Trip to the nationals in the 34

[Lawrie]

I’m on my way to the nationals in Echuca in the 34,my usual transport is the 33 so travelling with out the caravan is a bit different,
The 34 has the stock bore Babbitt engine in and is so very smooth. and a pleasure to drive. and they must have been a revaluation when new.
After I fixed the loose spindle pin,it steers great, with one hand on the wheel and over the whoopdys and pot holes it stays straight.
My repaired fuel gauge is fairly accurate looks nice with the red fluid.
So far around 850 klms up to this morning ,before I went sightseeing in the farm lands out east of Moree.
Eng used no oil and is still clean, coolant has not moved and stays around 75-80C.
I had put new woven linings in the front and adjusted them all up.it would stop on a 5c piece now and is very comforting to be in traffic now.
Yesterday I did my first stint on the main hiway(Newel) and had no problems with traffic
I have come the inland way via Miles and Goondiwindi.
I would like to see the suspension on the road from Moonie to Goondiwindi as it was like a roller coaster,I was warned about it so had dropped my speed a bit,luckily. But no bits fell off or shook loose.
Tomorrow I have another rest day before catching up with the other club members from Brisbane
If you look closely at the last pic there is a top dressing plane doing a pass .
Lawrie

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Lawrie

I’m on my way to the nationals in Echuca in the 34,my usual transport is the 33 so travelling with out the caravan is a bit different,
The 34 has the stock bore Babbitt engine in and is so very smooth. and a pleasure to drive. and they must have been a revaluation when new.
After I fixed the loose spindle pin,it steers great, with one hand on the wheel and over the whoopdys and pot holes it stays straight.
My repaired fuel gauge is fairly accurate looks nice with the red fluid.
So far around 850 klms up to this morning ,before I went sightseeing in the farm lands out east of Moree.
Eng used no oil and is still clean, coolant has not moved and stays around 75-80C.
I had put new woven linings in the front and adjusted them all up.it would stop on a 5c piece now and is very comforting to be in traffic now.
Yesterday I did my first stint on the main hiway(Newel) and had no problems with traffic
I have come the inland way via Miles and Goondiwindi.
I would like to see the suspension on the road from Moonie to Goondiwindi as it was like a roller coaster,I was warned about it so had dropped my speed a bit,luckily. But no bits fell off or shook loose.
Tomorrow I have another rest day before catching up with the other club members from Brisbane
If you look closely at the last pic there is a top dressing plane doing a pass .
Lawrie

[mercman from oz]

Lawrie, looking forward to catching up with you tomorrow

[Lawrie]

Thanks Trevor, me too
You have a safe drive down.
Lawrie

[danliveshere]

The coupe is looking sharp Lawrie . Wish I was coming too!!!!!!

[hop up]

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Beautiful coupe and awesome scenery. How many miles will you put on your trip

[Lawrie]

Hop up ,maybe 4500klms
Danny, get the 35 going.lol
Yesterday I went to look at the Australian national telescope array, out west of Narabri,this is 6 huge antennas that are 22mtrs diameter and form an antenna 6klm in diameter. Sure was impressive.
Did some washing and dried it on the seat
It was about 25 kms off the main highway I was on ,so on my return I see a short cut back to the highway and take that,well ,it was a dirt road that was nice and smooth but as dusty as ,
15 klms of dust.
Nice drive in the real country road.
Back on the hiway i stop at a small settlement and make a coffee, take some pick of an old home and meet u farmer who shows me his HZ Manaro he has had since new,
So at the next town where I’m staying the night I washed the 34 as I felt bad seeing it so dusty.
Tomorrow I meet up with the other club members from. Brisbane
Lawrie

