A Few Photos I Shot..

Gidday,

Just a few photos I have taken while out and about driving around Gippsland in the Chevy.. Cheers

Old Timber Trailer..

Gidday,

I have always liked the look of an old small 6x3 ft timber trailer, you never see them any more at all getting about and the old ones you do stumble across sitting under an old gum tree in a farmers paddock are usually stuffed, broken and rotten away beyond repair, so the other day when I found one on Ebay and only 80kms from home well I just couldn't help myself so I brought it there and then.

With a larger trailer in tow I went and retrieved it at Seaford with the help of Ray Dean, I brought it from a fella who had just inherited the family farm and was in the process of cleaning out some sheds on the property, so the trailer had to go..

Straight around to my cousins workshop when I got home and on went the industrial hot pressure washer, heaps a paint came off, many layers of brushed on white acrylic water based paint flew off everywhere in tiny pieces and made a hell of a mess on the ground but that to was later cleaned up.
What was left was a nice old cream colour which looked very neat with the raw timber poking through in places, so next I will completely brush on some paint remover nice and thick, let that sit for 24 hours and hit it again with the pressure washer over the weekend.
It needs a new timber floor and also I will make a new front gate, I have some better old rusty hinges for the tailgate, some old antique looking lights to match the Chevy in be install and I will be looking for and restoring some wooden spoke wheel also like the Chevy and I will paint the guards in a matt black and rub them back here and there a little.

These photos are after the first pressure wash...

First coat of paint stripper doing its job..

Now washed for the second time

 I have now applied a second thick coat of paint stripped and I will let that sit for 24 hours then wash it off..

And after the third wash, this is what it has come up like

Some WD40 applied and both guards and rims are looking very nice..

I must mention that I had my trailer registration rules a little confused and after looking on the Vicroads website the correct information for non registration of a small trailer is:

- weighs less than 200 kilograms empty
- is not wider than the vehicle towing it
- is not more than 3 metres long including the drawbar and any load on the trailer.

Thank you Grant

"Dead Easy" Tyre Pump

Gidday,

My cousin called in yesterday, he was going through his shed at home, you know having a clean out and came across this old thing... a "Dead Easy" tyre pump - patent 1917 from Battle Creek Mich. USA which he said I could have for the Chevy, Love It and THANKS!!

He remembers an elderly gentleman gave it to him many years ago when doing the same thing of sorting out junk so he brought it home, sat it on a shelf in the corner and forgot about it, as we all do from time to time.

I know these are very rare, this one works, pumps air well and is complete with hose and fittings, I have heard about them but never seen one before or for that matter seen I mounted onto the side running boards of a vehicle as they were designed to do, so I have now soaked it in WD40, gave it a light brushing and it has come up looking great and over the next weekend I will install it onto Monty which will be a straight forward job..

Trafalgar East Farm

Gidday,

Dad and Gordon were good friends, Gordon worked at Fowler and Sons as the workshop mechanic along side dad and Uncle Digger for for many years before his sudden passing and weekend "clearing sales" were always a topic of conversation come Monday mornings around the workshop woodfire while overalls were put on and the days plans on what needed repairing were discussed, Gordon loved a bargain and so to Dad and Digger and they attended many a good sale in the Gippsland area together.

Today I receive a text from Gordon's family that they are having a "clearing sale" in one months time and could I please spread the word around the area over the next few weeks, so with that fresh on my mind I rang them back around lunch time, had a chat, then jumped in the chev and drove out there to their Trafalgar East property to have a look about the farm as I knew that there would be old rusty machinery but also I knew that Gordon had many years ago acquired one of dads first trucks from the 1950's, a 4x4 Commer, I knew it was sitting in his paddocks somewhere and I wanted to get a photo of the old rusted thing before someone dragged it away, to restore or most likely scrap, you see, this is the original "Old Albert" winch truck.... Tis a legend around these hills

Here pictured below is another old truck that Dad and Uncle Digger had for many years which they used to transport buildings and whole house around the area, it is a 4x4 Leyland.

And another old Commer that was dragged out across the paddock

Yes this will be like no other clearing sale in the area that I know of for quite some time, with very old antique tractors, crawlers, tractor cranes, cars, machinery and stationery engines of all kinds being pulled out of the sheds were they have sat year decades and now lined up across the freshly cut paddock in rows.
All the while I had a keen eye looking out for old Chevrolet parts while I walked about the long grass around the sheds and bloody snakes to but I was out of luck today with the parts, but found it very interesting just the same wandering about one man's lifetime collection.

Below are some more pix, Cheers.

While I was wandering about another couple came over and asked if they could get a few shots of Monty.

Again I had another great few hours.... Cheers

To Mirboo North I Went..

Gidday,

A Sunny Saturday it is and with a sign install completed by lunch time with thanks going to my son for lending a helping hand and with the girls heading off to Traralgon for a little shopping and my son in Warragul being social with friends, I thought well buggar the lawns today so I got the ole Chevy oiled up and out the driveway I rolled.
I was quickly out of town and heading up over the hills towards and not to long after found myself pulling up outside the little cute Post Office in the main street of Thorpdale. (Potato Country).

