“T” Minus 8 weeks. Sylvanvale Pre - WWll Vintage Car Show.

Hello again everyone from the engine room here in 2230 in the Sutherland Shire,

We are now down to the pointy end of our car show preparations.

Please check out our flyer, it will help you with further information about our spectacular event.

I suggest that you browse through the flyer because it gives you some information and also my contact details if required 24/7.

For all of you that have not had the pleasure and excitement to join us in this unique event previously l will forward a map to help you find the entrance point to the Sutherland Council Car Park, Flora Street Sutherland as we draw closer to the BIG day in September.

Photo of Paul Shaw’s ‘Barn Find’ 1924 Graham Brothers 4 door sedan Dodge Tourer (Survivor) that took all before it at our last event in 2022.

By now most of you are aware of “Sheila” yours truly’s 1931 Modal A Ford slant window 4 door all metal Town Sedan.

“Sheila”  has just arrived back here in Sydney after a 19 year Hiatus in American. I have owned this very well travelled Classic Vehicle for 13 years in the States, having driven her all over America ( North, south east and west) clocking up well over 50,000 miles or 80,500 kilometres on my various trips to the States.

The photo below shows us picking “Sheila” up from the Warehouse recently after her long voyage across the Pacific Ocean from Los Angeles to Sydney.

You will be able to touch, smell and feel her at this years Sylvanvale Pre WWll Vintage Car show to be held on 17th September ‘23 in Sutherland.

As a bonus for a small donation of $5.00 you will be able to have your photograph taken sitting inside “Sheila” on the bitumen in the car park. All proceeds from our event go to Sylvanvale residents to help them transition into their brand new Specialist Disability Accommodation in lllawong.

There will also be other Classic vehicles on display that you will be given this rare Photo opportunity to experience.

For instance check out Bill and Robyn Betts (very rare) 1908 Renault (see photo below) how good does this look with these kids in period dress, and all it cost is a donation of $5.00 to a very good cause for people less fortunate than ourselves.

Please jot down the date in your diaries, Sunday 17th September ‘23 to be held in the Sutherland Shire Car Park. Flora Street Sutherland.

Our Sylvanvale Pre-WWll Vintage Car Show is truly Sutherland Shires premium annual community event for all the family to enjoy, especially the kids.

C.U. all there in Sutherland on Sunday 17th September ‘23.

Stay safe.

Cheers for now.

Ken Warburton.  

(Event organiser and Custodian of this truly magnificent and unique event.)

‘55-‘56-‘57 Chevrolet Club’s 50th Anniversary Dinner

Hello again everyone,

Reporting live from the Renoir Ballroom, Conca D’oro.   Riverwood N.S.W.

Last Friday evening 118 of us lucky ‘55-‘56-‘57 Chevrolet Club of Australia members and friends celebrated in fine style our 50th Anniversary at this magnificent venue here in Riverwood N.S.W.

Check out our commemorative 50th anniversary cake.

As you can see in the photo (above) they are replicas of the mighty 

‘55-‘56-‘57 Chevy’s in 3 separate cakes to be devoured later in the evening once all the formalities were over. Who ever was responsible and went to all this trouble to design and create these 3 masterpieces it was well worth while, because let me tell you from the horses mouth, they were scrumptious.

First of all I would like to thank the organising committee from the Club that worked so hard to make our evening the success it was. Their choice of venue was superb.

Conca D’oro went above and beyond to make our 50th Anniversary so special. Nothing we asked for was too hard and they made us feel so relaxed about the whole process. The food, service and all the workers made our night so special.

Not too shabby for a bunch of Chevy enthusiasts, punching way above our weight

John McCoy-Lancaster was our illustrious Emcee for the evening, John is one of our long term ‘55-‘56’-‘57 club members and made sure the evening kept moving right along.

I am the new kid on the block, I have only been a club member of the ‘55-‘56’-57 Chevy Club since 2018 and was fascinated listening to the various tales that were being told by ex Club Presidents and  long term members ranging back to 1974 when we were all young, good looking and without a care in the world.

Parked outside the Conca D’oro Renoir Ballroom on Belmore Road in Riverwood we parked John Fenato’s ( present Club President) ‘55 Chevy 2 door Bel Air and yours truly’s ‘57 Chevy 2 door Bel Air to give the suburb  some real class for the evening. 

