RESTORATION PROJECTS

During the 70s, as the muscle car era dispersed into a vast sea of compact commuters, performance lived on at Pontiac. The world met the Bandit in 1977, and Trans Am sales were on the rise.

For this guide we’re indebted to Brian J and Queensland’s Blackall Range Horseless Carriage Club. The subject vehicle was Brian’s beautiful 1957 resto-mod Jaguar XK150 Coupe.

This largely original Austin Freeway MkII has been tastefully refreshed by a mechanically savvy father and son team in Victoria.

This 1936 Cord 810, serial number 1586 A, is owned by avowed Cord devotee, Terry C. He has done much detective work in researching its North American owner history and has done a brilliant restoration job on this magnificent vehicle.

This Citroën is a 1974 DS23 model owned by Greta M, who is a Citroën tragic. The first model DS caused a sensation back in 1955, but it followed a path that was first laid by Andre Citroën in the 1920s.

Tim and Margo K own this US 1969 Chev Corvette Stingray muscle car, created by the pen of legendary GM automotive Chief Stylist, Bill Mitchell.

The late Tom Hayes was passionate about this 1959 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer that he owned for some 20 years. This car is surely the pinnacle of archetypal 1950s-design, USA auto culture.

The Falcon XB was sold by Ford Australia from 1973 to 1976 and was the second model of the third generation of the Australian made Falcon. This much sought after GT version is owned by a NSW South Coast couple Julie and Greg H.

This beautiful example of our automotive past belongs to Graham Sawyer, who rebuilt  and personalised this car as an Overland Speedster. It was originally a tourer, but he lusted for down-to-earth veteran motoring – flies in the teeth, wind in the hair – of the early 1900s.

‘One from many’ is the motto of the USA and it’s a fair description of Rob and Sandy Patterson’s Ford Model T Speedster build. Many Model T and custom parts were incorporated in this magnificent project.

Rod Barrett’s Multi-Award winningMercedes Benz has undergone a complete ‘nuts and bolts’ restoration over several years. The attention to detail is astonishing.

This nearly 100-year-old Dodge has spent its life in the hot, dry climate of inland Australia, so is in excellent condition. It’s interesting in that it began life as a tourer and was converted to a ute in 1947.

Many worshipers of the iconic automotive brand’s blue oval consider Lee Iacocca to be the father of the much celebrated and beloved Ford Mustang. Now in its 58th year the Mustang has certainly weathered the ravages of time.

Development of Škoda 1100 OHC racing cars began in Mladá Boleslav in the spring of 1956. The initial pair of open-top cars was followed by two Coupés at the turn of 1959/60, but escalation of the Cold War meant that these two cars were destined to remain inside the borders of then-Czechoslovakia. 

‘Safety Fast’ was the MG company’s slogan from 1924, long before the right to use the iconic MG logo was sold to SAIC Motors, which now manufactures MG cars in China and Thailand. Before this transfer in 2005, MG Rover Group had been manufacturing MGs, following a line of successive British owners.

The MOVE collection in Shepparton has some rare and memorable cars and this Chevrolet is one.

NSW South Coast Buick enthusiasts Ross and Mary Stuart are the owners of this classic –  one of five Buicks from the ’20s, ’30s and ‘60s that Ross has owned over many years.

A rare cat indeed is this Puma GTE sports car that came to our shores in 1973 and was then the only example to prowl the Australian countryside for a couple of decades.

In England during the ‘Roaring Twenties’, Clyno was a competitive rival to the giant Morris and Austin motorcar manufacturers, but poor marketing tactics, underfunding and the Great Depression sent the company into bankruptcy.

Jim and Gill Gibson have owned two of these legendary automotive-equines and like the gal said in Mack Rice’s 1965 song, “All I wanna do is ride around”, they loved doin’ just that. The accompanying Kodak Box Brownie photos have been through the mill, unfortunately.

The Holden EH was the eighth model produced since 1948 by General Motors-Holden in Australia from 1963 to 1965. This restored example has been fitted with some of the popular go-fast mods from that period.

When Historic Vehicles caught up with early-Falcon admirer, George Redding, he was running Redding’s Motor Repairs in Lithgow, on the western slopes of the NSW Blue Mountains. George had been keen to own a low-mileage, manual-transmission, early-production 1960 XK Falcon Deluxe and the car of his dreams came to him quite by accident.

