Okay!
Straight in to it!
First, we had to move the original Minor from it's place of stagnation, up to the farm.
Note the Learner plates on the truck...
Then, it was a quick 2 hours from Brisbane to our farm property, where we dropped the Minor off, thieved a battery from a ride-on mower, a high-lift jack, and some fuel. And then a long drive up to Rockhampton to check in to our hotel for the evening... at 11:45pm. We'd called ahead and gotten them to leave us a 6-pack in the room, though.
Then, another early start and four hours later we were presented with this:
Turns out it was the gold one with the Toyota running gear, the brown one has a 948cc I think, same as mine had. We tried to get them running to roll them out, but while we got the brown one kicking over, it wouldn't hold idle, and we decided to call the tractor in to drag them out of their mud ruts.
Got them all lined up ready to throw them on the back of the truck, and then fart-assed around getting them on in some semblance of secure manner. Took us four hours to get everything loaded up, and in the end it looked like this:
Brown one went up first, on to some car ramps on chocks to push the nose through the headboard on the tray, then we let the rear tyres down and pumped up the fronts to get as much rake as we could. Then the yellow one was dragged up on to ramps behind it, but we realised it wasn't far enough on to the tray, so instead it was dragged up the ramps on to some bessa blocks which gave us sort of enough clearance over the back of the brown one.
Then we dragged the black one bodily over drawbar of the trailer using the tractor and a few blocks of wood. This highlighted the semi-detached nature of the floorpan on the black car! Once we got it in to position, we looked at the clearance of the ramps of the tray vs. the boot of the black car. It was... minimal. The ramps had maybe 200mm of swing before they started pushing through the back of the car. We couldn't put the ramps up further due to the yellow one being so far back on the tray. So a decision was made to abandon the black car, as it was the worst of the lot. However, after a bit of effort on the tractors part, the black car proved that it was there to stay, as we couldn't get it off the trailer again! So a compromise was had. We jacked up the yellow car at the rear using the high-lift jack (I knew it would come in handy!), and stacked 3 tyres per side underneath.
This gave us enough height at the back to lift the ramps up and get clearance on the black car, so win!
Then we dragged the gold one up on to the back, jacked it up and stacked tyres underneath it so that it wouldn't be dragging along behind us!
Everything was strapped down tightly, and then we were off! But not before I took some photos of the other tat lying around.
Some old (apparently Ford) sedan:
Something old enough to have wooden wheels, but not much else:
Another Minor in decay:
Apparently there was another one that had pretty much collapsed in to the ground at the back of the shed, but I didn't notice it in my slightly stressed state.
Nice old Wolseley:
Would have been great to have a bit more time to take some more photos but we were running pretty short on time! By this stage, it was going on 4:30pm and we still had to make it back to at least Rockhampton, so off we trundled for another 4 hour drive back the way we came. So long, Mackay!
On we drove for a few hours, grabbed some fuel, and double checked the straps. The (super)cheap rope we'd tied the tailgate on the truck up with must have snapped just as we pulled up, as there was only a few scuff marks and dents where it had landed... So we used bigger straps, and off we went again!
Made it back to the hotel a few minutes after the kitchen closed at 9pm, but cunningly, we'd called ahead and asked them to make us 3 of the best rump steaks in town before they closed it down, and as soon as we arrived, we were tucking in to them.
Which was a good thing as all we'd had time for that day was a Chico Roll or two and a bunch of beef jerky!
Next morning, we made sure everything was still secure, found 6 fist-sized green tree frogs hiding in the door of the black car, and then crept out of town before the police could decide that we were worth talking to! It was a thankfully uneventful drive back to the farm, except for the sphincter-tightening moment when we rolled past a bunch of Transport Department people setting up on the highway to check trucks! Luckily they must have been too busy to notice us, or at least make chase.
Handily, just around the corner was our turn off to head inland to the farm, which we arrived at safe and sound, after a total of 8 hours on the road since that morning. D:
See!
First up, some food! Then we surveyed the haul.