Believe you me there were plenty of onlookers and spectators taking multiple photos of our 2 Classic Chevy’s parked by the curb as they wandered down the footpath outside the Conca D’oro Renoir Ballroom. (see photo below)

How brilliant do our 2 Chevy’s look parked outside Conca D’oro for the evening.

These evening make it all worth while, belonging to a Car Club where you can meet up with people that share similar interests as yourself. The car fraternity are a wonderful bunch of people and always willing to give you a willing hand when you need that extra bit of information that you can’t get out of a catalogue.

Friday nights ‘55-‘56-‘57 Chevrolet Clubs 50th Anniversary Celebrations was a night to be cherished.

Thanks for the memories.

Stay safe, and look after each other.

Regards

Ken Warburton. ( very proud owner of a ‘57 Chevrolet 2 door Bel Air, and loving it)

“Sheila” introduced to the Wednesday Wanderers.

Hello fellow Petrol Heads,

Now that my 1931 Model A Ford slant window (all metal) 4 door Town Sedan has arrived back on terra firma here in Sydney after a 19 years hiatus in America I welcomed the old girl back to Australia with a visit to the (under construction) Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport.

“Sheila” about to visit our new Western Sydney international Airport.

Along with another 28 enthusiastic Model A Ford Club member we visited the (under construction) Airport, however before we all ventured out to the Airport we all met at the very impressive Kemp’s Creek Bowling Club for lunch (see photo below).

Happy little Vegemite’s waiting for lunch at the Kemp’s Creek Bowlo Club.

Being a retired Trolly-Dolly with 34 years service flying for Qantas International Airways out of Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport I was very keen to see how our Government is about to spend $11 Billion of our hard earn’t tax payer dollars to build the Western Sydney International Airport. 

Our new Airport will be a State-of-the-Art piece of infrastructure, planned and designed with 21st Century thinking.

The new Airport is located 44 kms or 27 miles west of the Sydney CBD. The Airport has been named after Nancy-Bird-Walton, a female aviator pioneer in Australia who trained female pilots in World War ll.

Artist’ impression of the new Airport that is due to open in 2026.

The airport will open initially in 2026 with a single runway and facilities to cater for up to 5 million International and Domestic passengers. By 2031 the Airport will feature a dual-parallel 3,700 mtrs or 2.3 mile runway, 60 mts or 200ft wide system, allowing the Airport to handle approximately 80 million passengers per annum by 2050.

It is fantastic to see that eventually our new Airport is well on the way. Various National Governments have been procrastinating for well over 35 years to bite the bullet and finally make the decision to go ahead with this wonderful initiative to eventually bring another International Airport to Sydney that will take us into the 22nd Century, not before time.

I will be looking forward to my 1st departure flight from Nancy-Bird-Walton International Airport in late 2026, I never thought that I would live long enough to see that day.

Hope that every one is well and looking forward to the future.

Cheers for now from the “Trolly-Dolly”

T - Minus 3 Months. Sylvanvale Pre-WWll Vintage Car Show. Sunday 17th Sept.

 

Hello again from the engine room of our very well oiled organising committee here in the “Shire”. 

Our team have their noses to the grindstone now with less than 3 months before we hit the bitumen in the Sutherland Shire Council Car Park in Flora Street which is only a stones throw away from Sutherland Train Station.

Now that we are entering the final straight I must remind our participants, volunteers, car clubs, sponsors, vendors to make sure that you have Sunday 17th September ‘23  all locked away in your diaries for another spectacular array of more than 100 vintage cars, food stalls and raffles, it’s always a fantastic day out.

Our Sylvanvale Pre - WWll Vintage  Car Show will once again be taking place at the Flora St Car Park, Sutherland.  Supported by Sutherland Shire Council, it is one of Sutherland Shire’s largest and most popular community events on the annual calendar.

Huge crowds, in excess of 5,000 people -  as well as the extensive media coverage that this event attracts - makes this the perfect way to showcase your Vintage Classic vehicles to an ever hungry audience.

All funds raised will make a difference to the lives of our residents moving into their brand new Specialised Disability Accommodation in IIIawong.

Finally I would like to personally thank and encourage everyone involved in our spectacular community event that include, Vintage and Classic vehicle owners, car clubs, sponsors, Sutherland Shire Council, Qantas volunteers, food stalls, Sylvanvale staff that we are all  “Striving to change peoples lives”.

Don’t ever think that you can’t make a difference in this world.

Please do not hesitate to contact me via email  warbo47@gmail.com  or call me on 0438 692 737.  24/7 if you want further information

Thank you to everyone involved.