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Lawrie

Hop up ,maybe 4500klms
Danny, get the 35 going.lol
Yesterday I went to look at the Australian national telescope array, out west of Narabri,this is 6 huge antennas that are 22mtrs diameter and form an antenna 6klm in diameter. Sure was impressive.
Did some washing and dried it on the seat
It was about 25 kms off the main highway I was on ,so on my return I see a short cut back to the highway and take that,well ,it was a dirt road that was nice and smooth but as dusty as ,
15 klms of dust.
Nice drive in the real country road.
Back on the hiway i stop at a small settlement and make a coffee, take some pick of an old home and meet u farmer who shows me his HZ Manaro he has had since new,
So at the next town where I’m staying the night I washed the 34 as I felt bad seeing it so dusty.
Tomorrow I meet up with the other club members from. Brisbane
Lawrie

[Kens 36]

Lawrie,

Many thanks for letting us ride along.

Ken

[flatford8]

Beautiful car!....I really enjoy your trips....thanks for ride!....I hope you have a safe trip!......Mark

[Old Redneck]

I enjoy your trip very much. Wish I was there to ride along with you. Very nice 3 window coupe. Keep the story about your tripe coming. We do enjoy very much all your post. Thank you

[fortyonerag]

Thanks for sharing. Impressive reliability.

[Lawrie]

Well the nationals were great, it was so good to catchup with old friends.
The Brisbane members were a special treat to travel with ( thanks Conner and team)
There will be plenty of pics on the barn from the meet.
The coupe was entered in the concourse in the rouge devision.
It won a rouge award loosing only 58 points,( hose clamps, wiper motor, condenser and a few other things,)
It also got a special mention as they were amazed I had driven it 2400klms to the event,also I won the raffle and picked up two prestige detail kits,my two daughter in-laws will like them.
The event finished mid day yesterday Monday, and after, I left for my trip home,which I think will be around 2300 klms.
First morning on my return trip didn’t start too well as leaving Griffith I was too focused on the copper sitting by the school zone and missed the turn and went about 30 klms off corse.
Never mind , after asking a farmer I was soon back on track
I had a B double cattle truck catch me up on the back road and after letting him past followed him for the next couple hundred Ks , on the back it had a sign,
Beef bus,the cattle had their heads out the side , maybe getting some fresh air.
Will know tomorrow when I fill what the MPG is ,up but did 328 klms on the tank today,
The coupe is going great and this morning put 1/2 litre in the engine, used no coolant.
But one thing I noticed is I did a hard stop this arvo , and noticed a trail of water on the road, I think it was from the radiator over flow pipe when I braked really hard.
I’m stopped for the night in a small country pub .
Lawrie

[38 coupe]

Good to hear the meet was a success, and fun pictures of your travels. Thanks for the update.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Lawrie

Well the nationals were great, it was so good to catchup with old friends.
The Brisbane members were a special treat to travel with ( thanks Conner and team)
There will be plenty of pics on the barn from the meet.
The coupe was entered in the concourse in the rouge devision.
It won a rouge award loosing only 58 points,( hose clamps, wiper motor, condenser and a few other things,)
It also got a special mention as they were amazed I had driven it 2400klms to the event,also I won the raffle and picked up two prestige detail kits,my two daughter in-laws will like them.
The event finished mid day yesterday Monday, and after, I left for my trip home,which I think will be around 2300 klms.
First morning on my return trip didn’t start too well as leaving Griffith I was too focused on the copper sitting by the school zone and missed the turn and went about 30 klms off corse.
Never mind , after asking a farmer I was soon back on track
I had a B double cattle truck catch me up on the back road and after letting him past followed him for the next couple hundred Ks , on the back it had a sign,
Beef bus,the cattle had their heads out the side , maybe getting some fresh air.
Will know tomorrow when I fill what the MPG is ,up but did 328 klms on the tank today,
The coupe is going great and this morning put 1/2 litre in the engine, used no coolant.
But one thing I noticed is I did a hard stop this arvo , and noticed a trail of water on the road, I think it was from the radiator over flow pipe when I braked really hard.
I’m stopped for the night in a small country pub .
Lawrie

[koates]

Hi Lawrie. Thanks for posting all the great photos of your travels. I had not seen any photos of your three window in a long time. A well deserved trophy win at the nationals. Safe trip home. Regards, Kevin.

