an air hose in the cowl vent and reaching up under the dash to clear what I could by hand. i got a bit of stuff out of it but a test drive indicated the issue was still there.
So yesterday I took the gauge cluster out of the dash to see what was up and immediately identified the cause of the problem as yours truly. A while back I had the cluster out to install some LED's in the dask lights. I put little bits of masking/painters tape on each wire and labelled them so I knew where to reconnect them. Turns out I had left one of these little flags on a wire and it was merrily fluttering away in the breeze from the not entirely sealed up 1966 fresh air system and the hole in the firewall where I'd pulled the grommet surrounding the speedo cable into the car when I removed the cluster.
So I cut the tape off, buttoned it all up and risked my back with contortions to reinstall the grommet and took it for a quick blast up and down the freeway. Problem solved, you live and learn,
Tomorrow we have my partner's cousin, his wife and one young adult daughter coming to stay for a while from Canada and really looking forward to this. We haven't seen them since we were in Canada in 2012, but another of their daughters stayed with us for a couple of months back in 2018.
The day after they leave we're off to Tasmania on the annual Mustang Owners Club trip. 60 odd cars going on the boat this time. Also looking forward to that, especially as the 1,000 k's/600 miles odd we'll do over 6 days won't be accompanied by an annoying fluttering noise from behind the dash.
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hewey
Well-known member
That's an awfully good guess for a non-Australian!
Sounds like the flutter was a simple fix Geoff. Enjoy your time with the Canadian relos and over in Tassie.
kj_mustang
Well-known member
Been a fan of Australian Ford racing history for a good while. My favorite racing series to watch was the V8 Supercars. If I had unlimited money, I would have a Falcon in the garage along with several Mustangs.
Good to hear. For our small population some great vehicle engineering has been done in this country over the years. While we don't make any cars here at all now, significant world wide Ford design and engineering still take place down here.
While my main motor racing interest is drag racing, I follow the supercar series. It's gone down hill over recent years in terms of spectator and brand relevance since the demise of local manufacturing. While Mustangs are as common as Camrys on the streets here these days you can't walk into a dealer and buy a Camaro like a Mustang. The only way to get a new Camaro is from a specialist importer who converts them RHD to drive here and they end up costing at least twice what a Mustang does, so they are a rare sight on the streets here.
I had an XY GT like the one in the pics. Mine was the other blue available, called electric blue. I had it from 1975 until 1980. Wish I still did.
As foreshadowed a couple of posts back, its been a bit of a hectic time down here.
First we had our Canadian guests come to stay for a week. When they left their home in Canmore, Alberta it was apparently -40C (which in a mathematical coincidence I have just learned is also -40F, go figure). While they were here it got to 36C/97F, so a bit of a turnaround for them.
As you do when you have visitors from far away, we took them to several local attractions that we could go to any time but for some reason don't. This included a day trip up into the Dandenong Ranges, some low by world standards hills to the east of greater Melbourne.
https://www.dandenongrangespoint.com.au/
This took a bit more planning than usual as the area had been affected by a major electricity outage a few days prior due to a fierce storm bringing down trees and transmission towers and some parts of the Dandenongs were still without power. We also lost power for about 12 hours on the night in question. Anyway, we had a nice tour around, stopped at several of the small villages up there, and had an excellent lunch at
https://www.dandenongrangespoint.com.au/attractions/destiny-point-cafe/
The Mustang Owners Club had one of their mid week lunches at this place a few months ago and we knew it worth going back to.
Another day trip was down to the Mornington Peninsula south of greater Melbourne
https://www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org/
where we went on this
https://aseagle.com.au/
Another must was
https://www.zoo.org.au/healesville
as the youngest member of our party was dead keen for an up close and personal experience with the more unusual fauna we have down here,
While not car people particularly (apparently they have gone down to a single car household and its something called a minivan), I took them for a spin in the black car and there was both smiles all round and many posts and reactions on something called social media.
