| Author | Message | ||
     Jeanne Eve |
Eighteen Rolls-Royce and Bentley motor cars will be arriving in Ceduna this afternoon to begin the crossing of the Nullabor: one 20 HP, two Silver Dawns, four Silver Clouds, four Silver Shadows, one Spirit and a dark blue Silver Wraith 11. Bentleys are also well represented with a Bentley Continental, two S3'S, a Mulsanne and a Brooklands. Winding down from Narrandera in NSW, past the slow moving olive - brown Murray river, through the parched wheat plains of Victoria's mallee from where the massive duststorm originated last week and along the south Australian coast with its cobalt blue seas. The sun shines from clear skies and the roada are long and relatively empty.Huge road trains are now on the roads carrying Long Load or Wide Load signs. Visited quaint pubs for lunch, informative historic sites about the pioneering families in this harsh landscape and antique and bric -a -brac shops which yield pre-war grease guns. No serious car mishaps apart from a couple of punctures and general maintenance repairs. All cars are expected to complete the 3000 mile (5000 km.)tripn althought the little 20 HP is struggling with the long daily distances and will probably make its own way to York on a shorter route. Not sure when the next update will be. | ||
| David Gore |
Thanks Jeanne - looking forward to more details when you can access the internet - hopefully your accomodation providors will have facilities for this. Safe motoring and best wishes to the participants. David | ||
| Jeanne Eve |
Hi David, We're all now in Balladonia where there is an internet facility along with a little museum demonstrating the history of this harsh Nullabor - it includes the early camel 'shipping' in this area as well as the fast Redex car trials. Yesterday was a long hot day of over 500 kilometres. Temperatures were thought to have arisen to early 30's in the afternon and several cars were having to check temperature guages. Apparently a fortnight ago it was 48 degrees in the shade! No major mechanical problems apart from minor timing and brake difficulties on a couple of Silver Shadows and the 20hp had a bent accelerator rod - found to have been previously broken but not replaced. Ah -- the responsibilies of former owners!! There has been massive roadkill on the Nullabor announced by the nauseous death smell of a dead roo or emu.All carcasses are gobbled down by greedy crows or haughty wedge-tailed eagles. Occasional wild camel, emu or Major Mitchell parrots. Not much else in this scrubby, red earthed saltbush country. We drove on the 'longest straight road in the world' yesterday .A few people visited Eucla and saw the old historic Telegraph Station which linked west to east Australia. Now overgrown with changing sand dunes. Well, it is time to get breakfast before heading for Norseman where gold was discovered by the horse kicking over a nugget then to head south down to the Western Australian coast line. Until next time, Cheers.Jeanne. | ||
| David Gore |
Greetings to the Overlanders - I was pleased to see no reference to "Helga" suffering heat exhaustion - has Lloyd found the cure at last? I am a little concerned with the number of Shadow problems - perhaps we can find time to look at them at the Registry session on Sunday. My condolences to the 20HP - thank heavens the accelerator linkage was flexible and not rigid - it obviously wasn't expecting the "pedal to the metal" flat out driving conditions on the Nullarbor. I trust the driver received appropriate "recognition" that evening for their achievement!! You are now in a section of Western Australia that is very familiar to me - hope you get the chance to do some fossicking in the Goldfields - the glint you see on the side of the road might be a gold nugget or just another broken Swan Lager/Emu Bitter bottle!!! Bset wishes to everyone - see you in York on Thursday. | ||
| Jeanne Eve |
Hi David, Only two more days before this Overlander ends in York to begin the Federal Rally. However we have all enjoyed a relaxing rest day in Esperance - the coastal town with turquoise seas, white sands and seals and dolphins around the Bay of Isles for we are now in the Recherche Archipelago. Half of the group went off with a few local R-R owners to drive along the spectacular scenic coastal road here. Others wanted a non car day!And over half of us tasted sea salt on a great boat cruise this morning. Don't think Helga had overheating but she must be feeling highly abused because someone broke into her boot last night and stole one camera tripod. The only car touched. You might want to talk about Detroit joints at your technical talk - both of the older Bentleys have/will need attention. The 20hp is going strong but will leave the group tomorrow to pursue a shorter route to York. The latter has suspected oil in the starter motor clutch so it is out with the crankhandle.The workshop at the Balladonia roadhouse welded a sleeve onto the accelerator rod - no worries mate! John B is now here and I am sure he can bring you up to date with the various other minor mechanical hitches which have occurred en route about which I am unaware. I haven't told you yet that our great organizer John H has had to drive across in his 1952 Daimler because his Corniche Convertible was not ready in time. Frustration for him especially with tyres - but it is terrific that he is with us.Been very tiring for him. Great touring weather. The Overlander heads for Albany tomorrow. All the best with your preparations for the Federal Rally. Cheers, Jeanne. | ||
| David Gore |
Thanks Jeanne - your posts have been most welcome and make up for my inability to participate!! Will discuss car problems with J.B. on Thursday - if problems require professional assistance for cars going on the "Valley to Capes Tour" this should be organised immediately without waiting for me especially if parts have to be ordered in. The 20HP has done very well to make the trip and should be proud of its achievement as I would expect trips of this type in our environment were never envisaged by R-R/B when they designed and built this model. Will have a talk to CG about setting up a download facility for digital photos from the Overlander next year to complement posts from the participants. See you all soon. | ||