[Lawrie]

Thanks Kevin
I left early this morning with nearly a frost on the car,.and promptly turned right instead of left, 80 kms extra,before back on track.
Stopped at a small country cemetery,and made coffee and had a home mad biscuit, took some pics here.
The Colton is in full harvest and the piles of huge bails is amazing, they tell me $2000 per bail.
Later I came open another cattle drive,something you don’t see if on the. main roads.
Further on the 34 missed a bit then more then hardly enough power to get off the road, then stopped, I tried to restart but not a murmur from the starter, looking down I see my feet had knocked the battery isolating switch off, flicking it back we were off.
On the last stretch today I sat on 55-60. Mph as the road was nice and straight,but I noticed the temp up a very small amount above what has been normal.
When I stopped for the night I found why, radiator 1/2 blocked with bugs and stuff.
Today was a great day,nearly 500 klms all on back roads.
I know why the crooks used these old fords in the day, they burn along at 50-60 no drama,ride the bumps and whoops no worries.
Lawrie

[Model51]

Thanks for sharing the pictures. On my one month long visit to Australia in 2016 I drove back roads from Sydney to Nowra and then to Canberra. On the west coast from Perth to Albany to Ningaloo and returned to Perth. Also got three days of driving from Alice Springs to Urulu and back. Lots of dirt roads and the scenery looked like your pictures. It was so nice to be out in the back country for a while and got to see a sheep drive, and even managed to hit a big kangaroo at 100 KPH at night (fortunately minor damage to the roo and car). Thanks for rekindling memories.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Lawrie

Thanks Kevin
I left early this morning with nearly a frost on the car,.and promptly turned right instead of left, 80 kms extra,before back on track.
Stopped at a small country cemetery,and made coffee and had a home mad biscuit, took some pics here.
The Colton is in full harvest and the piles of huge bails is amazing, they tell me $2000 per bail.
Later I came open another cattle drive,something you don’t see if on the. main roads.
Further on the 34 missed a bit then more then hardly enough power to get off the road, then stopped, I tried to restart but not a murmur from the starter, looking down I see my feet had knocked the battery isolating switch off, flicking it back we were off.
On the last stretch today I sat on 55-60. Mph as the road was nice and straight,but I noticed the temp up a very small amount above what has been normal.
When I stopped for the night I found why, radiator 1/2 blocked with bugs and stuff.
Today was a great day,nearly 500 klms all on back roads.
I know why the crooks used these old fords in the day, they burn along at 50-60 no drama,ride the bumps and whoops no worries.
Lawrie

[Lawrie]

Well, I have had a rest day in Lightning Ridge, an opal mining place, and what a place.
Looks like the moon surface with all the mineshafts and machinery made from any old car or truck mechanical bits.
I drove around in the scrub ,but had to be very careful as there were old mineshafts all over the place.
Left this morning for what I thought would be a nice relaxing drive to St George, it took my time ,stopping to take pics and just burned along at 45-50 mph.
Stopped to take a picture of some emus in a paddock,they we’re about 100 yds from the road, as I opened the boot (trunk) to get my drone out they took off,by the time I had it ready they were nearly out of sight, those things can move very fast,as the song says, they can’t fly,but can run the legs off a kangaroo
Easy day tomorrow,and will catch up with some.V8 club members in Roma.
Lawrie
Get to St George and the place is booked out for a wedding, so end up ringing ahead to the next little place( Surat) the last place the cob and co coaches ran to.
The little pickup is a fordson, and funny thing the engine and drive;one is offset to get room for the drivers feet.
These wore popular in NZ and my neighbour had one.
As usual the 34 is running great,`on the last leg today ,as I wanted to get in before the late arvo and the Roos ,so sat on 60mph for the hour,no drama.

