Unique Cars Australia – September 2019

(Ron) #1

Like us on Facebook
Unique Cars Magazine


GET YOU FIRED UP

YOUR


MAIL
HAVE YOUR SAY!

G
receivesa Unique
Carsprizepack.
Relieveyourstress
withourgoodies.

OFTHEMONTH


LETTER


GeoffffNiNichhollaas

UniqueCarsMailbag
LockedBag12,
Oakleigh,Victoria,3166,
oremail:
uniquecars@bauertrader
.com.au
orFacebookus!
300 wordsmaxplease!


24 TradeUniqueCars.com.au

BEAUT 4X4 FALCON UTE


LET
TER OF

TH

M

O
N
T
H



UN

IQ

UE

CAR
S

In your April issue No: 426 you featured a
Falcon 4X4 ute and the owner Jim Hodges
has said that it was “terrible to drive”.....
and that the top estimated speed was “100
km/h”!
I have owned my ute since 1994 and
can assure you that Jim’s claims are
underestimated. Jim’s ute is a credit to him,
it is absolutely immaculate. I know Jim
personally, and he is meticulous, he has
worked wonders with it, it is a real gem and
this is a credit to him and to his mechanical
ability.
However, my ute looks good from 100
metres and even better one hour after sunset
and well away from street lights!
It is original except for Sunraysia wheels,
Fairlane seat, carpet, sound, paint, stripe,
canopy and an extra fuel tank.
I bought my ute for a farm hack, and have
always loved XYs since they arrived and I
still own a sedan that I bought new.
I have had to remove rust but it has been
very reliable and we have travelled around

Tasmania, all the way to Perth via the
Flinders Ranges, Lake Eyre, Oodnadatta
track, Finke, Chambers Pillar, Arltunga,
Uluru, Kings Canyon, Darwin, Litchfield
National Park, Broome, Port Hedland, Perth
and back across the Nullarbor home. We
have also travelled up the Birdsville track in
mid January (!) and even places like the Blue
Rag track and Wonnangatta Station.
It drives well, not like a modern car
however, but compared to a 1972 Cruiser or
Patrol, it is perfect. It is not good in tight car
parks (turning circle is over 16 metres)
But on the Highway in the Northern
Territory it reached 90mph, so Jim... take
yours for a real spin and blow the cobwebs
from the ports!

GeoffNicholas
NT

ED: No cobwebs on you or your XY,
Geoff. Well done for enjoying putting your
classic Ford through its intended paces.

with

RED MOTOR MEMORIES
Reading Rob’s Red Motor Blues made me aware
of how extraordinarily lucky I must have been.
It also brought back some very happy memories.
The ol’ EH wagon had a permanent bed in the
back where we threw the kids, dog and took
off on long weekends and holidays. Later we
updated to an HK. Both wagons ran 186 engines
which over thousands of miles never let us
down. The HK sitting in Reg Hunt-Rhodes
Chadstone had a high 93,000 miles up and a
chalk mark indicating it had a replacement gear
box. It passed a comp. test with f lying colours,

the price was OK so we bought it and went on
to clock a further 72,000 miles when gudgeon
rattles started to rattle me. Our mechanic,
drag race legend Peter (Rabbit) Clarke said it’s
common and harmless and not to worry. At
this stage the car was working hard hauling
double horse f loats around the state so on
my pressing he rebuilt the engine boring it
out to 192c.i. A few thousand miles later, you
guessed it, the rumbling gudgeons returned
and were still rattling when we traded it
121,000 miles later totalling 287,000 miles
over the 13 years we had it. Like the EH, we
Free download pdf