The Sydney NRMA Motorfest??
Oh what a day it was it really was, such a day.
The weather was just perfect. The people were as they usually are on such occasions in Sydney,
numerous and in good festive humor.
There were one thousand cars, bikes, buses,
trucks, fire engines, military vehicles lined up
along both sides and in the center of College St., adjacent to Hyde Park, into Macquarie St.
on both sides, down to Bridge St.
There were also three old caravans parked
slap bang in the middle of the performance, about as close to the northern end of Hyde Park as
you could get, prime position, thank you NRMA.
A couple we have not seen on this site (yet)
were first to arrive--John Titcume and his wife
Lynelle in their gorgeous ‘57 Chev had come
up from Bulli with the largest kit built plywood
van on display that day. Lynelle is building up
a business called “Ticko’s Classic Car Tours”
in which she “Designs Motoring Tours for your
Car Club, Small group, Individual members
or Social Clubs”. Sounds to me like it gives
the benefits of a club run without the hassles
of being in a club
.
At the moment she has a tour booked in
March to visit the Wellington Swap Meet and
the Mudgee Wineries (NSW) and has organized a run from Sydney to Adelaide for the Chevrolet
Festival in September 2005. She would love
to do something for Vintage Caravan events,
you can ‘talk’ to her on tickostours@fishinternet.com.au
As Belinda has mentioned, John’s van and
mine, -- “Driftwood”--, were decked out with
“old stuff” where as Belinda & Robert’s van was a
real live living example of how it is still possible
to put these Classic Caravans to good use,
even with a young family.
In all modesty I have to say our three
caravans attracted as much, if not more,
attention than any other vehicle on display.
People were often lined up to have a look inside,
my throat got sore towards the end of the day
from talking to people (not to mention my feet,
I’m an old bloke), and I only coped half the load,
my wife (Cobberet) was there and talked more
than I did, fancy that ?. It was non stop ALL day,
fair dinkum, we hardly had a moment to ourselves
.
As 5.00 o’clock approached and I got in
the van to secure the items I had on display,
folk were still looking into the van and asking
questions, mostly the same ones I had been
answering all day, and as I put the old FJ into
first gear and let out the clutch people were still
looking in the windows. It really was an incredible day
. And it was not as though
there was nothing else to look at.
Both Belinda and I had notices promoting
this web site stuck on our vans. Many people
I spoke with had recently acquired old vans
and others wanted to know where they could
get hold of ‘em, I advised them all to get onto
this site and POST.
As for photos---old bloke, old car, old van, old
camera--ya gotta wait till I get the film developed,
I’ll do it as soon as my feet get better.
Cobber.
;D
Here are a few photos taken on the day.
This is the line up at 7.00am Belinda, Cobber, and John in the Chev up front.
We had to be on site by 7.00am so the shadows are still long.
The lull before the storm.
Just a trickle.
Still very early, but the people gather.
And this is how it was for the rest of the day
Belinda and Roberts pride and joy.
Robert and Lynelle's rig took up a lot of room,
This is half the old stuff in Cobbers van
that brought back memories to so many people.
It was surprising how many people had spent
their Honeymoon in "a van just like that".
All for now,
Cobber.