It wasn’t a pretty sight when Warren Hoffman and his family from Queensland found it. In fact I’m sure most people would have taken one look at the wreck and decided that it was better left where it was … but not Warren.

Warren obviously saw something else other than a rusted wreck when he looked at it and now it’s hard to believe that the red monster you see in the gallery here could ever have looked like that wreck.

These photos were taken at the Hogs, Rods and Rock show held in Maryborough Qld last weekend. There were some fine cars on display but this was the one that turned the most heads.

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Veteran enthusiasts will be interested in the 1913 Hupmobile Model 32 Tourer that was sold new in Adelaide by H.V. McKay Motors and still retains the dealer’s pressed metal badge on its dashboard.

Produced by the Hupp Motor Company that was founded in 1908, Hupmobiles were made for dependability more than speed and set many endurance records over the years – including a fifth place in the 1932 Indianapolis 500 – gaining the marque a loyal following.

The Canadian-built car being auctioned was used in the Moree district of New South Wales for some years before being discovered by the current owner in complete, but not running condition.

A full restoration was completed in 2001, including engine, gearbox, differential and all mechanical parts and according to Shannons the car presents in very good condition.

Period features include a beautifully restored Argentan 8-day clock and a reconditioned cable-drive speedometer, while the Hupmobile is also fitted with a vintage fire extinguisher, a spare two-gallon fuel can and a compression horn.

Offered with no reserve, Shannons expect bids in the $36,000-$42,000 range.

Also dating from 1908, when John North Willys purchased the Overland Automobile Division of the Standard Wheel Company, is a very attractive 1922 Willys Overland Tourer.

In 1913 Willys Overland produced 37,000 vehicles, headed only by Ford with 107,000 and continued to be a major producer until the 1920s when Walter P. Chrysler took charge of the company in an attempt to revive its falling sales. However Willys Overland succumbed to The Great Depression and was declared bankrupt in 1934.

Overland chassis imported to Australia in the early 1920s were fitted with bodies built by Holden in South Australia, making them a forerunner to ‘Australia’s Own Car’.

The Willys Overland being auctioned underwent a complete body and mechanical restoration in 1984 and presents in very good conditioned according to Shannons.

The car’s original spare fuel can is clamped to the running board and is in perfect condition, while a quantity of spare parts is included in the sale.

Offered with no reserve, it is expected to sell in the $14,000-$18,000 range.

For further auction information, contact:
Ian (02) 8019 4180 or Christophe on 0413 567 308.

Because of everything else around it I could only get these two photos but you can still see all the classic beauty in this Australian built car. This Pacer came with your choice of three different versions of the 245 engine.

The standard version had a dual barrel carbie that produced 138kW, a slightly more powerful version came with the same dual barrel carbie but also had a high-performance camshaft and that produced 145kW. Both options were coupled to a three-on-the-floor manual transmission

The Valiant Pacer in this photo was still in pretty good condition but there was some rust around the bottom edges of the driver’s door

So let’s go back to a year before I was born … it’s 1950 and the Hudson Motor Car Company – established in 1909 – was busy building the 1950 Hudson. Although the 1950 Hudson was a big car the body was surprisingly light in weight yet very strong and the car handled well on the roads.

The 1950 Hudson saw the introduction of what was known as a “step-down” body where the floor of the car was actually lower than the bottom of the door. Today every car you can buy has that “step-down” body but back then Hudson was the first and sadly it was that innovation that saw the end of the Hudson Car Company.

While the “step-down” body added to the strength of the car it made restyling very expensive and a small car manufacturer like Hudson could not change it’s designs quickly enough to keep up with the big car makers.

Today there are still a number of 1950 Hudsons around and I managed to come across two on two consecutive Saturdays this month. This was the first one and I caught it just a few blocks from my home in Hervey Bay.

I somehow doubt that the car was delivered from the factory in that paint scheme.

The second 1950 Hudson was parked in the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane and the owner was attending the same model railway exhibition that I had just come from.

This one is perhaps a little closer to the way it would have looked when it was first delivered.

