Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[roverdriver]

The Rover P4 Driver's Guild is a relatively small club, based in Victoria. Organisors planned a one-day outing that my wife and I would have liked to go to, however it was over 100 miles from home and the other side of the city of Melbourne. (There is only one good view of a City- and that is in the rear-view mirror!!).

We decided eventually to attend the Group outing, and to justify the distance, extend our trip for a couple of days into the Western part of the state. Victoria is the smallest mainland state, so is, I believe, about the size of the U.K.

We set off from home at 6.00 a.m. on the Sunday morning, and had a surprisingly good run. This might have been because it was the first day of reverting from Daylight Saving, and most people were sleeping in. Consequently we arrived at the meeting point well before other members.

Here is 'Polly' our 1950 Rover 75, waiting patiently in splendid isolation at Gisborne Railway Station.



Eventually others started to arrive. They had previously met at another location.




After greetings, we set off in convoy to see the private collection belonging to Bill McKibbin, and what a varied collection he has-



















Here are the Rovers, patiently waiting while their owners admire the collection.



Peter Sullivan, the tour leader, then took us up the rather steep and winding road to Mount Macedon. All the Rovers managed the climb without much stress. While some adjourned to the tea rooms, some of us walked the short distance to the giant cross on the summit. This was erected in the 1930's as a memorial for those who served in WW1. It has since been dedicated to those of WW2 as well.



The last time that I was in the area was on morning of the 17th of February 1983, when a friend and myself drove the first vehicle into the township of Macedon bringing in relief supplies for the survivors of the Ash Wednesday bushfires. Today, one cannot see any trace of the devastation that we saw that day.

There is a simple memorial here dedicated to the 'Kurana', a 1937 DC3 that crashed into the mountain in heavy fog in 1948. The pilot was killed instantly, the single hostess helped all of the passengers off the plane as it caught fire, and with help from some of the less injured passengers, managed to get the co-pilot out then the pilot's body, before the front was engulfed in fire. The co-pilot later died, but all passengers and the hostess survived.



We enjoyed looking at the garden beds close to the summit, then the convoy headed off down the mountain on a different route to Woodend, then headed back towards Gisborne, where we stopped again, this time at a winery. After some refreshments, my wife and I left the group to enjoy themselves as we had reason to go on with our own private tour.

Next stop was in Ballarat. I had been told about a Rover available there- a rare 1950 model just like Polly. It was suggested that it would only be suitable for spare parts, but we needed to see it for ourselves.





Yes indeed, a spare parts car only! Unfortunately the distance factor told me that it was uneconomical to shift it about 150 mile to our place, so I have posted photographs in case a closer enthusiast would like it.

After viewing the car, we made our way to a nearby caravan park to stay in a cabin for the night. Polly's odometer told us that we had covered 245 miles for the day.

Part 2 can be found here-

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18375
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[JonV2]

Hi RoverDriver,

You would have driven past my front door! What a shame I missed this sight!
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Jon
1950 MkV Jaguar Saloon (On the Road)
1968 MGB
1959 XK150

[roverdriver]

What a pity, Jon. It would have been good to have made your acquaintance.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.