‘Continuation’ replica historic vehicles are becoming big business. The Jaguar Continuation department behind the revivals of the XKSS, E-Type Lightweight and D-Type has turned its sights to the 1953 Le Mans winner.

The Blower Continuation Series is the first customer-sales project delivered by the new Bentley Mulliner Classic portfolio, one of three new divisions of Mulliner alongside Coachbuilt and Collections. 

The year 2014 was the Chinese ‘Year of the Horse’ and coincidently or intentionally, was also the 50th anniversary of Ford’s Mustang. The story of this Mustang is a most unusual restoration story.

NSW South Coast historic car enthusiast David Petts bought this 1933 Riley as a pile of woodwork and metal in 1995. It took him 18 years – on and off – to bring this treasured piece of automotive history back to life.

Dave Clark established his eponymous Triumph-specialist mechanical repair and restoration business in 1976 and his name and reputation are synonymous with the marque. Jim Gibson caught up with him in 2009.

NSW South Coast residents Cathy and David Brown are the proud owners of this beautiful first-model Holden that looks just the way it did when it left the Fishermans Bend plant in 1950, painted in El Paso Beige.

NSW Southern Highlanders Nicky and Richard are old-car nuts, with a penchant for Holdens, but they broadened their collection a few years ago when they bought a DeLorean. They didn’t get it to restore and treasure in the traditional sense, but as a promo vehicle for their business.

Jim Rouse lovingly restored this green-hued 1977 Jaguar XJ-S. This was no mean feat, as this British thoroughbred’s design logic is difficult to understand and its mechanicals are extremely complex and difficult to access.

Skoda is well known for its rally successes, but lesser known is its sports car racing heritage. The Skoda 1100 OHC sports car is considered a milestone in the 120-year motorsport history of this Eastern European car manufacturer.

Merv Roberts and his ‘humpy’ Holdens display the passion many car club members have for their collectable pieces of motoring heritage.

Like many pre-War cars, Paul Ashby’s 1937 Graham Crusader 85 came to Australia without a body. It was a rolling chassis with engine and necessary running gear, but without a body, seats, glassware and lights.

Greg Farr is a Ford ‘tragic’, with a love of the 1930s blue oval models. Greg’s restored 1936 Model looks resplendent in its bright red clothes, but it took a mountain of blood, sweat and tears to reach this point.

Stewart Kendell recreated the Golden Era of motor racing with this meticulous restoration and construction of a MG TC Special that is a unique legacy to his commitment and skill.

A fellow named Michael approached us at a classic car show in 2009 and said: “Do you think anybody would be interested in a 1927 Armstrong Siddeley in a sad state?”

Kevin Buckley, not satisfied with restoring one MGB, embarked on a second, but this time a GT version of  this quintessentially British and ubiquitous sports car. Not to break with the Buckley tradition this one is red too, albeit a different shade: Flame not Tartan.

The beautiful, so-called ‘Pagoda’ model MB celebrated its Golden Anniversary in 2013 and 58 Mercedes Benz Pagodas attended the 50th Anniversary Celebrations in Australia.

The 1960s was a boom era for the Japanese motor industry and one of the key players was Honda. Having become the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, the company wanted to expand into car production.

This car is one of the first Model As produced during 1928 by Ford in Australia and was bought by the current owner’s grandfather in 1929, when it was six months old. He gave it to his grandson Lynden Siegert when he was a 16-year-old in 1964. 

Ducati aficionado Allan Hawkins wanted to bolt on a third wheel for many years, but a sidecar on a ‘Duke’ race bike would be ridiculous, let alone sacrilegious!

Since his teenage years in Britain, Barry Apps had a love affair with Hillmans. After he found this rare tourer in Melbourne it took seven years  – between work commitments – to restore it to its original condition.

It took Lutz Baseler just 14 months to achieve the outstanding result you see in this story. This meticulous restoration is an inspiration.

The 1930 Chrysler 70 Roadster was the result of Walter Chrysler’s instinct for survival. His instincts told him to revamp the product line in 1930; one year after the stock market crash that had not yet affected sales.

This superb example of Holden’s 1973 Torana GTR XU-1, hued in classic ‘Lone Oranger’, is the second that Alan May has owned. The first was a 1970 ‘Dolly Yellow’ LC, when he was 19 years of age and an apprentice technician at the Holden dealership in Blayney, NSW. 