The day after we took them back to the airport for the next leg of their trip (New Zealand) we headed off on the annual Mustang Owners Club trip to Tasmania. To cut to the chase, here's the link to the photos on the club website.
https://vic.mustang.org.au/moca_gallery/moca-vic-thoroughbreds-in-tassie-2024/
The last time we went on this trip two years ago (see post 644) the ferry sailed from Port Melbourne at the top of Port Phillip Bay on which Melbourne is located. Since then it has switched to a new terminal at Geelong, the second largest city in the state of Victoria about 88k's/55 miles from our home in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. While a bit closer to Tasmania this makes virtually no difference to the sailing time but does necessitate the worst road trip around these parts with horrendous traffic, mega roadworks, kamikaze truck drivers and bleak scenery. Oh well. So the first leg of the trip looked like this
It was a brutal 38C/100F on the day of departure as we set off to convene for a smorgasbord lunch at a Geelong pub round the corner from the terminal. This was hard on those driving proper old Mustangs without aircon and/or with less than optimum engine cooling systems. Fortunately mine did not fall into these categories. A '65 and a '69 boiled in the slow moving queue to board the ship and several human beings were in a similar condition, but all 53 cars and 108 people made it on to the ship for the overnight crossing of Bass Strait. Here we are at the check in facility waiting to board
After getting settled in our cabins we convened in one of the bars on the ship for the evening, enjoying some over priced beers and snacks (the smorgasbord lunch is deliberate so we can load up on food and not have to bother much with an evening meal onboard). As per last time, sleep was a bit elusive on a short, narrow and moving bunk.
The sunset wasn't bad
We were woken at 5:30 by an annoyingly cheerful voice over the PA. Disembarking about 6:15 the first order of business was a short trip from Devonport to Forth for breakfast and much needed coffee at this tiny town's community hall. This had been organised by a local member of the Tasmanian chapter of our national club. At this point I'll insert a map of the ground we covered over the 6 days on the Apple Isle.
Next stop was a simply amazing private car collection. This guy made what was obviously a great deal of money in the transport industry and very sensibly has spent it on a lot of cars.
https://www.roadtransporthall.com/k-stories/qifxe7cqkfato6794fnd0lrljnfjks
His car collection isn't open to the public and he only opens it to selected car clubs occasionally, in exchange for a donation to a charity of his choice which he matches from his own pocket, so we were quite lucky. He strongly prefers that photos are not posted online anywhere other than long overview sort of shots and I'm going to respect that.
First we checked out this garage adjacent to his magnificent home.
This, it turned out was the just the house garage for the daily drivers. Then we went over to another large building to see the actual car collection.
This is the view from the house. Not bad eh?
Next stop, apart from some lunch in Campbell Town, was Baskerville Raceway where we got to fang around for a few laps - see the earlier post on our last trip for details of this track. Then on to the Wrest Point Casino Hotel for four nights. Here's the view from our room.
The next morning, which was Saturday, we put the cars on display on the lawns of the Tasmanian Parliament House, along with a similar number of local Tassy Mustangs, 118 cars in all. Adjacent to the famed Salamanca Place market there was plenty of general public taking in the cars. There are a lot of pics of this in the link above to the club website.
Over the next few days there were various dinners but otherwise free time and a range of options of how to spend it. We spent one day taking the ferry up to the Museum of New and Old Art.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Old_and_New_Art
Another day some of us went to the historic Port Arthur penal settlement.
https://portarthur.org.au/
These days Port Arthur is unfortunately better known for something that happened there in 1996 but I don't think we need to cover that here on GJ.
Another day trip was to Opposum Bay and Richmond. The latter features this cool convict built bridge from 1823 which makes it one of the oldest man made structures in this country (the indigenous folk have been here for 60,000 years or so but didn't tend to build permanent structures, there is though a lot of impressive artwork on cave walls etc that dates back tens of millenia).
Our last day in Tassy required a return trip from Hobart to the ferry terminal in Devonport. This was via Symmons Plains Raceway, where we got to do some laps again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmons_Plains_Raceway
This is a better track than Baskerville, particularly for the classic cars like mine that are better on the straights than the corners, Baskerville not really having any straights. That said, SP has a wicked hairpin corner that is always interesting when watching the Supercars on tv. What I didn't appreciate is that as well as the very tight turn it has a significant dip right on the exit of what would ordinarily be the optimum exit line. I don't know how the race cars don't bottom out on it. It's also apparently the hardest track in the series on brakes. I used an appropriate amount of caution in braking and on the corners but gave the old girl quite a bit up the straights, great fun.
After leaving the track we made our way back to the ferry terminal in Devonport, boarded and repeated the journey over - a few beers, poor sleep, and an earlier start with the PA announcement at 4:45 a.m. Once disembarked by about 5:45 we had to brave the already heavy rush hour traffic from Geelong back to home, mostly in the dark. It was very tempting to stop for coffee at least but this would have only allowed the traffic to get worse so we hung out until we got home. A couple of members had much further to go to their homes in rural Victoria. As it happened it took us about 90 minutes to cover the 88 k's/55 miles on at least 4 lane freeway all the way, about twice what it should if you could stay on the speed limit all the way.
