my ride

[slatgrille]

Couple pics of where I started to where I am now on my '29 homemade RPU. One pic with my son and my cousin as it was transferred to me. In the process now of adding the rear fenders.

Craig

[slatgrille]

more pics....

[nkaminar]

Nice. This will be a good driver. Unique. Enjoy.

[katy]

Looking goood.

[Chuck Dempsey]

Slick! Was it a roadster originally?

[slatgrille]

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I'm not so sure because I had to modify the sub-rails to get the back cab to fit. My cousin told me, 'Dad was making this a '29 roadster pick-up', where he had already created a wooden bed. From there, I used what he started fabricating to make the wooden cab parts as he might have done. I'm sure he was going to make wooden rear fenders too, but I'm not that creative and wanted a bit more originality to it. He did make wooden 'spacers' for the rear fenders against the bed, I just need to modify them to work with original steel fenders.

The only repro body parts are the running boards, aprons, rear cab panel, seat riser/floor, and wooden floor boards as well as the windshield frame.

Thanks for everyone's reply's.

Craig

[woofa.express]

Why did you put the steering wheel on the left?

[slatgrille]

.....um, because it's an American made car....lol. Does it look like something that could be traversing the outback? A UTE as you call it....

Craig

[woofa.express]

[QUOTE=slatgrille;2154503].....um, because it's an American made car....lol. Does it look like something that could be traversing the outback? A UTE as you call it...Craig[/QUOTE

Hi Craig. I was slow to answer, please pardon me. Traveling through the outback with my Toyota ute is better. It has a covered tray (you will call a bed) in which we take our gear such as clothing, food, fridge, gas cooking gear, creature comforts and bedding. A plywood floor on the right side folds down to a king size space on which we (Patsy and I) each have a single mattress. It’s comfortable and there is many miles of near roadside to camp and cook. This is quite an affordable holiday (which you will call a vacation). Compare this to traveling in my A ute (which you call a pickup). Now what did Henry Higgins say?
I told this forum some time 3 stories some time ago. I’ll dig them out again, just for your enjoyment and entertainment. I’ll post this now followed by the stories shortly. Cheers, gary

[woofa.express]

History of Woofa Express, 1928 Model A.

It was a proud ute painted “British Racing Green”, a custom paint job by the Australian distributor of Ford’s and purchased by the Hadden Fig Grazing Company northwest of Dubbo NSW. When hard times fell on the grazing industry it was sold to a wealthy prospector at Lightning Ridge by the name of “Precious” after a particularly valuable opal he had once found. Precious used it mainly to drive around Lightning Ridge simply to show off but he did drive to Dubbo, 220 miles to the south, each Friday to pickup the town’s mail. This service continued until the early 50’s when aeroplanes entered service to outback areas.
It did have one very famous incident. It was used as a hearse in Coonabarabran to carry the body of their famous son to its final resting place. Sir Sydney Ogden, V.C.(Victoria Cross) and M.G. (Medal for Gallantry).
Not a great deal is known about it after the hearse incident except it was parked beneath a pepper tree for years. I bought it from a Sydney gentleman, and yes he was a gentleman, by the name of Vern Blackwell and I had it restored. That was about 2000. I love it and I reckons it’s pretty fond of me too

[woofa.express]

Ute History #3.

I purchased this ute from an elderly Sydney gentleman by the name of Vern Blackwell. Mr Blackwell started the restoration but it grew stale when he developed an interest in fast racing yachts. I purchased it from him in 2005.
Mr Blackwell found the bones of this vehicle whilst camel trekking across the Simpson Desert in the north of South Australia and later retrieved it with a 4 wheel drive ex military truck.
The ute had a colourful history. It was owned by a grazier on the north side of Menindee in NSW by the name of Percy Periwinkle. Mr Periwinkle and indeed the ute received considerable publicity in the 40’s when the publican at Menindee, Dizzy Day had a severe heart attack. The local airstrip was too wet for the Flying Doctor to land and transport Dizzy to hospital. Dizzy was made as comfortable as it was possible in the tub (bed) for the ride over a gravel road to the Broken Hill hospital. Dizzy’s wife May went with him but she was much more comfortable in cab. The incident received considerable publicity because both Percy and Dizzy were well known and popular throughout the outback. Dizzy did survive.
The ute had a sad ending. It was stolen by a infamous couple who were known to be in the area at the time. Mr Blackwell found it on the Strzelecki track some 60 years later. The dingos the crows and ants had dined off the bodies of the couple until only the skeletons were left. The couple were well known for their antics and their names. He, Bundy, named after the famous “Bundaberg Rum” and she a German expat named Heidi or Heid for short. It is said an American couple who plundered and killed in Louisiana were named after them.
Well now the ute has a charmed life. It hardly goes out in the rain and that is because it doesn’t rain much. I keep it in my garage next to my town car, a VW. They have difficulty with language but they tolerate each other. I’ve never thought about it before but one could call the VW “the cabbage” and the A “coca cola” representing their respective countries of origin. No, just joking, the A will always be Woofa.Express. Both Woofa and Woofa.Express pictured below in one shot. Olive in the background.

[mercman from oz]

Is this a Photo of Woofa minding the Express? woofa.express

[woofa.express]

From the pen of Bernard the wine maker who entered the vehicle in the Deni Ute Muster with the following story. The ute took first prize in the antique section. The ute is pictured as my avatar or what ever it is called.


1928 A Model.


Originally a family car, then converted to a ute which was used by a plumber working on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The vehicle then played a major part in the activities on a farm on the outskirts of Sydney, used for cutting wood, when the rear wheel used as a pulley to run a belt to the saw.
Its first life had ceased under a blackberry bush in the fifties.
Then restoration had began by Mr Norm Smith of Parramatta, but due poor health had not completed it.

The ute was purchased after I had placed a wanted advertisement for a small commercial vehicle under restoration.

The restoration was completed in 2000