den: (bloke genes)
[personal profile] den
I took these photos in between rainstorms. Towards the end the camera got a little fogged, hence the hazyness of some of the pinctures. The day was very grey, blues and greens were muted but the reds and yellows were almost glowing.



A Triumph Trusty, from about 1910. I could have used a roll of film on the old motorbikes, and even more on the old cars.


Stationary Engines

There is something about brass and copper that is lost with modern plastics. This is the fuel and air mixer of an old Petter stationary engine.


A pair of small portable steam engines connected to antique pumps. You can tell they're portable by the wheels.


The working end of a stationary steam engine. The vertical boiler was almost 6 feet high and a 10 foot flue was attached to that, so that the smoke stack towered over everything at the fair. The flywheel was doing about 60rpm when I took this.


A "2 man stand." The sheep weren't terribly impressed with being dragged from their dry pen.


Traction Engines

This engine was restored using a grant from the Wellington Shire Council, and is used to ferry passengers around the race course. It is hugely popular and there are longe cues of people waiting for their turn


Another regular to the fair, with trailers in tow. Top speed: about walking pace.




A Fodson truck, pre 1914


Cars


An MG TD (front) and an MG TF. Uncle Rod used to race his TF in rallies during the late 50s. This is the real TF. The MG TF on the market now is wrong. By rights the new MG TF should be called the MG C, to follow the naming convention that gave us the MG A and MG B (these were at the show too). The TF was the last of the T series MGs, whereas the MG TF is just capitalising on the name, the same way the new Mini Coopers are capitalising on the good name of the Mini Cooper S even though the new minis don't have the Cooper Special engines in them.

sorry. Photo:


Did I mention there were a lot of cars there?


Austin Healey Sprite: a very happy car. Uncle Rod used to race his MG against one of these. He says the fellow screamed into the Southern Cross Car Club grounds, leapt from his shiney ner car and smiled. "What do you think?" Rod's navigator, John, puffed on his pipe and walked around the Sprite for a good 5 minutes, studying it. Finally the took his pipe out and said:

"It looks like a startled frog."



(Rod also says a new member of the SCCC turned up in a barnd new V8 Cadillac. He was told he'd come 4th in all the races. When the fellow complained about rallies being rigged he was told "There are 2 MGs and a Sprite in this club. You'll come 4th.")

Steam Cars


Dash board and instrument panel of a Dobel


A steam car I don't remember the name of. It all looks terribly complex.


A "Late" model Stanley Steamer


An "early" model Stanley Steamer




The 1901 Locomobile


The owner is interviewed by Prime News. She was in the full Ladies Driving Kit of the early Edwardian period.


The Locomobile power plant (the black box with "Locomobile" cast onto the cylinder) had 1 piston.


Carbide lamps lit the road ahead. Look out! This vehicle goes 10mph!

Date: 8 Mar 2004 23:10 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] twoolfe.livejournal.com
Oh my oh my... Thankee kindly.
T.

Date: 9 Mar 2004 00:02 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com
Do you feel young again? 8)

A-H Mark 1 Sprite, aka

Date: 9 Mar 2004 04:33 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lowen-kind.livejournal.com
the Frog-eyed, or, in the U.S., Bug-Eyed, Sprite.

My father has one, with left hand drive (as they were imported to the U.S.), that he takes to shows down Florida way. He's the second owner and we totally restored the car. ;=3

His is white versus the red one you took a photo of.

The nice thing is that for the size of the car, the leg room is awesomw, as the "leg well" ends right behind the front wheels.

I could tell you stories about my dad's Sprite, like the time there were five, that's right, five, of us (my parents and their three young sons), and a ten foot tall maple tree that we transported home from a garden center. ;=3

I wish my scanner was working so I could scan in a couple of photos of my dad's Sprite.

Nice to see other A-H Mark ! Sprites still out there in running condition. ;=3

Also it is a bit of a shock to see a mid to late 60's Ford Mustang in that car line-up. 8=0

Was that left hand or right hand drive? Also wsa it built "down under" or was it built in Detroit and imported there?

Re: A-H Mark 1 Sprite, aka

Date: 9 Mar 2004 04:53 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com
The Mustang was right-hand drive. They were imported by Ford and converted at the factory in Melbourne. The only left-hand drive car at the show was the Dobel steam car.

And there are still quite a few Frog-Eyed Frights around. They were almost as popular as the MG. Every bloke without a family wanted an MG, and blokes with families got a Sprite.

Date: 9 Mar 2004 05:58 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] trickenzie.livejournal.com
Hey, thanks Den, that was fun.

absolutely delightful!

Date: 9 Mar 2004 11:04 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] maggledy.livejournal.com
The Sprite would probably get a huge dent in it the first time it broke down. "Stop f*&king smiling at me like that!"

I'm terribly disapointed that you had no good pictures of the lady ion the Edwardian driving outfit. I would give my eye teeth for a good head-to-toe shot of such a thing.

Date: 9 Mar 2004 11:56 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wyrm.livejournal.com
Excellent photos.
However I believe there was an MG C produced (limited numbers), so it should presumably have been the MG D?

Date: 9 Mar 2004 14:21 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com
They probably did a production run like Jaguar did with the D-type: produce just enough to qualify for raceing. So the new ones should be the MG D.

and NOT the MG TF.

Re: absolutely delightful!

Date: 9 Mar 2004 15:10 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com
I'd forgotten I only had a roll of 24 instead of my usual 36, so I ran out of photos. 8(

Date: 9 Mar 2004 17:26 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] weyrdbird.livejournal.com
Neat pictures!:)

That stuff is way cooler then ol' Schumie!

I wish I wasn't soin the dark about engines;). Oh well, nothing the old internet can't fix:D.

Re: A-H Mark 1 Sprite, aka

Date: 10 Mar 2004 15:45 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wyrm.livejournal.com
Then A-H and MG decided to effectively merge the design of the Sprite and the Midget - giving us the less lovely Spridgets.

Date: 10 Mar 2004 15:46 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wyrm.livejournal.com
They did skip the MG D - so maybe the TF was the D internally.

Date: 12 Mar 2004 21:29 (UTC)
jamesb: (Default)
From: [personal profile] jamesb
The current model is correctly called the MGF. That's how Rover presented the model at the 1995 Geneva motor show.

The MGC was the 6 cylinder version of the MGB.
The MGD was to be a mass produced replacement for the MGB. It would have been a mid-engine coupe, but preference for a new sports car went to Triumph with it’s TR7.
The MGE was a mid-engine coupe show car that was given the name MG EXE

Date: 12 Mar 2004 22:06 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com
MG EXE sounds like an executable file.

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