As you can see, the yellow car decided that it was more happy sitting on the brown car than the blocks, so we had decided to remove them and tie it down tighter to the boot. This has caused a rather large dent in the boot, but I'm not too worried about that, as I now have plenty of the damn things! The black car took a bit more of a beating, as the tight turns to get down the driveway on to the house block proved to be too tight and there's now large holes in the C pillars... Ah well...
Unloading them was a drawn-out, but not nearly so slow process as getting them on. Dragged the gold one off the back with the tractor (it really doesn't want to roll easily), then used the forks on the tractor to pick up the black one and deposit it next to my ex-green one. Then the same was done with the yellow one, and then we rolled the brown one down on to the tray after inflating the tyres again. However, when we went to lift it off the back, we were undone by the weight of the thing!
Closer inspection revealed that the Minor was competing for the worlds first front, mid AND rear engined family sedan! So I will have to investigate the other two blocks further when I have the time to head back up to the farm and see what the deal with those is!
Eventually we decided to tip it off the back, and then I sat on a bessa block steering it while Jono pushed me along from behind using the forks on the tractor like a wheelbarrow.
As they lie:
All tucked up ready for sleep:
Hopefully I can get up there soonish and build a better shelter for them.
Then, it was just a matter of dragging the gold one up on to the tray and off we went again!
Brought the truck back in to the carpark at the shed, then sat down for a beer or two before heading home for some well earned rest.
Next morning, we dropped the gold one down in to the spot that the green one had been sitting in, ready for me to get it rolling when I got back from the pop culture expo I was about to leave for later that day.
But problems weren't over yet! Upon heading back up in to the carpark to head home and get ready, the owner of said carpark decided that the Minor was no longer welcome as he was cleaning up the carpark and getting rid of a lot of junk! I looked around me at the old camry, the magna, the big trailer full of steel, and the 20 odd forklifts in the yard... ::)So a different location was organised, and the Minor is now sitting around the other side of the shed, sort of out of the way, until I can get some new tyres on it and we can roll it inside Brett's shed (where I was doing the sandblasting on the green one).
Bit annoying, but, it's the owners carpark, so he can do whatever he feels like, I guess. It's not like I'm paying him rent or anything for it!
I just wish he'd start drinking again so he wasn't so grumpy!
And that concludes the adventure! From there, I went down to the Gold Coast to go to Supanova, where I viewed many a young woman in skimpy costume, and generally assed about all weekend. Tomorrow afternoon I shall see about some cheap part-worns for the Minor, and hopefully on Wednesday it shall be inside the shed and out of the weather (it is tarped for now).
Will get some better photos of the gold one either tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday, depending on how much time I have.
Cheers,
Matt
Straight in to it!
First, we had to move the original Minor from it's place of stagnation, up to the farm.
Note the Learner plates on the truck...
Then, it was a quick 2 hours from Brisbane to our farm property, where we dropped the Minor off, thieved a battery from a ride-on mower, a high-lift jack, and some fuel. And then a long drive up to Rockhampton to check in to our hotel for the evening... at 11:45pm. We'd called ahead and gotten them to leave us a 6-pack in the room, though.
Then, another early start and four hours later we were presented with this:
Turns out it was the gold one with the Toyota running gear, the brown one has a 948cc I think, same as mine had. We tried to get them running to roll them out, but while we got the brown one kicking over, it wouldn't hold idle, and we decided to call the tractor in to drag them out of their mud ruts.
Got them all lined up ready to throw them on the back of the truck, and then fart-assed around getting them on in some semblance of secure manner. Took us four hours to get everything loaded up, and in the end it looked like this:
Brown one went up first, on to some car ramps on chocks to push the nose through the headboard on the tray, then we let the rear tyres down and pumped up the fronts to get as much rake as we could. Then the yellow one was dragged up on to ramps behind it, but we realised it wasn't far enough on to the tray, so instead it was dragged up the ramps on to some bessa blocks which gave us sort of enough clearance over the back of the brown one.
Then we dragged the black one bodily over drawbar of the trailer using the tractor and a few blocks of wood. This highlighted the semi-detached nature of the floorpan on the black car! Once we got it in to position, we looked at the clearance of the ramps of the tray vs. the boot of the black car. It was... minimal. The ramps had maybe 200mm of swing before they started pushing through the back of the car. We couldn't put the ramps up further due to the yellow one being so far back on the tray. So a decision was made to abandon the black car, as it was the worst of the lot. However, after a bit of effort on the tractors part, the black car proved that it was there to stay, as we couldn't get it off the trailer again! So a compromise was had. We jacked up the yellow car at the rear using the high-lift jack (I knew it would come in handy!), and stacked 3 tyres per side underneath.