We covered nearly 1,000 k's/600 miles in total and the old girl averaged about 10 litres/100k's or 23 mpg with a best of 8.7/27 on one of the highway stretches. This shows the benefit of the five speed with overdrive I have in mine. Some of the other early cars with designed to slip autos were filling up much more often despite much higher final drive ratios (2.8 v the 3.25 I have in mine). The above mpg figures are for imperial gallons. not US ones.
In summary, ate too much, drank too much, spent too much, but had more than enough fun to justify it. At the risk of a cliche, what makes our club great is the quality of the people. A great bunch of old and new friends on this trip.
Speaking of spending to much I'm generating this post while sitting in the lounge at the dealership while my daily drive Merc is getting its annual service ......
First we had our Canadian guests come to stay for a week. When they left their home in Canmore, Alberta it was apparently -40C (which in a mathematical coincidence I have just learned is also -40F, go figure). While they were here it got to 36C/97F, so a bit of a turnaround for them.
As you do when you have visitors from far away, we took them to several local attractions that we could go to any time but for some reason don't. This included a day trip up into the Dandenong Ranges, some low by world standards hills to the east of greater Melbourne.
https://www.dandenongrangespoint.com.au/
This took a bit more planning than usual as the area had been affected by a major electricity outage a few days prior due to a fierce storm bringing down trees and transmission towers and some parts of the Dandenongs were still without power. We also lost power for about 12 hours on the night in question. Anyway, we had a nice tour around, stopped at several of the small villages up there, and had an excellent lunch at
https://www.dandenongrangespoint.com.au/attractions/destiny-point-cafe/
The Mustang Owners Club had one of their mid week lunches at this place a few months ago and we knew it worth going back to.
Another day trip was down to the Mornington Peninsula south of greater Melbourne
https://www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org/
where we went on this
https://aseagle.com.au/
Another must was
https://www.zoo.org.au/healesville
as the youngest member of our party was dead keen for an up close and personal experience with the more unusual fauna we have down here,
While not car people particularly (apparently they have gone down to a single car household and its something called a minivan), I took them for a spin in the black car and there was both smiles all round and many posts and reactions on something called social media.
The day after we took them back to the airport for the next leg of their trip (New Zealand) we headed off on the annual Mustang Owners Club trip to Tasmania. To cut to the chase, here's the link to the photos on the club website.
https://vic.mustang.org.au/moca_gallery/moca-vic-thoroughbreds-in-tassie-2024/
The last time we went on this trip two years ago (see post 644) the ferry sailed from Port Melbourne at the top of Port Phillip Bay on which Melbourne is located. Since then it has switched to a new terminal at Geelong, the second largest city in the state of Victoria about 88k's/55 miles from our home in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. While a bit closer to Tasmania this makes virtually no difference to the sailing time but does necessitate the worst road trip around these parts with horrendous traffic, mega roadworks, kamikaze truck drivers and bleak scenery. Oh well. So the first leg of the trip looked like this
It was a brutal 38C/100F on the day of departure as we set off to convene for a smorgasbord lunch at a Geelong pub round the corner from the terminal. This was hard on those driving proper old Mustangs without aircon and/or with less than optimum engine cooling systems. Fortunately mine did not fall into these categories. A '65 and a '69 boiled in the slow moving queue to board the ship and several human beings were in a similar condition, but all 53 cars and 108 people made it on to the ship for the overnight crossing of Bass Strait. Here we are at the check in facility waiting to board
After getting settled in our cabins we convened in one of the bars on the ship for the evening, enjoying some over priced beers and snacks (the smorgasbord lunch is deliberate so we can load up on food and not have to bother much with an evening meal onboard). As per last time, sleep was a bit elusive on a short, narrow and moving bunk.
The sunset wasn't bad
We were woken at 5:30 by an annoyingly cheerful voice over the PA. Disembarking about 6:15 the first order of business was a short trip from Devonport to Forth for breakfast and much needed coffee at this tiny town's community hall. This had been organised by a local member of the Tasmanian chapter of our national club. At this point I'll insert a map of the ground we covered over the 6 days on the Apple Isle.
Next stop was a simply amazing private car collection. This guy made what was obviously a great deal of money in the transport industry and very sensibly has spent it on a lot of cars.
https://www.roadtransporthall.com/k-stories/qifxe7cqkfato6794fnd0lrljnfjks
His car collection isn't open to the public and he only opens it to selected car clubs occasionally, in exchange for a donation to a charity of his choice which he matches from his own pocket, so we were quite lucky. He strongly prefers that photos are not posted online anywhere other than long overview sort of shots and I'm going to respect that.