| RROCA Web Site Administrator |
The facility's already there, David! Here's an image I've uploaded using the \image{My Image} formatting tag:  It's quite easy to do and already available to registered users. Give it a try!  | ||
| RROCA Web Site Administrator |
I should add that any images uploaded should be kept as small as possible. The current limit on image size is 100Kb to ensure that people don't get lumbered with huge downloads they didn't expect. For full images and slide shows, see me and we'll work something out, because that requires more access to the server than I'm usually prepared to allow. | ||
| David Gore (Unregistered Guest) |
Thanks - I agree with the 100Kb limit however this could be a problem for members on the move without access to image editing software as the camera image files are usually much larger [approx 1.6Mb for me] and if the camera allows resizing sufficent memory to hold two sets of files may not be available. I don't think slide shows etc would apply for items such as this - these would apply to library/archive type material and should be subject to editorial review/condensation before posting to avoid excessive demand on the available storage space | ||
| Bill Coburn (Unregistered Guest) |
Can I interfere here about the Detroit joints. I assume these are in S series cars. The only problem these give is seizing through lack of lubrication. Unlike the joints on the back axles of Shadows there is no ready method of getting oil in there. The joint is at the front of the front part of the divided tail shaft. If the joint is seriously damaged the most practical repair is to cut it off and replace it with a standard universal joint. I did this on Eric Goudie's car 20 years ago and there is no problem at all. Any competent workshop can do the job. The danger of seizure is that the whole tail shaft will go into skipping rope mode and rip the cruciform out of the chassis. It has happened! Can I add my thanks for Jean's reporting (a patronising remark - sorry). Between her laptop, Chris Gillings and Telstra we are getting a good idea of the event. Hope all goes well. | ||
| Bill Coburn (Unregistered Guest) |
My apologies to Jeanne. Why have we suddenly become unregistered was it something I ate or said or is my deodorant not working? | ||
| David Gore |
Bill, Is there enough space to get at the standard joints with a grease gun if they are used as replacements? I presume you install a new joint with a grease nipple rather than using "sealed for life" universals ["sealed for life" - a lucrative trick by the manufacturer to increase sales of replacement joints!!] | ||
| Bill Coburn |
Yes they are quite accessable. I shudder to think of the cost of a replacement these days. The universals on these cars by the way are starting to loosen up. I have a Cloud III about to have a new set. I will write something up when I do that car's Detroit Joint. | ||
| David Gore |
Hot off the Press from an intrepid "on-the-spot" reporter - all cars arrived safely in York this afternoon to be greeted by a gathering of the locals pleased to see a group of enthusiasts who travelled from one side of the continent to the other. No doubt Jeanne will be able to post more information however I do want to know how the 20HP could sustain continuous speeds of 80Km/hr + and not lose to much ground to the faster and more powerful cars for the entire trip. | ||
| Jeanne Eve |
Hi David, Only a quick note as I am about to shower after helping clean up the 20HP for Concours condition!! A bit of fun on our part as this really is a full blown touring car. Then am off to the Federal Delegates' meeting so will give a larger report on the 20hp tomorrow morning. Suffice to say that the car has been terrific and essentially we sat on 45mph depending on road conditions. The thin tyres pick up every rut and corrugation. The trick to arriving around 4pm each day is to set off really early in the morning just after daybreak. Psychologically much easier to cover the miles by lunch time and of course it was cooler. Not to mention the freshness of the drivers' enthusiasm. A cool light beer in the evening was terrific. The excitement of a Federal rally is begining as we meet up with participants from Tasmania to Perth in sunny historic York where every building seems to be circa 1830's ! Cheers, Jeanne. | ||
| Rick Ford |
All ! A fine report and Forum responses. The 20hp needs all sympathy but the early ones were very underestimated. Anyone interested might try: http://web.onetel.com/~26longland/GAJ73colll.jpg Not Nullabor but Savernake Forest, Wiltshire. Obviously an idiosyncratic Caravan owner with a fine eye for line and headlamp quality. | ||
| Rick Ford |
ChrisG. My previous posting re. 20hp is an alternative, and quicker, way of giving access on the Forum to Photos. The download time from the web is fast and limited personal website space is readily available. Grab the space, upload your images then insert the Hyperlink in your message. Nice 'talking' again. Rick Ford. PS. Are you looking after Tom Clarke? | ||
| Chris Gillings Moderator Username: chrisg Post Number: 2 Registered: 5-2001 |
I must admit I quite like the idea of hosting images offsite. It saves on our storage and - most important to my philosophy - gives visitors the choice of downloading an image voluntarily rather than forcing them to when they innocently click on a topic thread. So by all means use such services, folks. A small tip: when entering a URL, use the \newurl formatting tag rather than the \link tag. It means you can just delete the image window when you're done rather than clicking the "Back" button. Tom Clarke was in York and to my eye he looked to be having a great time, as did one and all. |