Historic Vehicles website co-editor Jim Gibson is a member of the NSW Milton Ulladulla Vintage & Classic Car Club, which was founded in 1991 by a group that included one Paul Ashby. Paul passed away in December 2020, just before the 30th anniversary of the club he helped found. However, he left a lasting legacy, including the 1927 Chevrolet hearse in which he took his last ride.

An all-new Morris, powered by an overhead camshaft, six-cylinder, 2.5-litre capacity engine was launched in 1929 to the fanfare of what more suitable a name than Isis the Egyptian Goddess of Fertility. William Morris (later Lord Nuffield) claimed ‘Isis’ represented everything desirable in a motor car.

Peter Limon is a classic car restorer and collector and he’s not fussed about which side of the Atlantic Ocean – Uncle Sam’s or Britannia’s – he chooses the time capsule to nurture. As it happens, this masterpiece of British automotive aristocracy was handcrafted on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Falcon GT was the thoroughbred of the Ford Australia stable, a true ‘blue-blood’, bred from a need for speed, to take on and to win on the racetracks against General Motors’ ‘red-blooded’ Holdens and Chrysler’s ‘white-knight’ Chargers. Jim Gibson – one-time GT owner himself – caught up with a pair of fanatics.

This Land Cruiser FJ25 was the very first Toyota 4WD purchased by Leslie Thiess. Enthusiasts refer to this model as the great grandfather of Toyota’s 70 Series, reckons Jim Gibson.

Brian Cox wasn’t looking for a 1939 Ford V8 when by chance he stumbled across this unmolested example of classic US motoring architecture, resting in a garage in Sydney’s southern suburbs.

Old Packards converge on the NSW Southern Highlands periodically, as it’s one of the preferred destinations for the club’s national rally. Jim Gibson caught up with the group on the 2009 occasion.

This 1938 V12 sports saloon, chassis number 14051, was the very car on centre stage of the Lagonda stand at the 1939 Berlin Motor Show. At the completion of the show it set a new world record, being driven at 100mph on a new German Autobahn for a distance of 97.8 miles.

This 1929 Chevrolet International AC sedan time capsule has been preserved in a shed on the NSW Southern Highlands for more than 40 years and was last registered in 1968.

The name Rob Gunnell is synonymous with historic car racing and the inverted red triangle with the letters ‘ALVIS’ embossed on it. Jim Gibson met this interesting man and one of his magnificent machines

The Jensen Motor Company in 1950 clothed the Austin A40 Devon saloon with an aluminium sports body; breaking the mould of Austin’s conservative post-war image.

The post-WWII  Riley RM series saloon was the last model developed independently before the merger in 1952 with Nuffield Organisation. It is a popular model with Riley aficionados and many fine examples can be found throughout Australia.  Jim Gibson interviewed one proud custodian of a 2½-litre version.

Jim Gibson talks about finding an MG TD to restore, similar to one he owned in his late teens and about the TD model’s outstanding sales success.

This car is owned by Jim and Yvonne Casey, and has won Best Classic Car Awards. It is a 1953 Buick Roadmaster Skylark and is headed for its 70th birthday. 

Like a Phoenix from the ashes, NSW Southern Highlands Ford enthusiast Rod Anderson brought this Star model Ford V8 cruiser back to life, in original condition. Remarkably it was only a 10-month journey to restore it to 1959 factory condition.

‘Objet d’art’ is the phrase that comes to mind when your eyes follow the timeless lines of Sir Williams Lyons’ 1961 creation – the E-type Jaguar. It’s definitely the most recognisable and arguably the most gorgeous looking sports car in the world, as Enzo Ferrari thought it to be.

The documented first Around-Australia drive was done in a  1923 5CV Type C Torpedo 2WD Citroen, driven by Neville Westwood and Greg Davies in 1925

There were many specialist wannabe car manufacturers in Australia during the 1950s and 1960s.  This is the story of one such hopeful, who never made it past this one prototype, because of the obstructive bureaucratic power of the registration authorities. 

In 2009 we searched for a genuine example of the model to celebrate its milestone, and found an unrestored gem with Ford enthusiast caretakers, Darin and Anita Shaw.

Like many iconic automobile manufacturers around the world that were instrumental in the development of the horseless carriage in the late 1800s and early 1900s the Studebaker Corporation folded after 69 years of automobile production in 1966.  The first petrol-powered cars to be fully manufactured by Studebaker were sold in 1912 and over the next 50 years, the company established a reputation for quality and reliability.