First we checked out this garage adjacent to his magnificent home.
This, it turned out was the just the house garage for the daily drivers. Then we went over to another large building to see the actual car collection.
This is the view from the house. Not bad eh?
Next stop, apart from some lunch in Campbell Town, was Baskerville Raceway where we got to fang around for a few laps - see the earlier post on our last trip for details of this track. Then on to the Wrest Point Casino Hotel for four nights. Here's the view from our room.
The next morning, which was Saturday, we put the cars on display on the lawns of the Tasmanian Parliament House, along with a similar number of local Tassy Mustangs, 118 cars in all. Adjacent to the famed Salamanca Place market there was plenty of general public taking in the cars. There are a lot of pics of this in the link above to the club website.
Over the next few days there were various dinners but otherwise free time and a range of options of how to spend it. We spent one day taking the ferry up to the Museum of New and Old Art.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Old_and_New_Art
Another day some of us went to the historic Port Arthur penal settlement.
https://portarthur.org.au/
These days Port Arthur is unfortunately better known for something that happened there in 1996 but I don't think we need to cover that here on GJ.
Another day trip was to Opposum Bay and Richmond. The latter features this cool convict built bridge from 1823 which makes it one of the oldest man made structures in this country (the indigenous folk have been here for 60,000 years or so but didn't tend to build permanent structures, there is though a lot of impressive artwork on cave walls etc that dates back tens of millenia).
Our last day in Tassy required a return trip from Hobart to the ferry terminal in Devonport. This was via Symmons Plains Raceway, where we got to do some laps again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmons_Plains_Raceway
This is a better track than Baskerville, particularly for the classic cars like mine that are better on the straights than the corners, Baskerville not really having any straights. That said, SP has a wicked hairpin corner that is always interesting when watching the Supercars on tv. What I didn't appreciate is that as well as the very tight turn it has a significant dip right on the exit of what would ordinarily be the optimum exit line. I don't know how the race cars don't bottom out on it. It's also apparently the hardest track in the series on brakes. I used an appropriate amount of caution in braking and on the corners but gave the old girl quite a bit up the straights, great fun.
After leaving the track we made our way back to the ferry terminal in Devonport, boarded and repeated the journey over - a few beers, poor sleep, and an earlier start with the PA announcement at 4:45 a.m. Once disembarked by about 5:45 we had to brave the already heavy rush hour traffic from Geelong back to home, mostly in the dark. It was very tempting to stop for coffee at least but this would have only allowed the traffic to get worse so we hung out until we got home. A couple of members had much further to go to their homes in rural Victoria. As it happened it took us about 90 minutes to cover the 88 k's/55 miles on at least 4 lane freeway all the way, about twice what it should if you could stay on the speed limit all the way.
We covered nearly 1,000 k's/600 miles in total and the old girl averaged about 10 litres/100k's or 23 mpg with a best of 8.7/27 on one of the highway stretches. This shows the benefit of the five speed with overdrive I have in mine. Some of the other early cars with designed to slip autos were filling up much more often despite much higher final drive ratios (2.8 v the 3.25 I have in mine). The above mpg figures are for imperial gallons. not US ones.
In summary, ate too much, drank too much, spent too much, but had more than enough fun to justify it. At the risk of a cliche, what makes our club great is the quality of the people. A great bunch of old and new friends on this trip.
Speaking of spending to much I'm generating this post while sitting in the lounge at the dealership while my daily drive Merc is getting its annual service ......
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Lyndon
Well-known member
Geoff
Great write up. Sound very similar to the trip we did some years back.
Lyndon
Great write up. Sound very similar to the trip we did some years back.
Lyndon
hewey
Well-known member
Tassie trip sounds amazing Geoff, thanks for the write up and pics. Particularly that car collection is stunning and something pretty special. I can understand his sentiment in not wanting details shared too freely online, and he's generous in opening it up in the way that he does. The track days and other touring all looks awesome too. Some great driving roads too? Or mostly boring highway stuff from point A to B?
With our potential Tassie trip, my wife is paranoid about her car being bumped on the ferry ride over. Do they tie the cars down? Or is it just handbrakes and park it in gear? And how close are the cars parked together? I've tried reassuring her that they'd get far more rare, exotic and expensive cars making the trip, so her's should be fine.
