Below 265 SQ/FT Hewey's 1950s single garage & cottage

[hewey]

Somehow we're now in 2025! Happy new year to everyone.

The end of year is always busy for us, and this one threw us a couple of curveballs to boot.

My wife's dad passed away in December, the day after the anniversary of my mate's death (and a couple of days before my birthday). The poor timing wasn't lost on us. She wasn't very close to him, but she got a chance to do an emergency dash down there before he died which gave her some comfort since it had been a long time since her last visit. The funeral ended up being between Christmas and New Years in Melbourne, so a week out from the busiest time of year we had to try and find a kennel for the dogs. One flagged they were 50% booked for next Christmas! Once that was booked in (2 hours away), we booked accommodation and everything else. We decided to drive down and loop in a visit to my dad on the way back, which was already planned. We actually ended up staying relatively close to Geoff's 'hood and stayed in Sandringham (it's all relative when you live 10 hours drive away). The funeral was lovely, but mixed emotions with the nature of their relationship. We had a day to explore the Mornington Peninsular. The next day we drove home via Black Spur to Glenrowan and then Beechworth for the night. The next day we drove to Narranderra to visit my dad in aged care, and then Cowra that night. And back home the next day. Between that, and a couple of visits to family in Bathurst just before Christmas, we did about 3-4000km in 2 weeks. Home on Saturday, Sunday to catch up on washing, and back to work Monday. Not quite the relaxed time off we were aiming for. Also I got sick in December too, just a regular cold, but picked up the worst niggling cough which just hung on for weeeeks. Like my entire chest and back muscles aching every time you coughed. By some stroke of luck I got through the funeral without a coughing fit. I've kicked it now, but was just a pain.

Geoff I'm still keen to visit on a future visit, when we have more time and less emotions on our plates

The shed was delivered in December, with multiple issues. Firstly the windows in the gable ends were off-centre. I spec'd them in the centre to align with the gable, and I even paid extra to have them aligned in the centre (in an 'off-sheet' position). And they looked like this when it was delivered. When you've been taught by Halfcup to clock your screws, a window off-centre by about a third just looks like ***. They also sent me dark grey corner flashings, for an otherwise white shed. A bit of back and forth and outlining how I wouldn't have even ordered the shed had I known this was how it would look, they offered to replace the gable walls and the corner trims.



The replacement panels finally arrived today. We shifted the windows completely off-centre to make it look like they've been done on purpose. They should align to the rear of the shed to help bring in light at the back. We'll see how assembly goes, hopefully this weekend.

 

[Bob Heine]

Hewey, welcome to the club. I won't mention any of the holidays associated with tragic events in our family. That could result in my invisible friend filling in the vacancies. At least your wife being with her father near the end avoids a nagging guilt.

We went to a pretty big outdoor dog show in the Sydney suburbs so it surprises me there aren't dog boarding houses everywhere. Then again it's the high holidays and summer vacation time down under so I get it. I assume you paid the same price as nice lodgings for your wife and self.

I would have had the twitches looking at that first end wall window. It looks like a total screw-up being that little bit off-center. The second layout is much better, like an obvious design decision rather than a defective tape measure.

 

[Geoff289]

I started to type "You could have stayed with us" but then realised we were a bit overrun with grandchildren in that week between Xmas and NY. Sandy (Sandringham) is only maybe half an hour from us outside of peak hour but I guess your schedule was a pretty tight one. I'm equally keen to catch up some time.

That's a nice drive through Healesville and over the Black Spur. Did you do the small detour into Marysville, which is topical given what's going on in LA because it was wiped out by bushfires on 2009 (Black Saturday). Beechworth is interesting too, isn't it? I presume you went to the bakery? There's kind of a rule, you can't visit Beechworth without hitting the bakery. I think even Ned Kelly had to drop in there. You could also have dropped into my cousin's winery. She makes a very nice drop.

https://www.haldonestatewines.com.au/gallery-Beechworth-Wineries-Vineyards.html

That shed! Ain't that how the world is these days? Companies both small and large, but particularly large ones, just don't seem to give a rats, notwithstanding that they bombard you with pressure to give them a review after the most minor purchase or interaction. I ignore those review things these days unless there was something exceptional about the service, in which case I would initiate some positive feedback even if not asked.

