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Old World Lamps and Tyres 

Trips & Tours

This is a constant up date Tours we are planning and have recently completed.

 

If you have any question about any thing on our site please feel free to ring us and inquire 1300 854 324 or International 61 4 222 1 99 11, thanks.

Newsletters:

Our newsletters are produced periodically, just up dates on tours and cars and what arriving etc, please feel free to copy and forward them to your friends. As we do more we'll add them to the site, just click on the PDF icon to view.

2019 HCCA International tour

We are proud to announce that we are running an International tour for all pre 1916  vehicles in Bathurst, NSW August 30th - September 6th 2019. 

With the support of Bathurst Regional Council, the headquarters for the event will be the famous Mt Panorama Raceway, utilising its pit area and corporate facilities. Information will be posted on a tour web page in the next couple of months however in the meantime you can download the expression of interest form and Newsletters below, just click on the PDF icon to view.

2018 Grizzly Bear & Yosemite Tour and Bakersfield Swap

 

After returning from the January trip to pack up the Rothschild cars. Chris & I, in company with friends Rob & Sandy Duffy planned to returned to tour the 1913 Rambler which we had left with Arnold Schmitt to re-commission in readiness .

 

We have regularly attended the annual Grizzly Bear Tours run by Michael Sullivan in Northern California and the HCCA National Tour & Convention was built into the program this year, coinciding with my inaugural HCCA Board meeting.

 

So Michael & incoming HCCA President Bob Ladd joined forces to do a pre tour “Grizzly Bear Tour”, followed by a Meeting of the Marques show day and then a 4 day National Tour in and out of Yosemite National Park.

 

So we trailered the Rambler to Oakhurst Ca. for the start of the GBT, Michael is quite fastidious about driving the routes in either is 1910 Parry or model T, however some of the signs that we were to follow were to say the least difficult to find, so day one we found ourselves lost in snow and mud travelling back roads at 5500 + feet! At least we were not alone!

 

Click here to see the 2 videos

 

Luckily Rambler’s were know for their early feats crossing the un-explored US landscape hence in 1912 the bigger model like ours were call “Cross Country” reknow for both their endurance up hill and down dale and it braking capacity, both were needed on the long slow climbs and lengthy down hill runs with T stops on the highway testing many of the cars brakes, thankfully the Rambler stood up when required.

 

The meeting of the Marquee was a wonderful collect of many different makes all designated in alphabetical order we were coupled in the “R”s with a beautiful 1909 Rambler restored by former HCCA President Bill Ottermam. Which was followed by 3 very nice veteran Rolls Royce’s.

 

Good friends Alan & Mary Travis had their very rare 1913 Bugatti type 22 which Alan was rightfully quite proud of, see Alan & Jay Leno here in this video

 

The following day we drove the Rambler form Oakhurst to Taniya Lodge wish is situated in the small community of Fish Camp about 1 mile for the official entrance to Yosemite. The Yosemite part of the tour was no less changeling with the start at 4500 feet traveling up hill to nearly 7000 feet only to drop to the Yosemite valley floor at 5000 feet all within 40 miles. The scenery was spectacular and the old adage “watch were you are going, don’t go where you are watching” was the rule of the day!

 

The waterfalls and views are specular and we would kill to have that much water available in Australia.

 

3 days of touring was exhilarating and challenging not to mention tiring but the end of the day a glass of wine & good fellowship was well appreciate. After the end of the Yosemite tour we drove the Rambler back to Oakhurst and trailered it the 180 miles Bakersfield for one more day of touring and then the hunt for Brass Era gold at Bakersfield Swap!

 

The Model T Ford club (get the right name) in concert with the HCCA run both the Bakersfield Tour on the 2nd Thursday of April, a challenging one day tour through the sparse hilly countryside around Bakersfield City and this is followed on the Friday & Saturday by the Bakersfield swap a haven for brass era cars and parts that is a must do if that is your passion.

 

I was again lucky enough to pick up some rare finds at Bakersfield particularly the pair of 1899-1904 Haynes Apperson carburettors which will go well on our 1899 Haynes Apperson restoration. As well as a number of other Brass accessories that we’ll be well use in our collection. Chris and I also enjoyed driving the 1902 Rambler around the fairground.

By the Sea Tour

 

This HCCA National Tour centred around Portsmouth, Rhode Island, my original intention was to ship the 1913 Rambler over from California, however with everything happening at home I did not get organised early enough so decided to go “swaggie” for the week.

 

After stopping off for a short visit to see a Thomas Flyer in Georgia I headed for Providence, Rhode Island. The images of Providence both Chris and I had seen over the years were mouth-watering with history, romance and a real culinary culture, so it was a shame that Chis could not make this trip as it was everything it promised to be. However with my fellow HCCA members I soldiered on!

 

This was a classic hub tour with a twist a progressive day & night to trip to Sandwich, Massachusetts in the middle and one of the highlights (low lights?) was the very unusual directions a point of discussion all week.

 

Day one saw me settle in the back of Bob & Nancy Ladd’s 1910 Chalmers Detroit. For visit to down town ?? And the A?? car museum that is dedicated to cars delivered new to Rhode Island, this is only a small museum but a quality building, cars & exhibit, the tablet presentation at each display was well done and very informative.

