Monday, October 22, 2007

Getting back to our Rootes

Last Sunday morning Kathy and I climbed into a very dirty Dame Zara (the combination of water restrictions and a dark colour makes for a very spotty car after the merest shower) and set off a few hundred metres up the road to Melbourne University to meet up with an assortment of Rootesmobiles—on this occasional all either Sunbeams, Singers or Humbers—who were setting off on an observation run.

Our destination was the historic Point Cook Homestead (est. 1857) south-west of Melbourne, where the Hillman side of the Rootes family was hosting a big display to celebrate their marque’s centenary.

We set off among the numerous Alpines (including one 1954 Alpine that possibly had a Grace Kelly connection!), two Singer Gazelles (including our RGCC friend Helen in her rare station wagon ‘Essie’), a Sunbeam-Talbot or two, a cute pre-war Singer and a big 1940s Humber Snipe on a torturous route through Kensington and Footscray, then into the windy flatlands down Laverton/Hoppers Crossing way.

We were clearly an inner-city bunch, as everyone got progressively more lost the further we headed into the industrial backblocks and suburban developments—led astray mainly by a red Harrington Le Mans Alpine, which we kept seeing coming on the other side of the road. ‘Where’s he going? Are we lost?’ was the cry as the stragglers stopped at each intersection and roundabout.

It was the first really hot (30-degrees-plus) day of the impending summer, and everyone’s windows were down and many an anxious eye was directed at temperature gauges—even the normally cool-running Dame Zara was getting into the middle of her gauge.

Eventually we all got back on track and ended up on the long, dusty, corrugated dirt road that leads to the homestead. At the end of the drive we were greeted with dozens of Hillmans lined up around the open ground between the homestead buildings. Most of the observation run participants aimed for a shady spot under the trees by the water.

Enough words, some pics:
















From top to bottom:

  • Did Grace Kelly once sit behind the big steering wheel of this 1954 Sunbeam Alpine?
  • A racy-looking Singer Gazelle fitted with Alpine wires (I note that it wasn’t just Gussie who had something a bit odd about how her rear wheels fitted under the arches!)
  • Red ones go faster, as the convertible Super Minx and pair of Alpines (including a rare Harrington Le Mans coupe) show
  • Hillmans everywhere! Husky aficionado Neil looks determined to get … somewhere (into the shade, most likely).

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