What strikes me is that even in the absence of a specific request to centre the window, that would be the logical and aesthetically obvious thing to do. Why they thought sticking it where they did was a good idea is mystifying.

 

[Bob Heine]

You could also have dropped into my cousin's winery. She makes a very nice drop.

Geoff, I visited the wineries in the Hunter Valley and a couple near Adelaide. I couldn't understand why I had never tried wine from Australia because they were so much better than many of the California wines. Soon as we found one we liked I bought a case and stored it in the second (car-less) garage. Didn't take long before I had a problem with the wine I wanted being in the case at the bottom of a double- or triple-stack. Truly first world problem.

Returned to the states in 1991 and Costco had just opened a warehouse near us. They had a really large selection of wines and single bottles were priced lower than the per bottle case price in Sydney. There was a nice poster that explained one reason why Australian wines tasted so good. To be labeled a particular wine variety (like Merlot) in Australia, it has to made from at least 85% of that (Merlot) grape variety. To be labeled a particular wine variety in the United States, it has to be made from at least 75% of that grape variety (but there are exceptions so it might only be 51%).

 

[Geoff289]

Geoff, I visited the wineries in the Hunter Valley and a couple near Adelaide. I couldn't understand why I had never tried wine from Australia because they were so much better than many of the California wines. Soon as we found one we liked I bought a case and stored it in the second (car-less) garage. Didn't take long before I had a problem with the wine I wanted being in the case at the bottom of a double- or triple-stack. Truly first world problem.

Returned to the states in 1991 and Costco had just opened a warehouse near us. They had a really large selection of wines and single bottles were priced lower than the per bottle case price in Sydney. There was a nice poster that explained one reason why Australian wines tasted so good. To be labeled a particular wine variety (like Merlot) in Australia, it has to made from at least 85% of that (Merlot) grape variety. To be labeled a particular wine variety in the United States, it has to be made from at least 75% of that grape variety (but there are exceptions so it might only be 51%).

I don't really know much about wine, but I enjoy a nice Merlot or Pinot Noir with a meal from time to time. Unfortunately, it tends to give me bad indigestion so it's only an occasional indulgence.

I think when you were here the Australian wine industry was well under the international radar, as were a number of other industries. Without getting into politics, for which I don't think there is any place on GJ, we had a federal government in the '80's which undertook some major economic reform which opened up Australia to the world for exports, transforming what had been, an inward looking, protected and isolated secondary industry economy since Captain Cook rocked up in 1770. I see a direct connection between Costco offering our wine in the early '90's and those economic reforms.

My cousin Tracey does make a quite superior drop and it's not cheap. I don't know if she exports any.

 

[hewey]

Thanks for stopping by Bob and Geoff! Good to know I wasn't over reacting when I saw the off-centre window. I had to to a step back and question whether I was being unreasonable or not, or if my standards were too high.

Speaking of wine, I don't drink wine, and my wife rarely does, so the whole winery thing is a little wasted on us. While we had our day in Mornington though, we visited Pt Leo Estate. One of their key features is modern sculpture garden / walking trail, for $15 entry. Best outdoor sculpture collection I've seen, backed by stunning views. Absolutely loved it, and a bit of proverbial kick up the behind to create more art. Though we bypassed the winery restaurant and went back to a slow cooked American style BBQ joint we passed a few minutes away, which was fantastic.







Geoff we didn't hit up the bakery in Beechworth. We've been there before though, our timing didnt work for baked goods this trip. We did find a neat little hole in the wall cafe, which did bar food and cocktails at night, which we hit up for dinner. We went back for brekky the next day, as it was the kind of place that does coffee's to my wife's coffee snob tastes

No shed assembly - my wife worked Saturday, and we've been having heaps of rain on and off, so I didn't like the chances of getting it done in the small windows of non rainy weather. Next couple of weekends will be out as well, so will wait a little longer.

 

[Bob Heine]

Hewey and Geoff, it's odd I'm homesick for Australia. We were only there for two years and returned to the US 33 years ago. I guess it's because it was two years of working with a few travel breaks. My childhood road trips across North America totaled 300 or so days and I could easily spend at least that many days traveling around Australia (in a luxury 4x4).

I completely understand how Rian (@Grizz1963) feels about visiting the US when living in the UK. And I feel the same visiting the UK when living in the US. I suspect some folks have a stronger wanderlust than others. I am learning to be content where I am but I am spending an inordinate amount of time going through photo albums and keepsakes.

