As mentioned in an earlier posting a few weeks ago about finding the old "Fowler and Sons" 4x4 Commer truck a 1940's model lined up in a clearance sale, I thought an update about the auction was needed.
Well a few weeks have past since I wrote the words in the earlier posting about the old Commer truck you see pictured here and after a few chats with my cousin Warren who is Uncle Diggers son, it was decided that we must buy it, "Can't let this one go" and "bit o bloody history in this truck" was his words as we walked around looking at it prior to auction day.
So the day of the auction came and I soon bumped into Uncle Digger up there and what great morning it was just walking around the clearing sale with dads brother, although it was bloody hot, it was interesting looking at old trucks, machinery, plus row after row of parts and collectables with Uncle telling me stories of years past, pointing out things that dad had made and then when we made our way over to his old Commer truck I quickly snapped this photo of him standing beside it, a priceless image really.
After an hour or so, Uncle decided to leave due to the heat building on this hot day and Warren was away for the weekend so I pulled my hat down firmly on the head, grabbed a cooked sausage or three from the local Lions Club BBQ, found a shady tree and then stood around waiting a few hours for the auctioneer to finally turn at the top of the hill after finishing selling off another row of rusty machinery and then start to make his way down the row of trucks to where the Commer was sitting.
With an starting amount of $50.00 we were off and running and it was soon between me and a major scrap metal dealer from Melbourne who was buying everything, this went on for a few minutes and well to cut a story short yes we got it!! "SOLD to number 93", surprisingly tears welled up in my eyes as all I could think of was dad at that moment, he'd be bloody grinning from ear to ear, so now the old "Fowler and Sons" 4x4 Commer is coming back home to Trafalgar but this time over to the "Fowlers Asphalting" depot where Warren and his crew will no doubt get it running, give it the TLC that is required after a long spell exposed to the Gippsland elements and have a bit of fun with it, scrap was not an option for this old truck.
So today Friday 15th March 2013 it arrived on a tilt tray truck, was quickly put into the truck wash bay and given a little sprucing up with the hot washer, but first a large possums nest had to be removed from the engine bay. Warren is keen to get it up into his truck workshop and get the motor running which it was when it was parked up many years ago.
It should look good sitting in his workshop next to the fleet of shiny new Kenworths, its good to see it back in Trafalgar, well done and great effort Warren, Cheers.
With some diesel now poured down into the little 6 cylinder petrol motor to loosen things up a little and the spark plugs removed for a closer look it was time to push it up into the workshop for some tyre repairs and a closer look at things... Cheers
