To Sale and Back 247kms

Gidday,

Around 9.30am on this frosty, fogged and very still Saturday morning I had fuelled up the Chevy, checked all the vital signs, flicked a bit of oil about the engine bay in the appropriate orifices, kicked all four tyres "good enough", and rugged myself up with a few layers of thermal undergarments and we were rolling out of Trafalgar and headed for the East Gippsland township of "Sale" some 77miles away.

With the morning glow of the winter sun trying to break through the fog and bath me in warmth, I had the small 6 volt motor of the wiper doing its thing as best it could in keeping up with fog and frost at it settled and blanketed back down on the windscreen before the next swipe of the wiper arm slowly removed it once again, no warm de-mister in this ole banger, just the fresh 45mph crisp air blowing about the dash and also my ears.

Out through Newborough, down beside the Yallourn Power Station and along the twisting road towards the little town of Tyres we went before the fog lifted and the paddocks of the surrounding farmlands were bathed in bright sunshine, yet still covered in the morning frost, it looks lovely.

I was heading up to Sale to see my parents life long friends, Eric and Liz, lovely people who I had not seen in about 12 months and beside it was a good fine day for a longer than normal drive and I also wanted to show them dads old car.

Through Glengarry next and the traffic was basically zero, very quiet and the Chevy was cruising along well with me keeping it at constant speed of 72kph, this rev the little 4 cylinder engine seems to like and always finds this speed on the dial whenever I glance down at it for a look..

Toongabble was passed with a blink of an eye and within a few mintues I jumped on the brakes and came to a holt outside the Cowwar Pub, no not for a early beer but to get a photo out front of this lovely old building and also the old corrugated iron fire station across the road.
 

Heyfield, Tinamba and then Maffra were all reached and passed and then soon afterwards I was entering Sale after 1.5 hours since leaving home, I quickly weaved through the traffic of the town centre and then made my way over the Eric and Liz's house on the edge of town - trip meter showed 77 miles.

After a greet, a good chat and a few coffee's with Eric and Liz, goodbyes were once again said and I was soon rugged up and back in Monty, headed home but this time I stopped for a few more photos along the way and with a head wind now blowing and also with time on my side I backed off the speed a little and enjoyed the views of the countryside. Time to get home was 2 hours.

Total distance was 247kms or 154miles and 40 litres of fuel used.

Some more pix of the drive - Cheers

This old post n rail fence went for some distance along the front of a property near Maffra - Love it!

I had a great few hours and the Chevy has once again proven to be very reliable, yes a little slowish, but reliable just the same! - Cheers



 

Photo Apps Are Getting Very Good

Gidday,

Yep I love playing around with a little photography and then tweaking the image with a good photo app and its probably more so since I have had the old chevy out driving on the roads, its all a bit of creative fun parking beside an old rickety timber building, sign or some rusted machinery and taking a few snaps.

Cheers Grant

Traditional Hand Painted Signwriter

Gidday,

Just a couple of pix of what I do for a living and have done so for the last "nearly" 30 years in our signshop, this restored 1972 V8 Dodge came in last week for some linework and a name on the door, the owner plans on attending truck shows throughout the Gippsland area and yes he was very happy with the end result.

Grant Fowler Signs -  www.signwriter.com.au

Another 1928 Chevrolet Restoration In Oz.

Gidday,

Again the other night a message left on my phone that went something along the lines of this -

"Hi Grant, I have been following your Monty the Chev blog from the early days and would like to have a chat and find out a few things, we have pulled an old Chev out from the shed and have started a rebuild"..

I returned the call after dinner and was soon talking to Graeme, a lovely fella from Bathurst in NSW Australia, he had a great story to tell and again the ole 28 Chevrolet has been in their family for many years, well actually for its entire life as his grandfather had brought the car new, drove it for years and finally left it in the shed on the family farm and then yesterday an email landed on my desk with these photos below and also attached were these words -

"Hi Grant. A few photo's of the old chevy as we dug it out of the shed, as
you can see it has been there for a long time, actually about 45 years, like
I said my grandfather bought this new in 1928 and I only found out a couple
of years ago that my dad was born in the car. Over the last 12 months I have
spent a few thousand dollars on it and it's not far of being started since
the motor rebuild, I still have to get the clutch plate, bearings, brakes,
shackles all sorted before I can drive it yet. If you have any information
on contacts where I can get wooden parts and mechanical parts that would be
really helpful. I spoke to Ray yesterday as well and I will have to send him
some pics as well.  Thanks again for your help and one day we might be able
to catch up and have a yarn."