 

[Geoff289]

Hewey and Geoff, it's odd I'm homesick for Australia. We were only there for two years and returned to the US 33 years ago. I guess it's because it was two years of working with a few travel breaks. My childhood road trips across North America totaled 300 or so days and I could easily spend at least that many days traveling around Australia (in a luxury 4x4).

I completely understand how Rian (@Grizz1963) feels about visiting the US when living in the UK. And I feel the same visiting the UK when living in the US. I suspect some folks have a stronger wanderlust than others. I am learning to be content where I am but I am spending an inordinate amount of time going through photo albums and keepsakes.

I'm sure I can speak for Hewey, Lyndon and all other down under members is saying you'd be welcomed with open arms down here again, Bob. This continent has been here for quite a while and isn't going anywhere, so come back and see us.

I have been to your country three times. Once in 1979 for about 3 weeks where I didn't do much other than go to the drags in LA at Irwindale, Orange County and Pomona and drink beer (which I have to say fell short of the standard I was used to), nearly 6 months in 1988 where we followed the NHRA circuit but got in a lot of sightseeing in between events, and 2 months in Canada and the US in 2012 when I didn't go the drags and was wall to wall sightseeing.

Nevertheless, I have really only scratched the surface of the USA. What struck me is the natural world, the scenery. The icons like Niagara and the Grand Canyon are breathtaking but the trip to get to them involves just as much astonishing scenery. In Australia the climate and the fact that its geologically so old means there's a lot of nothing much on the way to see things like Ayers Rock and Great Australian Bight.

Anyhow, I'll put another shrimp on the barbie for you.

 

[hewey]

Thanks Bob and Geoff. Yeh the desire to explore is only tempered by balancing it against being financially responsible and having enough leave. Our trip to Great Ocean Road was epic and makes me want to plan some more trips based on epic roads and epic scenery. An Aussie summer 'alps' tour would be fantastic. My wife's also flagged she's keen to do some international travel, so we'll see how we go with that planning. Also want to do some budget friendly touring with the dogs.

On a half related note, the weekend just been saw us head down to Wagga for the Riverina Rumble. The Subie saw towing duties for the mini, getting off to a wet and soggy start from home.



This is the general vibe of the Rumble - laid back, live music, wood fired pizza or American BBQ, and catching up with mates. Oh, and ****** hot - mid 30s all weekend, and old cars with no air con.



Daytrip out to Holbrook with lunch at the pub.



Some laps one night in my brother's XY





On site dinner, with no need to worry about driving home when you have a few drinks.

 

[Bob Heine]

Hewey, when I was growing up on Long Island, my uncle and his family lived in Holbrook. The family home was a summer place (they lived in an apartment in the Bronx) with running water (from a well) in the kitchen but an outhouse ten yards from the back door. After WWII he lived there with his mother and grandmother and married soon after his grandmother passed. Here I am in Holbrook with my parents new car -- a 1950 Chevrolet Bel Air hardtop convertible (Chevy's first hardtop). My great grandmother (on the left) was born the last year of the American Civil War and I (on the right) was born the last year of World War II and her birthday was celebrated the day after mine. Holbrook is still a sanctuary far from the big city. https://nextdoor.com/city/holbrook--ny/

On our way to Tasmania we passed through Holbrook but only stopped to photograph the sign. We were on a roll so we didn't check out the submarine squadron. Another missed opportunity.

 

[Geoff289]

That sub in Holbrook has always seemed pretty strange to me, hundreds of K's from the sea. Back in my days of being a drag racing crew member we would often park up for a sleep at the sub on our way to or from a race in Sydney.

Bob, in 2003 my eldest daughter, then aged 18, got a gig working at one of those summer camps that seem to be a rite of passage in your country. The camp was based at a horse riding ranch sort of place on Long Island and she was billeted with a family in or near Holbrook.

 

[hewey]

That's a really nice Chev Bob. You guys did a whole lot of travelling when you were down here which is great, and got lots of photos too.

