Whiteman Park Classic Car Show
Whiteman Park is a beautiful place and just the area alone would be an attraction for me, but it seems to hosts a lot of events and always seems to have an emphasis on children. Last weekend though, they held the Classic Car show.     Â
The largest display of collectible vehicles can be seen at the Classic Car Show which caters for a wide range of motoring enthusiasts in Western Australia. Each year the show attracts around 1 000 cars and over 20 000 spectators to Whiteman Park.
Now as far as my interest in cars go, I am very limited. But John likes classic cars and I like the whole retro thing, so we planned to go to this.
Now, I do like to take photos, but half the time, I really didn’t know what I was taking photos of, although John was good to explain a lot.
A new name for cars for me right off the start, The Daimler.
More Daimlers.
Ok, into cars or not into cars, even I have to take notice when you see a tractor make the claim it has been around Australia 3 times!
In 1955, the first Chamberlain Champion Model Tractor rolled off the production line at the Chamberlain factory in Welshpool, WA. It was a special Tractor however, as the final drive gearing had been modified to enable a top speed of some 60 mph to be attainable. The purpose of the higher speed was for promotional activities, the first of which was to follow the cars competing in the 1955 Redex Reliability Trial, on the Darwin to Perth section. Many competitors were assisted by the Tractor, particularly through the sandy sections around Pardoo.
The Tractor was then engaged in promoting the model to the farming community and taking part in various field demonstrations throughout the State.
Along came the 1956 Redex Reliability Trial and the Chamberlain Tractor repeated its previous role with similar success. Then back to the field demonstrations, country shows and working trials on various farming properties.
In 1957, the Mobilgas Round Australia Rally was the target for the Tractor’s next venture. An application for the Tractor to enter as a competitor was not accepted by the organizers, however their invitation to participate as the official sweep vehicle was accepted by Chamberlains.
The 22nd August 1957 saw the Tractor, together with a Ford Custom support vehicle and a crew of six, ready to tackle the course around Australia. As the sweep vehicle, all other competitors’ cars had to leave the checkpoint before the Tractor was allowed to commence the next section.
There were many occasions where the arrival of the Tractor enabled a competitor to be towed into a check point or town for repairs, thus enabling them to continue in the Rally. There were other occasions where the tow simply meant the car and crew were in a town rather than stranded on some remote country road.
It wasn’t too long before the Tractor had gained an enviable reputation for assisting unfortunate competitors and earned the nickname of “Tail End Charlieâ€.
The Rally was officially 10,632 miles (17,000 klms), however with towing and other recovery trips Tail End Charlie clocked 11,140 miles (18,000 klms), all in just 19 days.
An interesting tractor to say the least.
This car called itself “The Bandit”
Ok, at this point, I am taking photos of cars I think my sons might like, I admit it. The Ford GT40 is a high performance American-British racing car, built and designed in England (MkI, MkII, and MkIII) and in the United States (MkIV) respectively, and powered by a series of American-built engines, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four consecutive times, from 1966 to 1969.
Cute license play for a Shelby Cobra.
This Shelby made me think of Bill Cosby’s skit on fast cars when he must say PIPESSSSS like a 100 times.
Another new name for me. Armstrong Siddeley.
This car just says, simpler times. See what I mean about liking all things retro?
New names for me all over the place, this is on a Rover P3.
Rover P3 75 Sports Saloon
Ford was represented here as well.
I guess Tintin drove a Citroen!
I just had to take a photo of the car that John used to own (and LOVE) years ago, a Mini Moke.
Humber, another new name for me.
Even at a car show, there is something for everybody. The Chev Blitz was a signals van of which well over a 1000 were built in Australia from 1942 to 1943. These vehicles used running gear supplied by General Motors of Canada and bodies that were made at Woodville in Adelaide SA and were assembled in the various states at the GMH assembly factories. George’s Blitz was assembled at GMH in Mosman Park WA in 1943 and was used by the 5th Division which was stationed between Guildford and Geraldton when an invasion was thought to be imminent.
Had to let the Kuchas see Mustangs were represented too!
While in Australia, a hood ornament of a kangaroo seems right. 🙂
It belonged to a car which also was a new name for me, Vauxhall Velox. I clearly know NOTHING about cars.
Can’t resist a photo of a time machine, now can I?
A Holden, a Buick, a few different cars together. I am a girl at a car show, I LIKED all the green colors, which John was sure matched the green of his kitchen which I don’t LIKE at all.
Lotus Elise. The Elise was named after Elisa, the granddaughter of Romano Artioli who was chairman of Lotus at the time of the car’s launch. Now I know nothing about cars, but I bet it’s more fun to drive than my mom’s Kia Rio.
What’s a car show without a line of Model T’s?
I did say there was something for everyone. It was hard to not buy one, baby dolls for sale. I had to look twice, they looked so real!
Some personal retro. This is a photo of my very snazzy looking mom and my sister. I put it up on facebook recently and it generated some interest. There seemed to be some question as to what the car was. Chevrolet Deluxe, but what year. Petra’s nephew Barry says 1949, and with the position of the lettering it would seem so.
So, we were determined to find a Chevrolet Deluxe at the Car show.
And we did! But this was a 1952 model, but we came close to finding one like Dad had.
The word “deluxe” was placed differently on the 52, so I guess Dad had a 49, and that was the only year they had the paint color Bittersweet, which mom remembers as their color.
Inside the Chevy. I am getting confused these days as to where steering wheels are.
So this was a few photos of the Whiteman Park Classic Car show, there were so many more. A lovely day out and we ran into Graham who was there with his Holden as well. John said it was the earliest he ever arrived to the car show and the latest he ever stayed and we still likely didn’t see everything. 🙂
so where is the first photo?
of the lake and reflection 🙂
and the butterfly, and the tree with flowers and……
just kidding
Bittersweet was a 1952 colour, hence the confusion over the year
my guess would be a resprayed 1949 De Luxe
a tractor with its on web site?? lol
in 1955 even the main road from Perth to Darwin was a dirt road
so it would of been hard going for the cars, cant remember when it was finally sealed
but i guess in the last 30 years
You have done a fabulous job of describing this car show. The picture are really great and I enjoyed the background information too. Thanks.