This is what happens when all the holes in the cheese line up.
In my quest to bring you exciting & unusual Pre-WWll Vintage motor vehicles to our annual show I am very fortunate to meet many enthusiast car owners that have the most extraordinary vehicles parked in their sheds. This week was one of those occasions, however, the story that I am about to tell you will blow your socks off as it did mine.
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a fellow that I used to fly with at Qantas. His name is Ben Powell, he wanted to know if he could enter his 1948 Riley Special into this year's Pre-WWll Vintage Car Show, this vehicle was built by his father (Ray Powell) way back when. Unfortunately I could not accept his entry because Ben's beautiful Riley Special was not built before WWll.
In my quest to bring you exciting & unusual Pre-WWll Vintage motor vehicles to our annual show I am very fortunate to meet many enthusiast car owners that have the most extraordinary vehicles parked in their sheds. This week was one of those occasions, however, the story that I am about to tell you will blow your socks off as it did mine.
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a fellow that I used to fly with at Qantas. His name is Ben Powell, he wanted to know if he could enter his 1948 Riley Special into this year's Pre-WWll Vintage Car Show, this vehicle was built by his father (Ray Powell) way back when. Unfortunately I could not accept his entry because Ben's beautiful Riley Special was not built before WWll.
I have not seen Ben for at least 16-years since we both hung up our wings working as Trolly Dolly's for Qantas Airways. We got a chat on, as you do when you haven't seen someone for all those years. He mentioned that he will be attending & driving his magnificent 1948 Riley Special at the "All Historic Racing" meet at Pheasant Wood Race Circuit at Marulan, NSW, on Saturday the 29th January '22.
Greg & I exchanged a few emails to & fro. I mentioned that I would be coming down to his neck of the woods on Saturday the 29th January to watch my long lost flying mate drive his 1948 Riley Special in the Historic Races at Steve Shelley's race track at Marulan. Greg said, why don't you come to my residence first in Mittagong, you can leave your car at my place & I will drive us to the circuit which is approximately 40-minutes from my place & we can have a good old chinwag on the way. How could you knock back an offer like that when we hadn't seen each other for 60-years.
Everything went to plan, I arrived at Greg's residence in Mittagong at 9:00am Saturday morning. I must be totally honest with you that I did not recognise him nor him me. The only thing that we remembered about each other was our names. One cannot forget it has been 60-years since we have seen each other & a hell of a lot of water has passed under the bridge in that time, trust me. What a blast that was, we caught up with each other's lives. This has never happened to me before, where on earth do you meet up with someone you haven't seen for 60-years. Usually one or the other is pushing up daisies, if you get my drift.
We finally arrived at the circuit in Marulan, Ben was there playing with his 1948 Riley Special to make sure his "baby" was road worthy because he was just about to hit the track for a run. You wouldn't believe it, I also bumped into another old Trolly Dolly friend of ours, a chap by the name of Ron Reyn, he is also from the Shire & is interested in Historic Car racing. I thought to myself Wow! What an opportunity for a great photograph (below).
It was now time for Ben to hit the asphalt to show us his worth, unfortunately his car threw a wobbly & lost a rear right wheel, so that was the end of the day for Ben. As the professional motor racing drivers say; "that is motor racing".
Greg & myself stayed at the circuit for a few more hours & then it was time to head back to his place in Mittagong for a Ham & Cheese Roll washed down with three cups of Bushells Tea. Now for the money end of this beautiful story.
I was chomping at the bit for Greg to show me his "few old cars" as he had mentioned in his first email to me. After lunch he took me out to his shed. You could have knocked me over with a feather when he opened his shed door. Inside his shed he had four absolutely mind blowing very, very rare sensational motor vehicles. Where do I begin to start telling you about them, what I will do is let the photographs tell you the story.
My favorite vehicle (I think) is his 1924 Lancia Lambda, closely followed by the 1923-60 Vauxhall still shod with it's original NSW number plates (39-988), then there is the magnificent specimen of his British 1938 4/4 Morgan. It's '4-4' designation stood for four wheels and four cylinders.
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The boys and myself at Pheasant Wood Race Circuit, Marulan, NSW |
Immediately my ears pricked up because my neighbor Steve Shelley who lives here on the Insular Peninsular at Burraneer just happens to own this race circuit & I have heard so much about it I really wanted to check out the circuit for myself. This would be the ideal opportunity for me to take a leisurely 2-hour drive south from the ‘Shire’ to meet up with Ben once again after all those years to watch him race his Riley Special & take a bird's eye view of the circuit for myself.
Now this is where the story starts to get exciting & all the holes in the cheese start to line up. Less than 5-days later I just happened to check my emails before retiring for the evening for my beauty sleep & (believe me I definitely need my beauty sleep).
I opened the email & there before me was this magnificent photo of a Vintage Vehicle plus the following message. "I'm just wondering if you are the same Ken Warburton that I knew from the Sutherland Shire Automobile Club back in the early '60s. I now live in Mittagong & have a few old cars including this 1924 Lancia Lambda".