The sub is an interesting story. The first European name for the place was Ten Mile Creek, back in the 1830s. German immigrants took over the licensing of the local pub in the 1840s, and people would colloquially say they were visiting 'the Germans' which stuck, and then the town officially became 'Germanton' in 1876. During WWI Germanton was considered unpatriotic, so it was renamed Holbrook after Lt. Norman Douglas Holbrook, a decorated wartime submarine captain and winner of the Victoria Cross. In the mid 1990s the town was gifted the tailfin of a sub, they did a big fundraising program which was heavily supported by Holbrook's widow who chipped in $100K, and they bought the entire upper section of the sub - the bottom 'fat' section has been made from concrete to replicate the sub shape. And that's how you get a giant sub in a park in a random Aussie town hundreds of kilometres from the coast...

 

[Geoff289]

Got that shed up yet?

 

[hewey]

No shed update. I want a clear 2 days with both of us available and no rain, to be able to empty the old shed, dismantle it, assemble the new one, and then organise/set it up. Ironically the Australia Day long weekend would have been perfect, but my wife visited family in Queensland. This weekend is pretty busy, but next weekend should be sweet.

 

[kitdoctor]

That's one things our friends in the USA do well is BBQ. I've got my eye on a Z Grill.

 

[hewey]

Kitdoctor, the American BBQ thing is slowly growing over here which is great. So much better than a half burnt snag on a piece of white bread.

On a half related note we stacked multiple gift vouchers from various sources, along with a Barbeques Galore sale, and picked up ourselves a Gozney Roccbox. A portable pizza oven that is perfect for spitting out beautiful thin traditional neopolitan style pizzas that a woodfired oven would be jealous of. By stacking vouchers we got a $800 oven for $200. Pretty stoked with that. I largely blame Gregor on here for posting pizza shots from the middle of the dessert on his dirt bike adventures! I just need to use my old gas bottle so I can get a new one with the updated gas fittings.



In other news, we got the Statesman on the road! We had a mechanic give it a once over and it copped new tyres all round and some swaybar bushes, but that was all that was needed for a roadworthy. My brother had it stashed at his place in Bathurst, so naturally a trip around the mountain was needed for a short test drive, before then driving it the 2 hours home. Not bad for something that's done about 300km in the last 14 years from what we can work out.

Unfortunately she's developed a light tick in the top end. Apparently the 304s are renowned for ticking lifters. So we'll get that looked into by a local mechanic, and work out what our options are.

 

[kitdoctor]

By stacking vouchers we got a $800 oven for $200.

@hewey finally a victory stacking vouchers! So often the fine print frustrates such attempts.

Great rear end shot heading over the top of The Mountain!

 

[hewey]

Kitdoctor likewise we were surprised too! The manager was lovely and super helpful.

Has been a mixed bag around here! On Saturday we hooked in and demolished the old shed. It actually took a lot more effort than expected - the mix of 3 different style of fasteners (screws, bolts, and rivets) didn't help either. I cut the walls in half to make them more manageable and stacked it up on the nature strip, and posted it on the local garage sale page for a metal collector, and it was picked up Monday afternoon.



The bare slab got a good gurney to clean it up.



Ready for the new shed.



After some extensive pondering, I made the call that we needed extra hands for the shed install. Particularly getting the first and second wall in place simultaneously, and particularly for the roof install. So that'll be done in a few weeks when my brother is down.

Sunday we popped into the local cars and coffee, and decided to head out west to find some fun roads and a nice pub/cafe lunch. We didn't get far though! Following up on Geoff's discussion recently about spare wheels, we had this epic tyre failure. The Yaris only comes with a can of sealant goo, and I dont think it was up to the task!



The good news is we had phone reception, we'd just been to the loo, the weather was nice, and we'd found a safe driveway turn in completely off the road. NRMA were called and we kicked back in the shade and took in the view. This was somewhere between Hartley and Hampton. For all the backroads we do with no reception, nowhere to pull off etc, things could have been much worse.



NRMA coverage got us all the way home with no cost. We'd consciously got one of the higher packages when we bought the Yaris for this very reason.



Once at home we whipped off the wheel, and it soon became apparent what had happened. We stopped in at Hartley for a loo break, and it had a gravel carpark. After taking off there was a tink tink noise, which just sounded like a piece of gravel stuck in the tread. Only a couple of minutes up the road there was some thudding when we hit bumps. Clearly the tyre had rapidly deflated, and the little driving we did on it completely chewed it up. Luckily the forged BBS rims had no damage - they're $3K each from Toyota!