 

Just walking distance down the road was the famous Lawn Tennis museum, with tributes to many great tennis players including Australians, Lew Hode, Ken Rosewell, John Newcombe and Layton Hewitt to name a few. This was a real journey back in time and the croquet lawn was to die for.

 

View the video of the Lawn Tennis museum & croquet Lawn here:

 

Day two we held the HCCA Board meeting followed by lunch at a locally famous “Shutzly” dinner, fried shrimp & clam strips! I rode back to the motel in Herb Singe Jr’s 30hp Pope Hartford a light powerful nimble runabout. Before deciding to head to Providence with a number of other members to see Cadillac collector, Dick Shappy’s (see below) sales room, shop & parts collection.

 

I’ve done some buying and selling with Dick over 20 years, however only ever meet him once, briefly at Hershey to collect a payment for some Cadillac wheels many years ago. So while in Rhode Island for the By the Sea Tour I took the opportunity to visit his shop.

 

Dick is famous for his Cadillac collection and his business interest which until recently included 2 strip clubs (he is now back to one). Dick unashamedly acknowledges his business fuels his passion for cars, however he also acknowledges cars are part of his business so “everything is for sale”

 

Whilst Dick has a leaning toward Cadillacs he also collects any rare early autos and early high-end motor bikes. Of particular interest to me was the former Harold Coker 1905 Thomas 4-60. I had not seen this car for 15 years and Harold & I had discussed trading our Thomas for a similar 1905, 4-60 he had, but I could never part with ours. However the other cars Dick had were somewhat mind blowing also, Stutz Bear Cat, several V16 Cadillac’s, 1905 Cameron, 1909 Peerless, a Duesenburg that was famously purchased in a storage locker on the TV show storage wars, just to name a few.

 

Wondering around his parts collection is amazing, V16 blocks, 4 cylinder Cadillac Motors, (not to mention 5 1911 Cadillac’s) parts everywhere, fenders, bonnets, radiators, lights transmissions, you name it he had it form 1911 through to 1933.

 

I took great interest in a mechanically complete 1933 V12 Caddy which Dick said he had the Convertible Coupe body for off getting some work done on it. He said it was a runner, for sale & “cheap” I was still too scared to ask how much!

 

After the shop visit Dick invited me to the house Saturday before I flew out, an offer I was not going to miss!

 

That night we visited one of the many famous seafood restaurants in Rhode Island. As a chef I was never a big fan of lobster (Australia cray fish) as I always though there were shell fish with far better flavours, however I could not miss the opportunity to try my first fresh caught Atlantic lobster (complete with the big nippers) it did not change my thoughts on lobster or cray fish but you need to try to know.

 

Day 3 all the discussion at breakfast was about the rain pending the following day as we were to leave our motel and travel into Massachusetts for the night! So with a back pack in hand, I jumped in the back of Carol & Jay Simpson’s 1913 model T, now I’m not a T guy, but Jay really has that car running great! So we headed for Sandwich, Ma. via a few museums and a fantastic fish & chip lunch at a road side dinner. We took the opportunity to purchased some lemonade for 2 young girls selling from a pop up stall outside their family home, they were raising money for a kids project and we were happy to contribute in exchange for 3 cups of lemonade.

 

Day 4 saw the rain come in with vengeance. I comment to Carol & Jay in the morning that we had a family saying on tour “making memories” the rain was not too bad on the way to Plymouth Plantation a fantastic tribute to the pilgrims and their relationship with the native Indians, I was captivated by the talk in the “winter hut” by a local Indian native (in traditional dress) telling the story of the early villages and cultural & culinary history. It was the type of place you could easily spent over 1/2 a day at and we were decided late for lunch, that late indeed we missed it!

 

Well, the heavens were determined to ensure we were making memories and after getting to the lunch stop late the rain pelted down and did not let up. So after taking refuge in a gas station we planed a reasonably direct route back to Portsmouth, which much to Jay’s disgust (wrong word) included a couple of miles on the Interstates 195 & 24. It rained so hard at times I could not see the radiator cap from the back seat! However we made it back and certainly made a lasting memory.

 

Day 5 saw us travel to Battle Ship Cove which is situated very close to Plymouth Harbor and Plymouth Rock???, the landing site for the 1620 pilgrims from the Mayflower. It is a tribute to many of the Sea fearing craft that protected the US and their allies including Australia from World War ll through Korea & Vietnam wars. With 2 famous PT boats on display also a cruiser, submarine & and the battleship Mass?

 

With plenty to see and not a lot of time agin this was a wonderful visit that you could have spent more time at.

 

Friday night saw the final dinner a somewhat formal affair with good food a great fellowship.

 

Saturday I was due to fly out to California but not before taking up Dick Shappy’s offer to visit the house, so I arrived and we talked Cadillac’s and my interest in the very early 4 cylinders and his interest in finding, working on and selling collectable bikes & autos. He showed me his other Duesenberg and 2 more V16 Caddies, two rare Reece Duesenberg cars one an original racer the other a persevered touring car and his extensive early motor bike collection.