[sugarmaker]

Lawrie,
Wonderful pictures of your trip! Thanks for taking us along. GB will like the jailbar picture too.
Safe return home.
Congratulations on your well deserved win at the nationals. The 34 is awesome!
Regards,
Chris and Cheryl

[Brian]

Lawrie, All those miles on red dirt roads, and your car is always clean!!

[38 coupe]

Lawrie, thank you for sharing your drive with us. I find it fun to "follow along" on Google Maps to see what kind of terrain you are driving through and what the towns look like. It's not as good as being on vacation myself, but is fun regardless.

[GB SISSON]

As always I'm having a blast riding along with you. Thank you so much for the armchair travels and the photos to go along with the story. I really admire those of you that take long trips in your old fords and hope one day I will garner up the courage to do something half as grand as the excursions we see here. And Chris, of course I saw that jailbar

[51504bat]

Looks like the homemade bumper/guard on the jail bar did it's job. The grill looks surprisingly straight from what I can see in the photo. Thanks for all the photos and details of what sounds like a great trip.

[Lawrie]

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I’m one day away from home,and will be there tomorrow all going well.
As usual ,yesterday got caught out with accomodation and had to drive a few extra klms to Surat.
Went for diner and a well deserved beer at the pub,
My 34 sure looked out of place parked in the Main Street with the locals vehicles.
Got up this morning to hear it hosing down outside,lucky the 34 was under cover so it was dry for me to put a good coat of Rainex on the windscreen.
It was hosing down as I headed off and progressively got heavier, no leaks inside and I stayed nice and dry and warm.
Stopped at Roma to visit a friend and had a nice coffee and bickies.
Rain had stopped by then,
A nice easy drive to Taroom,on this road we got caught with it flooded in our model As a year or so back , this time no drama
The road was 177 between towns (Roma and Taroom) so no nice rest stops for smoko ,so just coffee and biscuits on the running boards.
Car looks a bit cleaner after the rain this morning.
Talked to a couple last night who were travelling in a modern car,there were amazed that they had seen me three days back, I told them my 34 was 90 year’s old. And was great to travel in,
They asked my what sort of car it was, I told them a Ford, and told them I didn’t think any one else made cars,] we had a good laugh.
Lawrie

[Lawrie]

GB The jail bar had a funny bar thingy on the front bumper, made from two half’s of a short leaf spring, the same was on a blitz at the nationals, so maybe a ww2 thing.
Lawrie

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Lawrie

I’m one day away from home,and will be there tomorrow all going well.
As usual ,yesterday got caught out with accomodation and had to drive a few extra klms to Surat.
Went for diner and a well deserved beer at the pub,
My 34 sure looked out of place parked in the Main Street with the locals vehicles.
Got up this morning to hear it hosing down outside,lucky the 34 was under cover so it was dry for me to put a good coat of Rainex on the windscreen.
It was hosing down as I headed off and progressively got heavier, no leaks inside and I stayed nice and dry and warm.
Stopped at Roma to visit a friend and had a nice coffee and bickies.
Rain had stopped by then,
A nice easy drive to Taroom,on this road we got caught with it flooded in our model As a year or so back , this time no drama
The road was 177 between towns (Roma and Taroom) so no nice rest stops for smoko ,so just coffee and biscuits on the running boards.
Car looks a bit cleaner after the rain this morning.
Talked to a couple last night who were travelling in a modern car,there were amazed that they had seen me three days back, I told them my 34 was 90 year’s old. And was great to travel in,
They asked my what sort of car it was, I told them a Ford, and told them I didn’t think any one else made cars,] we had a good laugh.
Lawrie

[B-O-B]

Lawrie; Thanks for them pics. Really nice 3W. Neighbor lady was a widow & she had a mate for your ride. This was a very long time ago & I don't know what happened to her or the car. I left home & went in the service. Her 3 W was black with vineyard green trim I think. Can't wait till the next installment of your escapades.

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Very nice car Lawrie. I saw it over on the Southern V8 fb page....believe it was "stolen" from NZ, you lucky bugger! Enjoy the Nats.

