Our old gals are from 1959 and 1954 respectably. They are significantly older (and probably wiser too, lets be honest!) than we ourselves are! Their age is an important part of what we do. There’s style and aesthetics associated with these vintage vehicles that you obviously won’t find in newer models, and we’re yet to attend a wedding where someone, usually an Uncle or Grandparent, doesn’t have a story about learning to drive on a Bedford or having one on the farm ‘back in the day’.
We love hearing about these vehicles, their important role in Australian history and in these people’s lives but it's not just all the good yarns we've learnt about in our time with our vintage gals, there's a whole lot more. I could probably go on all day but here are just 5 tips we've learnt from working with a vintage vehicle:
1) Allow Extra Time
When we first got our big truck running smoothly, she was slow. I’m talking top of 60k’s an hour kinda slow, holding up the traffic slow. We even sign wrote the back so people would have something nice to look at while they were stuck behind her! We upgraded her motor to a more powerful V8 and while she runs a bit quicker now (80KMs- no worries!) she’s still slow enough to hold up the traffic in the 100km zones.
Google Maps works out distances based on travelling at the speed limit, so we build in extra time, every time.
2) Quirks
A gearbox that hates first, and that little touch of throttle as you turn the key for a cold start- these old gals have got the odd quirk (or two), lets just say that it gives them more personality…
3) Spare Parts
Know anyone with a space door for their vehicle at the back of the shed? How about spare wheel? Spare windscreen? Well you do now!
Spare parts for old vehicles are notoriously hard to come by, so we’ve always got our eyes and ears open for spare parts that might fit our vehicles whether thats through overseas websites, Facebook Groups or specialists.
4) Have your team on side
When you have a vintage vehicle you rely upon to do a specific job, chances are you also have your mechanic, a tow truck and the local auto-electrician on speed dial. Chances are you won’t even need to make the call (only once in 8 years here!) but you know if you don’t have their number to hand, you’ll need it-that’s Murphy’s Law right?
5) Smile and Wave boys
Be prepared to get all the waves and beeps when you’re driving round town in your old beauty-people love old vehicles and they also love letting you know!
Jokes aside though, we appreciate every wave and beep- there’s nothing like knowing that all the hard work you’ve put in on something special is being appreciated by someone else.
Photo with thanks to Jason @TheRawPhotographer
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