 

Dick’s extensive collection can be seen by clicking the button Below

Yamba 1 & 2 weekend tour May 2018

 

A relatively small (20) group of avid early motorists traveled from both NSW & Qld to enjoy a wonderful weekend of traveling the coastal town and surrounds of Yamba.

 

after a short shake down and orientation tour Friday we were treated to Yamba prawns and a fabulous BBQ dinner by our host Ruth & Rob Holmes.

 

Saturday saw us travel the quite back roads to McLean famous for its tartan telegraph poles. I was pleased to be able to offer Greg Gossip a ride in the Thomas to the lunch stop. Greg was a teacher at my high school (Colton High) and joined the staff there shortly after I had left school, however we knew a lot of the same people. Greg is a skill engineer and has assisted us with a number of projects. We travelled together to ?? For lunch. Before Chris & I headed back to Yamba for dinner and some fellowship.

 

Sunday was a short tour to .? Point before everyone dispersed to the corners of their respective states.

 

Avid old car follower John Holt was a bystander on the tour and is a wonderful photographer and has a great web site that follows a lot of tours throughout NSW & Qld. Photos of the Yamba & other tours can be found on John’s site @ click the button below.

 

2018 Tasmania National 1 & 2 tour, Deloraine

 

Convincing our friend Rob Duffy to take his Black High Wheeler to the Cobram 1 & 2 weekend proved a very prudent thing. The weekend tour that is always well attended in Victoria was deliberately timed so as to be the precursor to the National Tour in Tasmania. So Rob & I planned to do both.

 

I travelled down with the Thomas & Rob with the Black. Our intention was to leave the Black at fellow Cadillac enthusiasts Graham Hendy’s property in Nathan? And Rob & I take the Thomas to Tassie for the week long tour.

 

Friday afternoon saw the Thomas break the drive pin that runs the water pump and after running like a train all day it boiled its socks off. Having replaced the drive pin with a make shift roll pin, it was back on the roads again Saturday, however the roll pin did not last long and it quickly got hot again a high tensile bolt was installed and worked but not before the damage was done! Unfortunately the thin copper sheet that forms the head gasket did not like the heat and soon gave in allowing water to be sucked into the cylinder. Not wishing to do any more damage (and having a spare gasket at home!) We decided to change plans and we left the Thomas at Greame’s and took the Black to Tassie.

 

As is customary with all old cars we need to do some maintenance on the Black throughout the week however it preformed well and we were both satisfied with the decision to take it.

 

The Thomas has its new head gasket, we made 5 more out of slightly thinker material, so that generally means we’ll never need them.

Trips and Tours

2018 has started at a frantic pace with 3 US trips and several local tours its been a very busy and exciting year for us, with more tours than ever and a few interesting trips as well. Up coming trips & Tours:

 

  • National Veteran Rally Forbes, NSW

October

  • Annual Hershey Swap meet, Hershey Pennsylvania, USA

  • Hershey Hang Over Tour, Pennsylvania, USA

November

  • Bendigo Swap

  • MotorFest Mudgee

2019

February - HCCA National Convention & Cruse to Cuba

March 15th - 7th Chickasha Pre War Swap Chickasha Oklahoma

April 12th - 15th Bakersfield Swap, Bakersfield California

August 30th - September 6th, HCCA International Tour, Bathurst, NSW,

 

I'm not sure where I'll get any time to work in all this, but there are 24 hours in a day!

Touring the USA, We travel to the USA regularly to re-new both business and personal contacts and pursue vehicles for clients and sometimes our selves.

2018 Check back soon for up dates on the recent Grizzly Bear, HCCA National Yosemite & Bakersfield Tours. in our 1913 Rambler Cross Country

2015 We had such a great time in 2014, Rob & I decided to do it all again this time with our families. So I purchased the 1909 Cadillac that was an older restoration an had some work completed on it with the assistance of Alan Kelso in Pennsylvania and we shipped it to Long Beach for the tour. The Caddy did not do as well as the Cole did but was still a great car and we are again looking forward to doing more tours in the US.

I did have the pleasure of driving Alan Travis's 1904 Mitchell, Mitchell's were produced by the Lewis & Mitchell Company (later the Mitchell Motor Co) Alan's is the oldest Mitchell known to exist which Alan purchased for the Lewis family after they had seen what he had done with the fine racing Mitchell he restored and that fact that he uses his cars which they appreciated. Alan kindly offered for me to drive the Mitchell to a HCCA display & lecture day at the Porterville college, which was a real joy

My US friends are trying to convince us we should participate in the 2016 great race coast to coast, something we are heavily considering. Stay tuned for more up date or email me to anticipate on a tour?

2014  A few years back my friend Rob Duffy and I participated in the 2014 Grizzly Bear Tour in California before moving to Bakersfield for the one day tour and swap it was our first experience in driving a Veteran (horseless carriage) on US roads and whilst we did have some troubles and learned a lot the fellowship and assistance our friends and Horseless Carriage members provided was nothing short of wonderful. We had the 1915 production 1916 Model Cole V8 Coupe for the rally and that was really great!

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