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

25,000 Lookers Have Been Here

Gidday,

This blog just rolled over 25,000 hits, many thanks to each of you that have looked in from time to time and followed the progress of this old Chevy.

1928 Chevrolet Wind Wings - Well Sort Of

Gidday

A couple of weeks back I decided to make up a pair of "wind wings" for my Chev.

I priced the correct chrome mounting brackets which were not to bad in cost I thought but the idea of having new shiny chrome brackets hanging off old Monty just didn't sit well with me and I wanted something also that I could remove quickly if needed.

I'm more your practical Chev fancier and not your showy type as you have probably gathered by now so I grabbed out some metal strap, sprayed them flat black, had our local glass man cut out the 5mm clear perspex (500mm x 150mm) and I found some domed head bolts.

After a bit a measuring and bending of the brackets to line up with the 2 x windscreen bolts I came up with these.

Then after a test drive up the Hwy I came back happy with the result and set about rounding off the corners with the flapper disk on the angle grinder to what I was happy with.

Now I know they are not the correct size, or may look a little odd in appearance to the purists but I just wanted something that worked and worked very well on a trip and these do just that, I am very impressed with lowering of the wind noise and no more wind in the ears, the baseball cap now stays on the head and the wind burn on the face is also less.

Anyway each to their own and thanks once again for taking an interest..

Gidday

This Saturdays vintage outing was kindly brought to you by "Dan Murphys" liquor outlet in Traralgon...

I got off to a rather late but bloody hot start at around 4pm for the 50 mile round trip and as I reached the haunted hills approaching Morwell on the way up with the sun scorching down on the back of the neck and the heat from the little engine starting to melt the my trusty pair of quicksilver thongs, I thought WTF am I doing this for, one should be back at home carving up the deep end of the swimming pool on this 30c degree summers day.
With the crazy array of holiday makers passing me in one continuous line, I soon rolled into Traralgon sweating like a pig as if I'd ran the bloody distance myself.... I quickly pulled the Chev into the Dan Murphy carpark and again it was very busy and I swear they made the parking spots extra small in there, 3 bites to get Monty into a spot was a bloody embarrassing effort.
Standing in the "chilled section" of the store for a few minutes to regain my composer and lower the heart rate done the trick to then concentrate on some fine "red" selections.
With bottles tucked under my arms and other places and my half melted thongs feeling like i had chewy gum under both feet, I made my way across the parkcar and carefully laid them on the front seat then jumped in and burnt my ass on the black seat, SHIT!! never wearing shorts again... 
With the "chilled section" again on my mind I soon found myself out amongst the mad crazy traffic heading west for the return trip back to Trafalgar and then straight into the pool to cool off.

50 miles there and back with no water loss at all thanks to my overflow tank

Speeding!! - Hardly Officer

Gidday,

I was driving down to Drouin the other day on the Princes Hwy which is about a 45 mile round trip, when I  stopped for a photo beside this sign just on the western side of Yarragon, it just appealed to me when I can only travel along at 47 mph...

To Melbourne I Went In The Chev..

Gidday,

Below are some more photos of my first trip down to Melbourne in the old Chev and you could say that it was one of my goals all along with this resto, and more so this year, was to drive the car down to Melbourne and get a photo with it outside the legendary city landmark of "Luna Park" in the beach side suburb of St Kilda on the Port Phillip Bay

First I dropped my son Codi off at Warragul on my way down to Melbourne who was catching up with his mates and then I was back out onto the freeway for the 47mph trip west where I said out aloud "Just get me down and back safely today dad" then I sat back with the wind in my hair, sun on my face and I settled in for the 2 hour drive..

1 hour and 45 minutes later I rolled to a stop outside my brothers home in the leafy eastern suburb of Malvern where I collected Stuart and we were quickly off again under his navigation skills to find one of his local cafe spots for a bite to eat.  Nice and it hit the spot to....