The restoration of the body begins

Best of luck with the resto Graeme and call out if you need anything.

Cheers Grant

Green Coolant Now Added

Gidday,

With the chev radiator now running as a very low pressurised system thanks to the small brass overflow tank installation and also the new "modern" internals of the water pump working like a Swiss clock, today I added the all important lime green coolant into the system to help with the longevity on this 85 years old car and its original little 4 cylinder engine.
No more hot water pouring out and down the radiator overflow pipe and onto the ground now when I pull up in the street and no more topping up of water all the time when that happened, little improvements like this makes life easier for a vintage car that is driven some distance and often..

PLEASE NOTE - The motometer that you see on the radiator cap I brought and can be purchased still from "The Filling Station" in the USA, they are an excellent reproduction part and work great and its also very good to see while driving just how quickly the engine temps change on a hill or coasting down the other side, into a head wind or with the wind on your back, its quite surprising the temp variations in a short period of time so get yourself one.
BTW they now have redesigned and sell motormeters to suit right hand drive cars, as before with the standard one you could not read or see the red temp line easily while sitting on the right hand side of the car without leaning right across the seat to view the glass face as they were suited more for left hand drive cars, this I am glad to say was pointed out to The Filling Station who quickly had a right hand drive model made, so when you place an order please state that you need a right hand drive motometer - Cheers

June Is For Sunflowers

Gidday,

The Leukaemia Foundation of Australia have made June the Sunflower month,  http://www.sunflowerclub.org.au/ have a read as its always for a good cause and something to think about.

Wayne Fowler - 14.06.2010

 And please never forget the Leukaemia "Light The Night Walk" in September every year along the Yarra River in the Melbounre CBD, one of my favourite nights with my family...

1927 Pontiac Starts Again

Gidday,

A few months back I received an email from a bloke in South Australia who was restoring his fathers 1927 Pontiac and I made a post about this on here and included all the photo which are down the page a few posts back if you would like to look and have a read about his resto progress so far.

Well another email landed on my desk this morning again from Ryan and over the weekend they fired up the Pontiac for the first time, Ryan wrote:

"G'day Grant,
We reached an exciting milestone last week! After being pulled down and rebuilt the engine started! It wasn't exactly on the first go but after a bit of distributor and carby tweaking she ran well! Still a few jobs left and then we'll be heading over to Melbourne for the top and seats to be trimmed!"

Great effort Ryan once again and like I have mentioned before, its alway a wonderful feeling to start and hear a engine burst into life after being silent for many years.

Cheers Grant

My Favourite Tree

Gidday,

After our day yesterday installing the new "modern" front wheel tapered bearings I was a little keen to get out for a test drive to see and feel the difference they made, so I quick trip up to our local "Super Cheap Autos" store for a tube of grease was a good excuse than any even if it was a little wet outside on this 2nd day of winter here in Oz.
From what I noticed about the new bearings is that that ride seemed to feel smoother and the steering felt more direct but also smooth when turning, and in saying that this could very well be just my mind telling me that from what I have read about these bearings, but it was definitely nice and smooth today and I travelled along the same road that I have passed over many times before.

Anyway on the way home I decided to swing by my favourite tree for taking photos under with the Chevy and yes I have taken a few under it and posted them over the last 2 years but never when the yellow leaves from autumn were this bright and also like this on the ground, they looked great so up the curb we bounced and across the parkland I drove before anyone noticed..

Many thanks and Cheers Grant

Some Traditional Handlettering On The Timber Trailer

Gidday,

Yep through the week I decided to lay down a little hand painted lettering on my old "work in progress" timber trailer that I will one day tow behind the Chevy every now and then to swap meets and car shows.

1928 Chevrolet Gets New Tapered Bearings Installed

Gidday,

Normally ones to plan a day in the resto shed with an early Sunday morning start, Ray and myself opted this time for a 2pm Saturday afternoon start as we only had a small but precise job to complete on Monty and in the end we were completed, packed up and Ray was heading back to Melbourne by 4pm.

Yes my new "modern" tapered wheel bearings for the front wheels arrived from the Filling Station in the USA through the week, so in they went today and they fitted like "a bum in a bucket", packed with new high temp grease and ready for another 80 years of service.

New tapered bearings verses the old style ball bearing

And again this is why the new bearings were needed in the first place - Not a good look!

Another job done!  - Thanks Ray and Cheers