Well I've nearly finished moving sheds, I should stay home and finish the move but I have to go and see my parts truck which is at a flyspeck little town waaaaaay out west called Coolabah (New South Wales, Oz). Its roughly 800 Kilometres (about 500miles) from where I live on the Central Coast (New South Wales, Oz).

I'm leaving tomorrow night loaded with two wheels for the front, and an axle and wheels to get the tail off the ground. I have to make it a rolling model so the transport company will move it for me.

Why not hire a trailer and drag it home myself? Well a number of reasons, trying to get a hire trailer where the wheels point in the same direction, have round tyres/wheels, have brakes that work properly, that will hold together for a 1600 kilometres(around 1000miles) round trip is a challenge in itself. You can't tell I've had grief with Hire trailers before...

I have to do this when I have the free time, which means weekends and I can't see me doing the trip towing a trailer in a weekend.

I could have towed it with the Ol'girl but the 351 clevo lost the head gaskets and dropped a piston or two (at the garbage dump if you please). Also fuel in the burbs is $1.45 and in the country around $1.50 a litre (thats Australian pesos') The Ol'girl would go through 25 to 28 litres per 100 kilometres (laden/ unladen didn't matter). Thats 448 litres give or take and around $672.00 in aussie peso's. My aussie Ford EA Falcon (3.9l I6 5spd wagon) does around 9 litres to the 100 Kilometres so thats gonna cost me around $250

Car carrier is around $500 door to door as long as Im not in a hurry to get it (which Im not for the moment).

I'll try to get some photos of the wide brown land that is Oz while I'm away and post them up .

Is it worth it? She (who must be obeyed...) has asked me this question about 30 times in the past week, I say yes, its one of the last rust free 74/78 cabs in existance, also doors, guards and it has an Alloy tray, which is also on my wish list. All I need to finish the panels for my Ol'girl is a nice bonnet, but I might reskin my old one in fibreglass.

Basically this weekend is the official start to project "Ol'girl Makeover". Its the joy of tinkering with older vehicles, you get to see a lot of countryside.

Where was I going with this? Well how far have you gone to get "That" part for your truck, and what arguements have you used to justify your expeditions?

I thought it might be fun to see what other people have done/are doing to keep their truck on the road.

 

Wow - great story, the ol'girl looks like she is worth it.

 

Um I'm gonna try to puts some links here to the gallery where the Ol'girl and the Spares truck are hiding.

The Ol'girl as she sits.




Here is the spares truck currently waaay out past the bush but just in front of Bourke. (lol)




Just writing this, before I leave for Coolabah.

More photos when I get back on Sunday (Oz time)

 

Went for the trip, put the boat axle under the back, now waiting on the transport company to pick it up and bring it home for me.

I've been way too busy at work to do anything else.

Can't wait to get it here so I can start work on it..

Am I the only crazy person to have hunted far and wide for bits for my projects?

 

Very cool story! Can't wait to see her home safe!

 

I'm now on Plan B, as I can't get a transport company interested in moving my parts truck for me.

Wish I'd taken a car trailer with me when i went out there in the first place, coz I'd be half way through my rebuild by now.

I'll keep y'all posted.

Now to explain to she who must be obeyed that I gotta do another 1400km trip.....

 

I find flowers, chocolate and money for (another) new handbag always works well

 

Well I am always driving round the country for bits and pieces, the FURTHEST I have ever driven was from Melbourne to Rockhampton (2500 klm) and back to pick up a rare after market Dealership Fitted "Flash" kit for my Old Holden - and would gladly do it again tomorrow for the same again! LOL
Drove to Sydney (1000 klm) last week (in the F100) to pick up a donor ute for another project, and have my eye on another in Brisbane (1900 klm) in a couple of weeks!
Cheers
Matt
P.S. if any Aussies find EK Holden's floating round anywhere let me know! lol

 

A great line.

"She, who must be obeyed" is from Rumpole of the Bailey. The show starred the late Australian born actor Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a quirky barrister. Produced in England, it ran on US PBS stations about 25 years ago.

 

If you can get a rotary orbital sander that runs on a compressor (for all I know, you call THAT a spindizzy too...) you can blast much of the rust off of that hood, and then see if you can cut it back and apply fiberglass to it somehow.

So long as you eliminate all the rust at the points where adhesion must be sure, I can't see why you could not build it back up in that way....

Plastics are fairly easy to work with though pricey to waste if you don't have a method that works.

Best I suppose is to cut away three inches from the last signs of rust, and weld in sheet. Then grind off the weld scars on the outside.

SO.... Who has a trailer that might be borrowed, as they have no use for it just now? And don't forget a winch of some kind!

Never forget your neighbors - the best of them are never for hire, but are friends. A great deal of trade happens that way in TENNESSEE, USA.

"Toughest thing I ever learned turned out to be four letters: "HELP" I just didn't know how to say it, or where "

My neighbors here loan me a trailer whenever I need one, and I in turn help keep their trailers up.

 

Hello From the US . Its not how far but how bad you want it. I drove over 600 miles to get a truck sight unseen that needed a motor . what I got was a original paint super clean truck for less the a different bed Back here ($1000 US) . I look at it as a vacation (holiday) . Good luck on build my first truck was a 79 4x4 . Later

 

I drove about 2650kms from Mount Isa in NW Queensland to Bealiba in Central Victoria to pick up my 55 F600. Then put another 7-800 kms on the Cruiser chasing bits and pieces to get the old 55 drivable, before driving it the 2650kms back to Mount Isa.

It was a great adventure, but not one I'm keen to take on again in the near future.

I'm sure the finished product will be worth it in the end.