After that we took the scenic trip around the suburbs and made our way over to "busy" St.Kilda and found a parking spot, I mean  "No Parking" spot and cut loose with the camera for a couple of minutes.
"Acland Street Bakery" which is located just around the corner was next on my list as I wanted to take back home 3 of their to die for meringue's for Lisa and the kids which were a family favourite in the past but I knew parking was going to be an issue as there were people and cars everywhere but when we turned right into Acland Street it was like the seas had parted, people everywhere but with a vacant spot right opposite the bakery "BINGO", I whipped Monty into it, switch him off and we both walked over to the shop.
I'm not bullshitting here folks and I kid you not but upon our return the "trendy cafe crew" had gathered around Monty and were getting a good few photos and videos taken of him in all his rustic, patina skin.
Stuart and myself just stood back across the road having a good laugh and I get rather embarrassed when I then have to walk over and jump in it as people want to take pictures and ask questions, I think my brother was rather surprised with all the attention that this old car creates when you park it in the street, it all just a bit of fun..

So with the Meringues carefully packed on the back seat, we made our way back over to Malvern, around some lovely back tree lined streets and homes where I dropped Stuart back at his home, grabbed a quick drink and then pointed the Chev in an easterly direction towards home which was 120 kms away.

All went well, no major issues with the car, yes a couple a strange noises with the clutch which I can sort out now I am back home but only just a little sunburn on the back of the neck which I can live with but a great day was had....

The old Chevy logged up another 159 miles or 260 kms today and just rolled around 11,500 miles on the speedo.

Cheers and thanks for taking an interest

Approaching Melbourne just crossing over Warrigal Road with the city skyline in the distance

Burke Road is my turn off to my brothers home

  

My brother Stuart with enjoying a coffee in Glenferry Road .

My destination "Luna Park" 

Stuart and myself

Acland Street St. Kilda

Cool Old Melbourne Tram

3 x Lovely Meringues Deliveried Home Safely

Another Hot Saturday - Another Early Start

Gidday,

With a 37c degree day about to shine down and fry us today, I headed off early in an easterly direction straight up the Princes Hwy to Morwell to pick up a few items and then call past Bunnings Hardware.

With the front and back bumper bars now bolted on firmly in place, I also installed through the week the original B&W enamel 6 numbered rego plate onto the front of the car, why the plate? I hear you ask, well because it just feels right and it looks so good there if you ask me, anyway with that done the drive today was all good and non eventful with a nice relaxed comfortable cruising speed of 45mph there and back.

Also today I brought on ebay a complete 1928 honeycomb radiator, radiator surround, cap, hoses etc for $100 in Melbourne.... Is extremely happy with that price considering they can fetch $500 -$750 second hand and for the honeycomb core only $1200.00 new, which I can now add to my small spare parts collection in the resto shed.

Enjoy your weekend.

Resto: Matching Bumpers Fitted

Gidday,

A good few months back I stumbled across on ebay a matching set of 1928 front and rear bumpers, well I was the only bidder in the end and got them for a great price and with them being matching that was a rare bonus but the down side was that they were located over in South Australia, so after a couple of calls I manage to contact a interstate truck operator that I do signs for and he just happened to be passing through the town of "Mount Baker" in a couple of days time and would gladly stop out on the highway in his B-Double, meet the seller, collect the bumpers and bring them back home... it all went as smooth as clockwork.

When I got them back to the resto shed and unwrapped them, the bumpers looked great, covered in just enough surface rust to suit Monty but when I held up the brackets to the car they were all "ass about" for some reason, maybe not from a 1928 Chevrolet after all as the seller had advertised them as being, hmmm not to worry, we can correct and fix the problem and also back in the 1920's & 30's there were about 15 companies making different "after market" bumpers for various car manufacturers from what I have been told.

Anyway with a few quick soakings and sprays of "rustbuster" over the weeks ahead as they sat in the shed and then a good hit with the wire brush, the end result was just what I was looking for, steel bumpers with "patina" now I just have to fit them up.

With the roadworthy and rego out of the way, Ray Dean and myself started to plan another day on the tools which were becoming few and far between now that I am driving Monty more instead of fixing it, so we pencilled in last Sunday and like always, Ray arrived bang on the money from his trip out of Melbourne and this time he showed up in his lovely "Red Chev".

We quickly had the 2 x front bumper brackets mounted and went to work asap with the oxy torch to get a lot of heat into the old thick "spring steel" which then had to be bent and re-shaped into place, but nothing that a couple a dodgy blacksmiths couldn't handle and when we held up the front bumper it fitted perfectly.

The rear brackets were much the same and it all came together very easily and the end result of our 5 hours work looked great as the photos below show...

Thanks once again Ray, its always a good day with many laughs and bullshit while working on the cars..