Well I almost fell off my chair, I could not believe what was before my very eyes. This gentleman's name is Greg Mackie & we had not laid eyes on each other for 60-years.
I opened the email & there before me was this magnificent photo of a Vintage Vehicle plus the following message. "I'm just wondering if you are the same Ken Warburton that I knew from the Sutherland Shire Automobile Club back in the early '60s. I now live in Mittagong & have a few old cars including this 1924 Lancia Lambda".
Well I almost fell off my chair, I could not believe what was before my very eyes. This gentleman's name is Greg Mackie & we had not laid eyes on each other for 60-years.
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Greg sitting behind the wheel of his magnificent 1924 Lancia Lambda |
Greg & I exchanged a few emails to & fro. I mentioned that I would be coming down to his neck of the woods on Saturday the 29th January to watch my long lost flying mate drive his 1948 Riley Special in the Historic Races at Steve Shelley's race track at Marulan. Greg said, why don't you come to my residence first in Mittagong, you can leave your car at my place & I will drive us to the circuit which is approximately 40-minutes from my place & we can have a good old chinwag on the way. How could you knock back an offer like that when we hadn't seen each other for 60-years.
Everything went to plan, I arrived at Greg's residence in Mittagong at 9:00am Saturday morning. I must be totally honest with you that I did not recognise him nor him me. The only thing that we remembered about each other was our names. One cannot forget it has been 60-years since we have seen each other & a hell of a lot of water has passed under the bridge in that time, trust me. What a blast that was, we caught up with each other's lives. This has never happened to me before, where on earth do you meet up with someone you haven't seen for 60-years. Usually one or the other is pushing up daisies, if you get my drift.
We finally arrived at the circuit in Marulan, Ben was there playing with his 1948 Riley Special to make sure his "baby" was road worthy because he was just about to hit the track for a run. You wouldn't believe it, I also bumped into another old Trolly Dolly friend of ours, a chap by the name of Ron Reyn, he is also from the Shire & is interested in Historic Car racing. I thought to myself Wow! What an opportunity for a great photograph (below).
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Photo of the four of us outside the official office at the track. LtoR. Yours truly, Ben Powell, Greg Mackie & Ron Reyn. |
It was now time for Ben to hit the asphalt to show us his worth, unfortunately his car threw a wobbly & lost a rear right wheel, so that was the end of the day for Ben. As the professional motor racing drivers say; "that is motor racing".
 |
| Myself & Ben standing beside his very sick 1948 Riley Special without the R/R wheel |
Greg & myself stayed at the circuit for a few more hours & then it was time to head back to his place in Mittagong for a Ham & Cheese Roll washed down with three cups of Bushells Tea. Now for the money end of this beautiful story.
I was chomping at the bit for Greg to show me his "few old cars" as he had mentioned in his first email to me. After lunch he took me out to his shed. You could have knocked me over with a feather when he opened his shed door. Inside his shed he had four absolutely mind blowing very, very rare sensational motor vehicles. Where do I begin to start telling you about them, what I will do is let the photographs tell you the story.
 |
| 1923-60 Vauxhall still shod with it's original NSW number plates (39-988) |
My favorite vehicle (I think) is his 1924 Lancia Lambda, closely followed by the 1923-60 Vauxhall still shod with it's original NSW number plates (39-988), then there is the magnificent specimen of his British 1938 4/4 Morgan. It's '4-4' designation stood for four wheels and four cylinders.
In the background tucked in behind the Morgan you can just see his original black 1958 VW Beetle with only 60,000 miles (96,560 kms) on the clock. If my arithmetic is correct that works out to be 937.5 miles per year or 1,508.75 kms per year over that 64-year period.
Hopefully if all the planets line up on Sunday the 20th March, 2022, Greg will join us at Sutherland to display his 1924 Lancia Lambda in our 6th annual Pre WWll Vintage Car Show. I am so excited I just can't wait.
Hopefully if all the planets line up on Sunday the 20th March, 2022, Greg will join us at Sutherland to display his 1924 Lancia Lambda in our 6th annual Pre WWll Vintage Car Show. I am so excited I just can't wait.
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The magnificent specimen of Greg's 1938 British-built 4/4 Morgan |
What a day, I really had to pinch myself to see if all this was true. By now it was late in the afternoon, Greg had been invited to a party & I had a 2-hour drive back to the Shire.
I arrived home just in time to watch our very own Ash Barty clean up her American opponent Danielle Collins to win this year's Australian Open. I must admit that I was very concerned when Ash was down 5-1 in the second set.
That my friends is all she wrote.
Stay safe & look after each other.
Cheers for now from the "Squire from the Shire".
Warbo.
That my friends is all she wrote.
Stay safe & look after each other.
Cheers for now from the "Squire from the Shire".
Warbo.
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