Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[roverdriver]

Part 1 of this tale can be found here-
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16504

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After a tasty meal and some interesting and animated discussions, Noreen and I returned to our cabin at the caravan park. We prefer this kind of accommodation, it suits our lifestyle, and as we are used to living with wide open countryside, it is a little less cramped than motels and hotels. Here is Polly at her temporary home.



An early morning walk revealed that we were not the only ones at the Park. Another Rover, also a 75, albeit a slightly more recent model had taken up residence.



We had met Bob and his wife (the owners of the 1954 75), the previous evening, and hearing of our fan belt problem, Bob promptly offered a spare in case we needed it to get home. We chatted together for a while, then moved off to place our cars, along with the rest of the contingent, on display in Kyabram's main street. In my opinion, what the display might have lacked in numbers, there was a great compensation in the quality of the cars present. While the passing public enjoyed the display, drivers and crew were able to discuss all that makes Rovers interesting and somewhat special.





















Above are just some of the display cars. I think that the marque is well summed up by this window sticker-



We did get another expatriot U.K. visitor too.



After a very enjoyable morning of chatting, learning and comparing, and in my case finding out all that I could from Bob about his 75, we each went our separate ways for lunch.

In the afternoon, cars assembled for a short drive to the home of Don and Joy Lock in order to view his collection of historic sound-producing devices. Although there are a mostly gramaphones in the collection, it is not limited to them, and includes several items of the Polyphone type and numerous other musical machines.











In our current age of electronics, it is so fascinating to see the engineering that was involved in making these machines without any use of electricity. All of them, are beautiful and interesting, however I spent some time pondering over how much thought and skill went into this device- a 1930's burglar alarm, which does make use of electricity in part. Set up in a building with wires connecting at each window and door, the machine sits quietly in wait. If one of those connections is broken- i.e. a window is opened, the machine automatically dials '999' and connects to Scotland Yard, whereupon the gramaphone disc starts up and the recording tells the police the location, that there has been a breach, and in effect "Get around here PDQ".



Now here is a device that every owner of an historic car should have in order to provide food, drink and entertainment at their picnic. All in one case-



From that most interesting venue, the convoy wound its way to the Tobias home for another treat.





Frank and his wife Enid have something in common with Squirrels, but, I must say, the very discerning of squirrels. Firstly we were introduced to Frank's (mainly) automotive memorabilia, most of which is under glass and too difficult to photograph, however there is a most intriguing collection of many hundreds of spark plugs as well, all carefully stored in presentation cases.





More cases of spark-plugs.



And other memorabilia. Golden Fleece was one of the early petrol brands in Australia, and lasted into the 1970's. Naturally a golden ram was their emblem and was ubiquitous at their petrol pumps.





Golden Fleece was later taken over by another Aussie brand, Ampol.



The collection also includes whole cars, apart from the Tobias Rovers.







Enid herself produced a delicious afternoon tea of home made biscuits and slices for all of us visitors, and then we viewed her extensive, colourful and amazing collection of Carlton Ware inside the house.

Thank you, Enid and Frank. We thoroughly enjoyed both of these afternoon visits and feel privileged to have been able to see them.

After leaving here we returned to our respective accommodation to relax a while and prepare for the evening meal at the Blue Brick Hotel. Once more a very pleasant evening, enjoying discussions on a range of topics, (not just cars) with a good meal and even better company. Departing the hotel we went our separate ways, then, as in the words of Samuel Pepys "And so to bed."

Next morning, during my usual 'pre-run' checks, I discovered a petrol leak at the carburettors where I had replaced a couple of fiber washers a few days before. That was fixed by a quick tighten. We packed our goods and chattles and set off to meet at the -



This building, dating from the late 1920's was a picture theatre, which, as was normal for the design of the time had a flat ground floor and an upper 'Dress Circle'. This arrangement is unsuitable for live performances, and when a community group formed to bring the theater back to life, tiered seats were installed.



Not only that, very careful thought and planning went on behind the stage to provide every thing needed for modern productions, too involved to explain here, but including such things as ground level fly-rope control.