With our potential Tassie trip, my wife is paranoid about her car being bumped on the ferry ride over. Do they tie the cars down? Or is it just handbrakes and park it in gear? And how close are the cars parked together? I've tried reassuring her that they'd get far more rare, exotic and expensive cars making the trip, so her's should be fine.
Tassie trip sounds amazing Geoff, thanks for the write up and pics. Particularly that car collection is stunning and something pretty special. I can understand his sentiment in not wanting details shared too freely online, and he's generous in opening it up in the way that he does. The track days and other touring all looks awesome too. Some great driving roads too? Or mostly boring highway stuff from point A to B?
With our potential Tassie trip, my wife is paranoid about her car being bumped on the ferry ride over. Do they tie the cars down? Or is it just handbrakes and park it in gear? And how close are the cars parked together? I've tried reassuring her that they'd get far more rare, exotic and expensive cars making the trip, so her's should be fine.
Thanks Hewey, we had a great time.
The driving experience varied a bit. The first bits of the first day - Devonport to Forth for brekky, Forth to Port Sorrell to check out that amazing car collection (and house and grounds), and then from there to around Longford where we got onto the main North-South highway - was more engaging driving. Mind you, even the main highway is nothing like the divided multi lane freeway between mainland East Coast capitals. It's also not in great condition being pretty bumpy and potholed. They are doing a lot of work on it but that created another issue of numerous long stretches of 80, 60 or 40 kph limits. There are, though, plenty of good driving experiences on the Apple Isle. We did a nice back road from Hobart to Deloraine and then onto Launceston last time we went on this trip.
They don't routinely tie the cars down on the Spirit of Tasmania and they are stacked in pretty close together. The long doors on Mustangs made it quite tricky to get in and out of the cars so that tells you that while there is room to walk between the rows of cars they are pretty close together. I think they do have provision to tie them down if the conditions are forecast to be particularly rough but I've never seen it actually done (I think this is the fifth time I've put a car on it). The biggest risk to cars is people opening their doors onto the one next to them or walking up between the cars toting bags that are swinging and potentially banging into the cars. The club had arranged for us to all board at once so mostly we were surrounded by other Mustang owners who took the care we'd expect. My advice would be to firstly stay with your car as long as possible once you board to basically guard it and then get to it first thing in the morning to do likewise.
The only damage to one of our cars I've heard about happened at the display at Parliament House when a media camera man had set up a camera apparently worth $35K on a tripod a metre or so behind one of our cars and it was knocked over and into the car by a clumsy and uncaring member of the general public who apparently just continued on their way. It put a noticeable scratch that failed the fingernail test and chipped the paint on the boot lid, while also rendering the expensive camera inoperable.
hewey
Well-known member
Noted, I'll stick well clear of clumsy general public near media cameras
And thanks, I'll pass that along.
And thanks, I'll pass that along.
Nothing very interesting going on here but here goes anyway.
You know how I like a bargain. About three weeks ago we had a fierce storm here that took out the electricity across a lot of the state. Our's was out for about 12 hours but their were some folks off the grid for a week or more. The storm also brought down trees all over the place (which in turn brought down the overhead power lines). Around here the council has been working to clear up all these fallen trees and limbs.
The result is that they have a massive over supply of garden mulch and offered it to ratepayers for free. Go get some, says the chief gardener. So The Eyesore and trailer and I went along to the depot where they had this stuff. It was a couple or days since we learned of it before I could get there and I was sort of expecting it to be all gone. Not much risk there as there is a veritable mountain of the stuff.
The price of this free mulch is that I had to shovel it into the trailer by hand, and of course, do the reverse at home, but I came back with about a cubic metre and will likely be sent back for more.
This first load was required in the back garden. Now I have mentioned in the past that in searching for somewhere to build this forever home the original criteria included a reasonably flat block of land. The other locational advantages of where we ended up meant this had to be compromised and we are on a bit of a slope. As you know, I built some external steps to facilitate pedestrian access from the front garden at the upper level to the rear garden on the lower level.
To be able to use a wheelbarrow to negotiate this change of level requires something other than steps. Some time ago I acquired, also at no cost (Coolabah are you paying attention?) a couple of extremely strong aluminium ramps ordinarily used for getting bobcats and excavators and things up onto trucks. With these in place, secured against slippage by pins, and a sturdy timber plank for the last bit I can quickly set up a satisfactory ramp to get a wheelbarrow down. The gradient is probably a little steeper than ideal but with a full barrow of mulch perfectly manageable. Something heavier like soil you'd probably be wise to limit to half barrow loads and you wouldn't want to be pushing a load up the ramp but that's unlikely be needed.