 

[hewey]

Got the new tyre sorted on Monday. It was a special order in, but they got it ready the same day. It's a high grade sticky sports tyre so was a cool $400. Not looking forward to doing the whole set down the track.

The other issue was the old weights left a whole lot of residue behind. My wife was determined to remove it, but without scratching the rim. Not an easy task when the glue is designed to hold a wheel weight that spins around at over 100kmh, it was STUBBORN. We used a rotating mix of methods including Bowdens tar remover, heat gun, caramel wheel with some lube etc. It was a sloooow laborious process and we ended up finishing after dark. All that work and the rim will just get covered in brake dust. But my wife is happy and it looks good.











More mixed news on the Statesman front. After having them on hold since last year, I finally got to order in my new plates for it. They look awesome, but in a couple of years it'll go on club rego when it's old enough, so can't get too attached to them. The bad news is the engine specialist had a look and confirmed the prognosis of dead lifters, so that's going to have a sizeable bill associated with it. Have given the go ahead, expect it to take a few weeks.

 

[Geoff289]

I rest my case about having a spare wheel. Of course, now I have one I'll never get a puncture while carrying it.

Seems like your club permit scheme is like ours in that you can't use a personalised plate, only the permit plates they provide. I'm pretty sure the Queensland scheme allows personalised plates. I still have the rights to BLCK 66 and the actual plates on the garage wall in the faint hope they might change the scheme here one day.

 

[Lyndon]

Geoff/Hewey

Yes - the lack of personalised plates under Historic Rego is a pain. I'd really like to have the old plates back on the XJ6, but under our scheme it's not possible. However, because I knew the girls at Service NSW really well (from all the work regos I used to look after) they chose a good plate for me. But if personalised come back I'm onto it!

Lyndon

 

[zanyad]

Luckily the forged BBS rims had no damage - they're $3K each from Toyota!

That tire looked nasty. You got a lucky break indeed!

 

[Lyndon]

Hewey

I saw that your missus got help from the Bowdens FB site......

Lyndon

 

[hewey]

Geoff as we were sitting waiting for the towtruck I mentioned how you'd recently brought up the spare wheel issue. The irony is that I'd never had a flat in the past where the tyre goo wouldn't have fixed it, till this one. Word on the Yaris pages is that a Hyundai N space saver will fit, so we might get that for daily duties, and pick up a full size spare for extended drives. If we can pick up a spare Rallye wheel we're also covered in case we lunch one too.

Lyndon and Geoff, yeh the lack of personalised plates for club rego is a puzzling one. Surely there's tens of thousands of income they're missing out on?!

 

[Geoff289]

Geoff as we were sitting waiting for the towtruck I mentioned how you'd recently brought up the spare wheel issue. The irony is that I'd never had a flat in the past where the tyre goo wouldn't have fixed it, till this one. Word on the Yaris pages is that a Hyundai N space saver will fit, so we might get that for daily duties, and pick up a full size spare for extended drives. If we can pick up a spare Rallye wheel we're also covered in case we lunch one too.

Lyndon and Geoff, yeh the lack of personalised plates for club rego is a puzzling one. Surely there's tens of thousands of income they're missing out on?!

That was a major tear in your tyre.

We can't even get the club plates in the US size to properly fit our cars, yet you can get US sized ones for ordinary rego. Still, I just got the rego renewal for the Bimmer and at $906 vs. $180 for a 90 day permit I'll put up with the club plates.

 

[hewey]

Yeh the cost savings make it a no brainer. NSW has recently brought in full size plates for club rego which look much better. The mini has the original NSW small plates. They look okay on the mini, but kind of stupid on a full size car (and leave holes from the full size plates). On the mini I came up with the idea of shifting the plate off centre and mounting a grille badge to fill in the blank space, which covered the original holes (but created more).

 

[hewey]

Statesman is back from the mechanic with new lifters. Seems to be running well. We've done a couple of short trips, and hoping to stretch them out as we get more confident with it. Still looking for some time to give the interior a really good detail and clean up.

In other news, we got the shed installed on the weekend. My brother and his kids came down and gave us a hand with the install, which was greatly needed. No way my wife and I could have done it solo. No progress pics, as its not really appropriate to be stopping for happy snaps when you've got people giving you a hand.