Yours sincerely 

Ken Warburton.

N.B. Event organised and Custodian of this very special event.

Roadtrip to Collarenebri in the Clanger PART 2

 On Friday evening we decided to have dinner at the Collarenebri Hotel, now that was a blast as you can see by the photo that I took in the Public Bar with the locals enjoying their schooners after a hard days work on the land, check out the guys at the bar with their well worn Akubra Hats, not like our Prime Ministers one that he swans around in if he ever ventures west of the Dividing Ranges. 

Local Cockies enjoying a few schooners in the public bar at the refurbished Collarenebri Hotel after a hard day on the land.

Saturday morning Farmer John & myself drove our cars to a Show & Shine outside Colli Pub (see photo) to help raise much needed funds for Cancer research.

Farmer Johns 1923 20 H.P. Yellow Roller & my 1931 Model A Ford parked outside the “Colli” pub  for a Show & Shine to raise funds for Cancer research. We raised just over $1,000.00 on the Saturday morning.

Saturday afternoon I asked Farmer John if we could display our vintage cars back at the entrance to “MUNARGO” homestead because I wanted to have a photo memory of my excursion to Collarenebri.

Our vintage cars on display at the entrance to Farmer Johns homestead.  1) 1923 Yellow R/R 20 H.P. (76A7 Chassis). 2) 1929 Model A Ford Roadster (white). 3) 1931 Model A Ford 2 door Delux Tudor sedan. (Burgundy). 4) 1936 Baby Rolls 20/25 H.P.  (Gun metal grey).

Finally, Farmer John took me out to where the cockies store their cotton before it gets shipped off to the markets to be sold & shipped all over the world. 

I particularly like this photograph because it gives you an idea of how large this area is, especially with my Model A Ford parked in front of these storage fields, the cotton piles goes as far as the eye can see.

Model A Ford parked in front of the Cotton Storage facilities to show you the enormity of the cotton bales waiting to be sold & shipped out all over the world.

Statistics that you may find interesting on my road trip to Collarenebri & safe return to the “Shire” 2230 this week.

• Round trip.  1,630 kms. or 1,030 mi. 
• Petrol used in Imperial Gallons & Litres. 
• 68.16 gallons. 
• 257.37 Litres. 
• M.P.G. = 14.86. 
• Litres per 100 kms = 15.97. 
• Cost of Petrol on round trip . = $529.00. 
• Average Cost = $2.05 per Litre. 
• Average Cost = $7.76 per Gallon. 

Very expensive way to travel in my 1931 Model A Ford. Staff travel sure is looking good for this retired “Trolly Dolly”. 

• Population of Collarenebri = 650 punters. 
• The Barwon River is 700kms or 430 mi. Iong. 
• Barwon River is an Australian Aboriginal name meaning. Great, wide, awful river of muddy water. 
• One year ago the Grazier were selling their cattle for $2,500 a head, now they receive only $1,500 a head. 
• One year ago the Grazier were selling their sheep for $235 a head on farm for Iarge Ewes, now they receive only $135 a head for their Ewes. 

What I want to know is WHY are we still paying $40.00 a kilo for Lamb cutlets at the Butchers shop??? We are getting screwed big time, I suppose the authorities blame Covid Iike they do for everything else that happens in this crazy world. You don’t hear about these rip offs in the Fake News media or from the slack Politicians in Canberra, do we. 

The same story can belong to the prices we are paying for our beef. Makes me sick to the stomach how the little man in the street is always being screwed big time. It is not until you go away like I have this week to find out what is really going on here in Australia with meat prices. 

Now that I have had my bitch I should get on with publishing this blog to all my loyal followers. 

Certainly hope that you all have enjoyed reading this particular story of the “Country Squires”  trip to the Aussie bush & beyond. 

Hot news off the press, just released today. “Sheila” has arrived here in Sydney, isn’t that exciting news. My Shipper informs me that hopefully I can pick it up from the wharves at the end of next week, all going well. 

Stay tuned for another blog about the arrival of “Sheila” soon. 

Last but not least, I must remind you all of our Annual Sylvanvale Pre WWll Vintage car show to be held in Sutherland on Sunday 17th of September. You will be able to touch, smell & see “Sheila” one of the most traveled 1931 Model A Fords Town Sedans in the world in all her glory. 

Looking forward to looking back. 

Stay safe & look after each other. 

Warbo.