GB

Edited : Glad you enjoyed that Nats. Sounds like you had a great trip and the car went well. I've been MIA from Fordbarn as the laptop has been away at the techs so am now only catching up.

GB

[Lawrie]

Well I got home yesterday arvo,2756 miles (4480klms)
Car went great and is a pleasure to travel in,plus it gets plenty of attention with folks coming up to say they saw me three days ago 100,s of miles back.
Some tech info on my 34, engine is standard bore stock 34 Babbitt engine,fitted with my home made full flow oil filter set up,40B advance in the distributor with NOS ford points and after market condenser, 6v electrics ,the hydrostatic fuel gauge I repaired before leaving turns out to be very accurate, and when reading zero has about 3 litres left.
Total fuel used 650litres and cost $1290.80, engine used 1/2 litr oil and its still clean,radiator never need to be topped up and was still on the same level when leaving home. Engine never got hot and ran like a rocket.
A few minor repairs needed, one rubber front brake rod support snapped off, left window got stiff, rattly door window glass,brakes may need an adjust up (but stayed working great)
A grease and oil and filter change,that’s about it.
I hope you enjoyed my trip, as I sure did. Pics are a field of sorghum,and others from my last day
The 34 needs a good wash and vacuumed out, and dripped this much oil on my drive when home
And an old MG going to Gympie from Cairns on the back of the truck, same year as the 34,but vastly different
Biggest day 525 klm( bad navigation)
Lawrie

[torpedo]

Congrats Lawrie. You demonstrated that an old Ford engine was designed to be reliable and dependable ! Wonderful pics.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Lawrie

Well I got home yesterday arvo,2756 miles (4480klms)
Car went great and is a pleasure to travel in,plus it gets plenty of attention with folks coming up to say they saw me three days ago 100,s of miles back.
Some tech info on my 34, engine is standard bore stock 34 Babbitt engine,fitted with my home made full flow oil filter set up,40B advance in the distributor with NOS ford points and after market condenser, 6v electrics ,the hydrostatic fuel gauge I repaired before leaving turns out to be very accurate, and when reading zero has about 3 litres left.
Total fuel used 650litres and cost $1290.80, engine used 1/2 litr oil and its still clean,radiator never need to be topped up and was still on the same level when leaving home. Engine never got hot and ran like a rocket.
A few minor repairs needed, one rubber front brake rod support snapped off, left window got stiff, rattly door window glass,brakes may need an adjust up (but stayed working great)
A grease and oil and filter change,that’s about it.
I hope you enjoyed my trip, as I sure did. Pics are a field of sorghum,and others from my last day
The 34 needs a good wash and vacuumed out, and dripped this much oil on my drive when home
And an old MG going to Gympie from Cairns on the back of the truck, same year as the 34,but vastly different
Biggest day 525 klm( bad navigation)
Lawrie

[rockfla]

Wow Lawrie, fantastic journey in the ole' 34. By my "rough" American pea brain math.....that's about 16 miles per gallon......NOT bad for a 90 year old car. Glad to see and hear you and the coupe are home safe

[flatford8]

Great travelogue!!......congrats on the safe trip....sorry, I have to ask...what’s an “arvo”?
(Well I got home yesterday “arvo” ,2756 miles)........Thanks......Mark

[Kens 36]

Originally Posted by flatford8

Great travelogue!!......congrats on the safe trip....sorry, I have to ask...what’s an “arvo”?
(Well I got home yesterday “arvo” ,2756 miles)........Thanks......Mark

Mark,

Lawrie is likely sleeping, so I'll add - arvo would be afternoon.

Ken

[flatford8]

Originally Posted by Kens 36

Mark,

Lawrie is likely sleeping, so I'll add - arvo would be afternoon.

Ken

Thanks......Mark

[mercman from oz]

1934 Ford Deluxe Three Window Coupe on display
2024 V8 Nationals - Echuca

[38 coupe]

This has been a great thread to follow. If I had more vacation time and more money I would have loved to attended this meet.