There's still a few minor things to finish off, we need a few more dynabolts to finish bolting the thing down, install the corner flashings etc. but we just ran out of time on the day. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. With the extra head height and windows, it definitely gives the feeling of being more spacious. Plan is to finish off the final bits this week, and start filling it up!

 

[Geoff289]

That's a couple of milestones.

You could have a couple of days holiday down at Shepparton and get DFB to give the Statesman his special treatment.

I had to put our, I mean her, shed up during Covid lockdown by myself, a real mission. I think I described it on here at the time as involving various clamps, props, levers and bad language.

 

[hewey]

Thanks Geoff. Yes, I couldn't imagine trying to have done it myself like you did, without a lot of swearing and possibly a tantrum or two in the process DFB sure does some nice work.

As luck would have it, Bunnings had a sale on the shelving I wanted. So we did an after dinner run down to Penrith (about 30min away) where its open till 9pm. We cleaned out one store of their of 4 left, so drove 10 minutes to the next closest one and picked up another couple, and saved around $220 over retail.

The shed install is 'done'. Corner facias have been installed, screwed down the roof panels over the shed doors (which needed trimming of the screws underneath to not foul the door), siliconed the edges of the shed (thanks to a rough slab there were some big gaps), finished dynabolting the shed down etc etc. And then have started the fit out.

These shelves are great in terms of being affordable, taking enough weight (for a garden shed), having adjustable height shelves etc. The downside is they take forever to put together as they have around 40 parts that need to be assembled. The positive is you only need a rubber mallet. But it takes some time when you have 6 of the damn things, and it's around 35 degrees and you're in a tin shed. I ended up taking a break and coming back after dinner.



6 shelves full assembled, now to start filling it with stuff.



As you can see the layout is looking bang on for what I mapped out using the online design tool.

 

[Geoff289]

Thanks Geoff. Yes, I couldn't imagine trying to have done it myself like you did, without a lot of swearing and possibly a tantrum or two in the process DFB sure does some nice work.

As luck would have it, Bunnings had a sale on the shelving I wanted. So we did an after dinner run down to Penrith (about 30min away) where its open till 9pm. We cleaned out one store of their of 4 left, so drove 10 minutes to the next closest one and picked up another couple, and saved around $220 over retail.

The shed install is 'done'. Corner facias have been installed, screwed down the roof panels over the shed doors (which needed trimming of the screws underneath to not foul the door), siliconed the edges of the shed (thanks to a rough slab there were some big gaps), finished dynabolting the shed down etc etc. And then have started the fit out.

These shelves are great in terms of being affordable, taking enough weight (for a garden shed), having adjustable height shelves etc. The downside is they take forever to put together as they have around 40 parts that need to be assembled. The positive is you only need a rubber mallet. But it takes some time when you have 6 of the damn things, and it's around 35 degrees and you're in a tin shed. I ended up taking a break and coming back after dinner.



6 shelves full assembled, now to start filling it with stuff.



As you can see the layout is looking bang on for what I mapped out using the online design tool.

Looking good, and it'll stay that tidy too I guess.

The most amusing part of putting our shed up was transporting the individual whole wall panels from the driveway to the final location via the then vacant block next door. This involved two hand trolleys temporarily joined together with some timber and gingerly moving them down the hill, over very uneven ground. There were numerous near disasters, and I had to pause and re-rig the sophisticated apparatus once but eventually succeeded.

30 minutes to the nearest Bunnings? How do you cope?

 

[kitdoctor]

You could have a couple of days holiday down at Shepparton and get DFB to give the Statesman his special treatment.

@hewey @Geoff289 @D.F.B and dropped into the GT Nationals.

 

[D.F.B]

@hewey @Geoff289 @D.F.B and dropped into the GT Nationals.

Would you believe I took no part in the GT Nationals?

Actually, I worked at a neighboring business to where the GT Nationals were held. Two years ago, a group of GT guys were in town casing the venue for the event, and oh boy, talk about an inflated sense of importance. The way they carried on, anyone would think they owned something more than what are taxi's with big engines..................I should know, I have one myself.

I attended a GT event a few years ago at the Ford dealer in Echuca. I went with a guy who had a XW GTHO Phase II, which went like the clappers, he also had a end-of-the-line FPV GT-F on display. What I witnessed that day put me off car events and car clubs for good. These people were all attending because of a shared love of fast Falcon's, but the way a group of them were slagging off the GT-F, picking on its faults despite that being how it drove off the line, well it was so ****** catty from a bunch of grown men. We both left disgusted.