I wouldn’t have seen it parked amongst the other cars unless the parking attendant hadn’t drawn my attention to it. I don’t walk around with a sign on me that says “Car Enthusiast” … he had just noticed me taking a photo of a 1960s Mustang parked a few rows away.

This time I had my camera and it was parked out on the footpath.

If vintage American cars turn you on and you would like to own one then this baby is for sale … but I doubt that it comes cheap.

The Bricklin SV-1 was an unusual sports car. It was built in Canada mainly from parts sourced in Detroit and was only for sale in the United States.

The car featured gull-winged doors and an acrylic body built around a roll cage, side guard rails and a shock absorbing bumper bar front and rear. While you might wonder about the safety of a car made out of acrylic it was, in fact, a very strong and safe design that exceeded the safety requirments of its time.

The Bricklin came with two different motor/transmission combinations. The first 155 Bricklins built in 1974 were powered by an AMC 360 cubic inch V8 that was coupled to a 4 speed manual transmission. The remainder of the 1974 build coupled the AMC motor to a 3 speed automatic transmission.

The cars built in 1975 were powered by a 351 cubic inch Ford V8, a 3 speed automatic transmission and standard equipment included air conditioning, an AM-FM stereo, a digital clock and many other features that were advanced for its time.

Only one model was ever built even though production commenced in June of 1974 and continued through into September 1975 with some vehicles being completed after the factory went into bankruptcy and closed its doors. In that time a total of 2854 cars were built of which 1500 still thought to exist although only 590 are documented.

The current owners reside in almost every state of Ameriica, several have found their way back to Canada and one is in Spain while another has recently been shipped to Germany. At one time it was known that there was a Bricklin residing in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales but the Bricklin International Owners Club has lost contact with the owner. If any one knows the whereabouts of it please post in the comments section.

You can read more about this unusual sports car at the Bricklin site and I would like to thank Michael Mitchell from the Bricklin International Owners Club for his assistance in compiling this piece. I would also like to thank the owners of VIN 1168 and VIN 2355 for allowing me to use their photos.

The XU1 was a car that won touring car races and some of the roughest rallies in Australia when driven by such household names as Peter Brock and Colin Bond.

This particular car was one of the first to be delivered in Brisbane but Ivan, the current owner, found it in a very sad and sorry state. It’s now been lovingly restored to it’s original condition and colour and still features the original running gear.

This beautiful car will soon be joined by a fully restored Holden Monaro – one of only a few that came off the production line with a T-bar auto.

Ivan happily let me take a couple of photos for Aussie Motoring on the condition that I make it plain that this car is NOT for sale

Today (Good Friday) was one of those days. Kids arrived at 3.30am from further north so we kept them up and took them over to Tin Can Bay to feed the dolphins. While we were there we came across this beautiful creature:

I believe that it is a 1947 Riley RMC.

If it is a Riley of that vintage then it was completely handbuilt and the dashboard scene in this photo is genuine polished timber. Just over 500 of these cars were built.

This beautiful car was powered by a 2.5 litre 100 hp engine that gave it a top speed of 100 mph (160 kph).

In case you don’t recognise the name or the image let me introduce you to the 1954 Ford Zephyr Mk1 sedan. The Ford Zephyr was an English car manufactured between 1951 and 1955. The engine for this car was a specially designed 6 cylinder overhead valve engine with a capacity of 2262cc.

In 1954 Ford introduced an upmarket version of the Zephyr known as the Zodiac and the car shown in the photo is thought to be one of those luxury vehicles. Of course, luxury was a relative term back in 1954 and by today’s standards the Zodiac would be considered somewhat spartan.

The Zodiac specifications included:

Two-tone paint

White-wall tyres

Twin auxiliary lamps and gold plated badges (which seem to be missing from the car in the photo)

Leather upholstery

Heater

Clock

Arm rests and a

Radio

The Zephyr also came as a station wagon.

The Zephyr’s were quite popular here in Australia where they competed directly with the FJ Holden.

Few Zephyrs remain on Australian roads today and the example in the photograph was taken at a small vintage and veteran car display in Hervey Bay Qld in 2005.