The original ambience of the theater has been preserved extremely well.





It is still a lovely 'old world' theater, in spite of having every modern convenience.



All of this has been achieved by a dedicated band of volunteer enthusiasts, and enthusiasts they must be to have done so much in creating a venue for the benefit of the town and district. I do rather think that if a government body had undertaken the task, none of the clever features, such as a loading ramp and behind the stage door to take the tallest scenery and props, would have eventuated, and the cost would have been horrendous.

Well done to the team that has achieved so much.

After the theatre tour, we assembled again at the Tobias home for morning tea, and then Noreen and I made our goodbyes, and set off homewards.

We departed at 11.00 a.m. and Polly travelled with ease, grace and speed through the flat countryside. We joined the freeway and Polly continued her (speedo) 70 mph run, and sometimes even crept a little above that pace.

We had a stop for lunch, another for a brief visit to Noreen's sister in the suburbs, then fought our way through Sunday afternoon urban traffic to emerge into country driving again. Another short stop for crew refreshments, and Polly was off again, getting us home safely at 5.30 p.m.

We covered 514 miles (by the odometer) and our fuel consumption was surprisingly light. Overall we used 99.76 litres (22 gallons) so the overall consumption was 23.36 mpg (12.1 L per 100K). I mentioned the petrol leak that I discovered and fixed. That might have had a marked effect on the overall figures, because if I exclude the fill-up after the leak and re-calculate I find it is 26 mpg.

Bill and Terri Allen, were, I understand, the main organisers of the event, and Enid and Frank Tobias the local 'arrangers', but everyone there contributed to our enjoyment of it. A special 'thank you' to all who participated.

In summary, a weekend that started with a little worry and stress, but that became one of great fun and entertainment, meeting new friends. who we will look forward seeing again.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[Rick]

As always, a very interesting read, thanks Dane

I particularly like the burglar alarm machine, and I thought I was seeing double with your side view of a large beigey/cream tourer!

I'll pop a mention of your threads on the main site homepage, to encourage more views.

RJ
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[roverdriver]

I was hoping that you would find the Dodge of interest, Rick.

It is a shame that I could not absorb information and photograph so much more of those collections, but then it might have turned this into a Gramophone Forum!!

Dane.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[peter scott]

[roverdriver]

Peter, I believe that the machine came from closer to your part of the globe than ours. I would imagine that in the 1930's a '999' call would have been attended to reasonably swiftly. Perhaps not so much these days.

I imagine that in the days of dial telephones, yours were set up with the first fingerhole representing '9' whereas ours have that first hole as '0', hence our emergency number is '000'.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[roverdriver]

The story has now been edited with fuel consumption details in the last few paragraphs.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[peter scott]

[Penman]

Hi

[goneps]

[roverdriver]

In Victoria (Australia), back in the 1950's and 60's, the emergency section for the police was always known as 'D24'. I have no idea what the emergency telephone number was at the time, but one was always urged to 'Ring D24'.

I eventually learned how that designation came about. Although some of the Old Melbourne Gaol had been demolished, one wing remained, and is still there as a museum. It fell out of use around 1900. It is located on the edge of what was at the time, the central city land. Police headquarters was located nearby. In about 1927, Victoria Police started to experiment with base to car radio systems. Naturally the broadcaster had to be housed in a fairly soundproof room. Space was short at police headquarters, so one cell in the gaol was used for the transmitter equipment, and the next door cell was where the operator was located. These cells were row 'D' numbers 23 and 24 respectively. In the 1930's a large new complex was built as police headquarters on the opposite side of Russel Street and was complete with a proper broadcast room and tall antenna on the roof, but the old designation of 'D24' remained in use for many many years. Incidentally, right into the 1970's a part of the gaol was the police car garage.

Here is a film clip from 1931. You can see the bars at the window, although I am not sure that this is filmed in the gaol. Interesting that the police used what seems to be a nice large Daimler car.

http://aso.gov.au/titles/sponsored-films/victorian-police-radio-patrol/
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[peter scott]

Excellent little film clip.

Thanks for posting.

Peter
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