Gidday,
After our morning race down the Princes Hwy, dualling and pushing our two Chevys along at a cracking pace (mind you the judges decision has still yet to be finalised in regards to speedometer accuracy with either participating automobile) while getting the crap beaten out of us by a vicious northwesterly head on/side gale, we soon approached the point on the Monash Fwy for Ray to exit off to the left and head out to his home via the EastLink Fwy, so very quietly and gleaming as always without a speck of dust on it to be see anywhere, I watched the Red chev fade off into the distance and head down under the Fwy ramp, cheers Ray was good fun mate!
Here is a link to some more pix and info from Rays Chev blog, always a good read..
http://my28chev.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/monty-and-red-chev-out-cruzin.html
Ok so I was now headed towards the city of Melbourne, about 25 kms out from the CBD and flying along the 5 laned Monash Fwy with the sunshine on my back and wind in my hair while making a beeline for my brothers place in Malvern, the traffic was busy being around 10.30 Sunday morning but as usual they were polite, they kept their distance and no tailgating, plus I have yet still to find a grumpy "bird giving" city driver if I have been a little slow along the road.
I roll up onto the front grass nature strip and pull up outside of my brothers place, I park here so as to hide the evidence of the excessive dripping oil so that no marks are left on the leafy suburban driveway, greetings and the normal friendly bullshit and banter are soon exchanged with all the family and shortly afterwards we are both back in the Chevy and headed into the CDB for I have always wanted a photo of our old Chev outside the front of Melbourne's iconic landmark building, the Flinders Street Station and after running it past Stuart he was up for it and it was perfect weather also.
Before we got there we had a slight hiccup at a busy intersection while waiting for the green arrow, directly opposite Albert Park Lake, bloody Monty just stopped, no warning but for the over powering smell of petrol, I jumped out and ran around to flip up the hood and sure enough the carby was pissing fuel, ole Monty was flooded, first time in 2500 miles that he had let me down.
I switched off the main fuel tap on the vac tank and when the arrow turned green we pushed it thru the intersection and over along side the kerb, ya gotta love lightweight old vehicles, the carby bowl was quickly unscrewed and emptied, the carby and float given a few taps and then all assembled and tightened within a minute or two, no tools just hands and yes he fired right up and we were on our way sailing down leafy, beautiful St Kilda road soon after, mind you my hands stunk of petrol..
Is smooth sailing in this city traffic
Now we had to briefly plan and then time this tactical photo shoot at the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets in Melbourne because you only get one chance at it for it is a long drive back around again so with stealth like precision I pushed Stuart out the passengers door and told him to run along to the stations opposite corner as I slowly made my way up towards the station, stalling the traffic a little and then I had to quietly lurked in and around the busy taxi rank for a minute, making out the car had broken down ( I pulled the main kill switch and then sat there winding the engine over a couple of quick times with a concerned look my face, all the while watching the traffic lights ahead and also looking to see if Stuart was his spot)...
The lights turned green and surprisingly this time Monty now fired straight up :) taking a few tourists who had stepped out onto the road for a closer look by surprise also, I held the cars back a little and then rolled down towards the intersection and very slowly went around the corner under the famous row of clocks.. PERFECT TIMING!!..... Stuart quickly rings, "flip and u-turn and come back up flinders and through the intersection, then park outside the church", HHmmm how many law breaking maneuvers can Monty perform in one afternoon was my thinking to be honest? but ok, here goes, so a u-turn I did, mind you right in front of a tram as the driver waved and smiled and without any warning ding dings so I was now sitting outside the famous "Young & Jackson" hotel.
Again the lights went green and I was soon through the intersection and sitting outside the large Cathedral at the busiest corner in Melbourne with my brother snapping away with the camera, we got what we came for so thanks for that, its was good fun and you got some great shots Stuart, Cheers mate
Again perfect timing with the old W Class tram passing at the same time although that bloody red bus should not have been there,
Our next stop was the Melbourne Cricket Ground or MCG to which I have still yet to step foot inside and watch a game of anything, I'm just not that sporting type but one day I would love to see inside this complex.
With darkening and threatening clouds above plus a very good warm strong tail wind to push me along a little quicker we decided to head back to Malvern where I dropped off Stuart at his home, said goodbye to his family, wisely filled up my water drinking bottle then made the short inner suburban street trip down onto the Monash Freeway and this time heading back home to Gippsland with 120kms to travel.
I stopped at the large road side service centre at Officer South for fuel and a sandwich and by now the dark clouds had thinned out, it was hotter than in the city out here but now the wind was stronger which made for good driving but it was bloody hot, so hot that next time I plan on removing the two front doors to allow for the heat around my feet from the engine for escape quickly, highly illegal but who would notice.
On existing the centre with my lunch in hand, again Monty was surrounded by on lookers taking the odd photo and leaning over the doors for a look inside, I sat back and ate my lunch quietly with a little grin on my face..
255 kms was travelled for the day and apart from the small fuel blockage the Chevy went very well cruising along at a comfortable 45 - 50 mph
Cheers
Grant