I hope I haven't offended anyone here, but these sorts of events do nothing for me anymore. The cars themselves are special............loud, brash, exuberant, fast and sound amazing. But sometimes the people sitting behind the steering wheel let that go to their head, and therefore not particularly fun to be around.

 

[kitdoctor]

@D.F.B I can sympathize with you. The attendees are a broad mix that's for sure, reflecting the good, bad and the ugly.

However, within the good group there's the humble/down to earth, the battlers, the knowledgeable, the genuine enthusiasts etc. that can be found who are worth the effort finding but unfortunately the search will involve encountering and putting up with some of those in the bad and ugly group.

 

[zanyad]

The cars themselves are special............loud, brash, exuberant, fast and sound amazing. But sometimes the people sitting behind the steering wheel let that go to their head, and therefore not particularly fun to be around.

Boy, ain't that the truth! Went to a nearby cars & coffee last summer with the wife & boys. The number of people driving around the block only to speed up as they passed the venue just to show off, or pulling out of the lot super quick was rather annoying.

 

[Geoff289]

Would you believe I took no part in the GT Nationals?

Actually, I worked at a neighboring business to where the GT Nationals were held. Two years ago, a group of GT guys were in town casing the venue for the event, and oh boy, talk about an inflated sense of importance. The way they carried on, anyone would think they owned something more than what are taxi's with big engines..................I should know, I have one myself.

I attended a GT event a few years ago at the Ford dealer in Echuca. I went with a guy who had a XW GTHO Phase II, which went like the clappers, he also had a end-of-the-line FPV GT-F on display. What I witnessed that day put me off car events and car clubs for good. These people were all attending because of a shared love of fast Falcon's, but the way a group of them were slagging off the GT-F, picking on its faults despite that being how it drove off the line, well it was so ****** catty from a bunch of grown men. We both left disgusted.

I hope I haven't offended anyone here, but these sorts of events do nothing for me anymore. The cars themselves are special............loud, brash, exuberant, fast and sound amazing. But sometimes the people sitting behind the steering wheel let that go to their head, and therefore not particularly fun to be around.

We know how to hijack a thread on here, don't we? Not having a dig, I'm a serial hijacker myself.

We have guys in the Mustang Owners Club who also have GT Falcons (I could have been one of them if I'd had more foresight a long time ago) but won't have anything to do with GT organisations or events for the sorts of reasons you outline. Our club has everything from mega dollar Boss 429's and genuine Shelbys to current series and nothing special old ones like mine and nobody gets bent out of shape about whether the headlight door screws have the phillips heads all clocked the same. According to one member who has an E type and belongs to a Jag Club they are even worse. You'd be welcome in our club.

 

[hewey]

All good, I do love a good thread hijack/tangent/rabbit hole

Geoff I've got a Bunnings that's 5 minutes away, but it's a wee baby. It carries enough that it satiates 90% of my hardware needs which is awesome, but it doesn't open in evenings or have the full range the bigger ones do. One of the trade offs of not living in full blown suburbia that I'm happy to make.

Ah yeh, GT Falcons. I can't even afford a replica I generally find most one-make car show pretty boring to be honest, I like some variety in the mix. So narrowing that down even more to just GTs, yeh nah not for me. But for someone that has a newish GR Yaris, 90s Statesman and a 60s mini in the driveway, that probably shouldn't be a surprise really. And I don't like pretentious wankers in any shape or form.

 

[D.F.B]

I'm not sure if I've told this story here yet, so apologies if I'm repeating myself.

Back in October 2017, I decided to attend one of the local car clubs annual show-n-shine. While this club had a focus on classic GM-H stuff, the show was for all to attend and you didn't have to be a member of the club to display your car. So, I decided to take my 6-month-old Mustang. Back then, the S550 was still very fresh and there weren't many of them on the roads in my area, so it tended to garner a lot of attention wherever it went.

So, I arrived, paid the entrance fee, parked on the grass with everyone else, then wandered off to take a look.



Despite the GM focus, there were plenty of Ford's on display, from old Falcon's and Mustang's, to the newer FPV's, even a GT40!





I love this colour, it was called 'Menace'............which considering the predominantly male customer base, it's quite a rare colour.