The other thing I was going to mention is my partner's car, a 2019 Golf. The five year warranty runs out in a few months and it started me thinking that, while it's been problem free, we should identify anything that should be addressed before it expires. We may get a professional inspection report to take to the dealer but at this stage I've just had a reasonably thorough poke around myself.
What I have discovered as an oil leak between the engine and transmission which is very likely to be a rear main seal so not a small job.
This is the plastic undertray thing that means you don't get telltale oil drips on the garage floor.
and the leak itself
So we'll be off to the dealer soon with these photos to see what sort of run around we get. I'm glad I started this a few months before the warranty expires. I'll be pleased to be proved wrong but I expect they'll do everything they can to avoid replacing the rear main. I'll keep you all posted.
You know how I like a bargain. About three weeks ago we had a fierce storm here that took out the electricity across a lot of the state. Our's was out for about 12 hours but their were some folks off the grid for a week or more. The storm also brought down trees all over the place (which in turn brought down the overhead power lines). Around here the council has been working to clear up all these fallen trees and limbs.
The result is that they have a massive over supply of garden mulch and offered it to ratepayers for free. Go get some, says the chief gardener. So The Eyesore and trailer and I went along to the depot where they had this stuff. It was a couple or days since we learned of it before I could get there and I was sort of expecting it to be all gone. Not much risk there as there is a veritable mountain of the stuff.
The price of this free mulch is that I had to shovel it into the trailer by hand, and of course, do the reverse at home, but I came back with about a cubic metre and will likely be sent back for more.
This first load was required in the back garden. Now I have mentioned in the past that in searching for somewhere to build this forever home the original criteria included a reasonably flat block of land. The other locational advantages of where we ended up meant this had to be compromised and we are on a bit of a slope. As you know, I built some external steps to facilitate pedestrian access from the front garden at the upper level to the rear garden on the lower level.
To be able to use a wheelbarrow to negotiate this change of level requires something other than steps. Some time ago I acquired, also at no cost (Coolabah are you paying attention?) a couple of extremely strong aluminium ramps ordinarily used for getting bobcats and excavators and things up onto trucks. With these in place, secured against slippage by pins, and a sturdy timber plank for the last bit I can quickly set up a satisfactory ramp to get a wheelbarrow down. The gradient is probably a little steeper than ideal but with a full barrow of mulch perfectly manageable. Something heavier like soil you'd probably be wise to limit to half barrow loads and you wouldn't want to be pushing a load up the ramp but that's unlikely be needed.
The other thing I was going to mention is my partner's car, a 2019 Golf. The five year warranty runs out in a few months and it started me thinking that, while it's been problem free, we should identify anything that should be addressed before it expires. We may get a professional inspection report to take to the dealer but at this stage I've just had a reasonably thorough poke around myself.
What I have discovered as an oil leak between the engine and transmission which is very likely to be a rear main seal so not a small job.
This is the plastic undertray thing that means you don't get telltale oil drips on the garage floor.
and the leak itself
So we'll be off to the dealer soon with these photos to see what sort of run around we get. I'm glad I started this a few months before the warranty expires. I'll be pleased to be proved wrong but I expect they'll do everything they can to avoid replacing the rear main. I'll keep you all posted.
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Geoff, I remember having a wonderful time touring the Dandenong ranges. We spent some time in the William Ricketts Sanctuary and because we spent plenty of time in New York City it wasn't the least bit disturbing for Liane.
She wasn't too happy sharing her lobster when we stopped for lunch in the forest (I got the prawn).
We were a little disappointed with the haze when we arrived at the Dandenong overlook but I suspect this is the usual haze from the Eucalyptus.
Also, thanks for the reminder. I took a picture of that bridge in Tasmania but couldn't remember its significance.
Dear god, if Liane heard about free mulch I would have to make several hundred trips and turn our whole plot of land into that pile in your photo. "As long as we don't open the doors or windows it will be fine."
She wasn't too happy sharing her lobster when we stopped for lunch in the forest (I got the prawn).
We were a little disappointed with the haze when we arrived at the Dandenong overlook but I suspect this is the usual haze from the Eucalyptus.
Also, thanks for the reminder. I took a picture of that bridge in Tasmania but couldn't remember its significance.
Dear god, if Liane heard about free mulch I would have to make several hundred trips and turn our whole plot of land into that pile in your photo. "As long as we don't open the doors or windows it will be fine."