With me again selecting 3rd gear, I soon had the right foot flat to the timbers and encouragement for Monty to reach 30mph as I pulled up out of Thorpdale on the long incline towards Mirboo North and the Strezlecki Hwy then before I knew it I was rolling into the township, which by the way was where my Mother grew up, so the place always has a special connect to the family, plus a brewery and a fantastic little chocolate shop.
I pulled up outside the Grand Ridge Brewery for a photo by the large beer glass and then I wandered up the street and found a few groovy old buildings but the one that caught my eye was the old commonwealth bank building... Very neat

So now I am making my back towards home which is only 20 miles away, not a long trip but it is very hilly which means slower with some long slow climbs which is a good hard pulling workout for the little 4 cylinder motor and the temp gauge on the radiator cap is constantly up in the max when working hard but I do not push it today as there is very little traffic, the sun is shiny and the views are fantastic.

With the potato crops looking great and the masses of green fields and bright red spud dirt neatly laid out like an ever expanding patch work quilt as far as the eye can see over the rolling countryside, I detoured off at the Narracan road intersection and went into the 1600 acre property of Durkin Potato Growers to see if Mike Durkin, the proprietor was home who I have known and supplied their signage for years.
I asked Mike about any old timber buildings on the property for a few pix, we had a chat about the chevy which he took a couple of photos himself and then he pointed me towards the gateways behind the massive packing sheds and said go help yourself....

With the farm to myself except for a couple a very large tractors making their way over the crops in the distance, I would by lying if I said I went at a leisurely pace down the bright red dirt track, it was flat out all the way with clouds of red dust following me closely behind as I looked back in the rear view mirror and I can say the chevy came back home with a nice red glow to the wheels and rear end.

I turned off a the bright red track and up into a dry sun burnt grassed paddock and here is this very large, very old and very disused timber building with great big stands of gum trees shadowing it either side, which would of been useful on a hot aussie summers day while working inside under the rusty corrugated iron roof.
I parked, pulled on the hand park and had a good look around and inside the building, with nothing much of interest inside I got the camera out and took a few pictures, this style of photography I am starting to really enjoy and you can just stand back and think about how this old building was once a hive of activity years ago, full of rough talking, hard faced and harder working shearers when the sheep shearing season was in full swing, but now so very quiet, so still with only the trees doing all the talking...... Was peaceful..

It was a great few hours and only just up over the hills from our home.... Cheers

A Lovely Video - You Must Watch

Gidday,

The footage and editing of this video below is fantastic, well worth a look..... I loved it!

You will have to copy and paste this link:

http://vimeo.com/49920522

To The Farm Where Monty Was Found.

G'day,

Yes today I decided to drive out to the small, sleepy "blink or you'll miss it" township of"Hill End", its not far and actually only about 15 miles, I have been meaning to go there and should of done it earlier but never got around to it.
Why Hill End? Well for those people that have been following this blog from the start will know that Hill End is where dad found the Chev sitting under a large tree next to a hay shed on a farm one day while working on the property, I have already been back to the farm house once before at the beginning of the resto with dads brother "Uncle Digger" who was with dad the day he found the Monty, we met the new property owners and looked around but the original house and shedding have all gone now.
So today I just wanted to drive out there and meander along the narrow, bumpy country road towards Hill End that no doubt this Chev would of made the same trip from Willow Grove in and out  many times before but over 50 years earlier.
I rounded a bend on the Willow Grove Road and remembered the location so I pulled over to the right and up onto the beginning of a long dirt track surrounded by tall gum trees which would of taken me up to the farm house about 500 metres further on, but I stopped down the bottom as I only wanted to sit for a little while and take a few photos.
I turned the engine off and with the temperature gauge on the radiator cap showing hot I just sat for a while with the occasional car passing by but in the quiet surrounding all you could here was the wind rushing through the tall gum trees and my thoughts were immediately of gentleman that I had rang last year.

A Mr Gemmal who was the son of the original owner of Monty, who had lived on the farm most of his life and when we spoke on the phone and I told him about the car I was restoring he said "You got that old Chev, bloody hell" and he then talked about life on the farm and that himself and his brothers used to drive the chev up and down the long drive way and all around the farms paddocks, I could just picture that happening as I sat there with Mount Baw Baw in the distance.

I took a few pictures, turned around and headed back home to Trafalgar - Cheers

Found This Old Dairy....

Gidday,

While I was out towards Willow Grove today I spotted this old disused timber building which I gather was a dairy so I quickly jumped on the brakes and turned back for a better look, drove Monty up the track and took a few photos - Cheers.

Ray Dean and his "Red Chev"

Gidday,

Today Ray rolled up at our signshop around 10.30 am in his "red chev", he had driven out from Melbourne to drop off a few spare parts for me, have a cuppa and a good chat, but most importantly just to get out and away from the city traffic and have a good drive in his "burgundy banger" on some nice country highways as his round trip is nearly 250kms...
Windy? yes, Hot? yes, and from all reports everything went well..
Thanks once again Ray