I might be a Ford man, but in general, I like and can appreciate a wide variety of brands and models. As such, I can admire other people's cars because I know what they mean to them. We might have a preference for a certain brand/s, but we are all passionate about cars for similar reasons. And on a warm spring Saturday morning, what could be better than looking at cool cars?

As I was chatting to someone I knew, I overheard two gentlemen say something along the lines of ".............fancy bringing a brand-new Mustang here................." Well, I finished up the conversation, got in the car and left.

I may not have been part of the club, I may have brought a non-GM product to the venue, and the car may have been brand new..........................but fu.k me, the event was labeled all-inclusive, and I paid my entrance fee like everyone else, which naturally goes into the club account. And yet apparently, I was out of place.

I've come to the conclusion that car clubs, show-n-shine events and cars and coffee gatherings are just not my thing. Too much politics, too much elitism, too much cattiness...............................from a group of men who should know better. And 99% of the time it involves parking a pristinely clean car in a dusty field, so the car goes home covered in dirt.........................and that doesn't sit well with me either.

 

[Bob Heine]

We joined a Corvette Club in 1977 and stayed with them until 1996 when the club disbanded. We had two kinds of owners, Greasers and Waxers. I fell right in with the Greasers and on the rare occasion I parked my Corvette at a Waxer (show) event I couldn't believe the nonsense coming out of the mouths of grown people. They seemed to take joy pointing out flaws in others' Corvettes. Instead of pointing out a simple fix for an issue, they said nothing and rarely offered to help. Us Greasers weren't model citizens but always jumped in to help a competitor fix a problem, even those in a different club, so they could compete in the drags, autocross or banked oval events. When my Corvette broke down more than 100 miles from home, one Greaser unloaded his race car from his trailer and pulled mine on. His wife drove the un-registered race car home on Hoosier slicks and refused my offer to buy them a new set. A half dozen showed up at my house to pull my engine and an even bigger crowd showed up to help me put it back in. The one with the race car brought his hoist over for both sessions.

 

[hewey]

DFB yeh that's the kind of attitude that bugs me. I've gotta say though, the local cars and coffee events I've been to are generally pretty good. Okay sure you get a couple of 'power parkers' who get there early to snaffle the 'good spot' where their car will get most exposure, but they tend to be few and far between. There is one guy who sets up his 'show signs' with the car specs, which misses the whole point of cars and coffee being casual... but whatever, I just walk past his car to look at the next.

Bob that's exactly what car clubs should be like, pitching in to help each other's projects.

On a half related note, on Sunday there was a charity cruise from Picton to Berrima to Robertson, organised as a partnership between a couple of the local cars and coffee mobs. With temps predicted to be in the high 30s, we took the soft option and took along the Yaris and it's air con. A full gallery of pics can be found here:

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Awesome variety, no egos, and a bunch of cash raised for Camp Quality who support families with kids battling cancer. I've cherry picked some pics to showcase some of the variety (not my pics).








My pick of the day was this awesomely 70s survivor T bucket resplendent with metallic brown paint, gold pinstriping, murals, and 'big and little' 12 slotters. A fabulous period correct timewarp.

 

[hewey]

Things finally aligned, and after weeks of patchy weather we had a weekend forecast of glorious blue skies, sun, and nice and warm temps - and with no set engagements for the weekend. So it was the perfect time to hook in and have a crack at cleaning the Statesman interior, to give it a decent chance to fully dry out afterwards. With winter on its way, I wasn't sure how long it might be before I got another crack.

Our carport is too narrow to work in, so we set up the marquee on the lawn for some shade - so the products have time to soak into the material but don't dry out before you clean it.



We bought a Bissell wet vac a while back when they were on sale at Supercheap, but this was it's first time out of the box. The method we used was spraying a seat with some Bowdens cleaner, letting it soak a little, and then running the wet vac spray over it, working it a little with the brush, and then sucking it up. And then a few more passes for good measure.



And this is what comes out. We emptied about 4 of these in just doing the seats and door trims.



Before shot of the drivers seat



And after, still far from perfect but a huge improvement.



And a door trim




and after



Overall, reasonably happy with how things came out. It certainly feels nicer in there, and it's done a decent job of shifting 30 odd years of grime build up. I want to have another crack at the drivers seat and tidy that up some more, but might do some more research on shifting really tough grime.