This gave us enough height at the back to lift the ramps up and get clearance on the black car, so win!
Then we dragged the gold one up on to the back, jacked it up and stacked tyres underneath it so that it wouldn't be dragging along behind us!
Everything was strapped down tightly, and then we were off! But not before I took some photos of the other tat lying around.
Some old (apparently Ford) sedan:
Something old enough to have wooden wheels, but not much else:
Another Minor in decay:
Apparently there was another one that had pretty much collapsed in to the ground at the back of the shed, but I didn't notice it in my slightly stressed state.
Nice old Wolseley:
Would have been great to have a bit more time to take some more photos but we were running pretty short on time! By this stage, it was going on 4:30pm and we still had to make it back to at least Rockhampton, so off we trundled for another 4 hour drive back the way we came. So long, Mackay!
On we drove for a few hours, grabbed some fuel, and double checked the straps. The (super)cheap rope we'd tied the tailgate on the truck up with must have snapped just as we pulled up, as there was only a few scuff marks and dents where it had landed... So we used bigger straps, and off we went again!
Made it back to the hotel a few minutes after the kitchen closed at 9pm, but cunningly, we'd called ahead and asked them to make us 3 of the best rump steaks in town before they closed it down, and as soon as we arrived, we were tucking in to them.
Which was a good thing as all we'd had time for that day was a Chico Roll or two and a bunch of beef jerky!
Next morning, we made sure everything was still secure, found 6 fist-sized green tree frogs hiding in the door of the black car, and then crept out of town before the police could decide that we were worth talking to! It was a thankfully uneventful drive back to the farm, except for the sphincter-tightening moment when we rolled past a bunch of Transport Department people setting up on the highway to check trucks! Luckily they must have been too busy to notice us, or at least make chase.
Handily, just around the corner was our turn off to head inland to the farm, which we arrived at safe and sound, after a total of 8 hours on the road since that morning. D:
See!
First up, some food! Then we surveyed the haul.
As you can see, the yellow car decided that it was more happy sitting on the brown car than the blocks, so we had decided to remove them and tie it down tighter to the boot. This has caused a rather large dent in the boot, but I'm not too worried about that, as I now have plenty of the damn things! The black car took a bit more of a beating, as the tight turns to get down the driveway on to the house block proved to be too tight and there's now large holes in the C pillars... Ah well...
Unloading them was a drawn-out, but not nearly so slow process as getting them on. Dragged the gold one off the back with the tractor (it really doesn't want to roll easily), then used the forks on the tractor to pick up the black one and deposit it next to my ex-green one. Then the same was done with the yellow one, and then we rolled the brown one down on to the tray after inflating the tyres again. However, when we went to lift it off the back, we were undone by the weight of the thing!
Closer inspection revealed that the Minor was competing for the worlds first front, mid AND rear engined family sedan! So I will have to investigate the other two blocks further when I have the time to head back up to the farm and see what the deal with those is!
Eventually we decided to tip it off the back, and then I sat on a bessa block steering it while Jono pushed me along from behind using the forks on the tractor like a wheelbarrow.
As they lie:
All tucked up ready for sleep:
Hopefully I can get up there soonish and build a better shelter for them.
Then, it was just a matter of dragging the gold one up on to the tray and off we went again!
Brought the truck back in to the carpark at the shed, then sat down for a beer or two before heading home for some well earned rest.
Next morning, we dropped the gold one down in to the spot that the green one had been sitting in, ready for me to get it rolling when I got back from the pop culture expo I was about to leave for later that day.
But problems weren't over yet! Upon heading back up in to the carpark to head home and get ready, the owner of said carpark decided that the Minor was no longer welcome as he was cleaning up the carpark and getting rid of a lot of junk! I looked around me at the old camry, the magna, the big trailer full of steel, and the 20 odd forklifts in the yard... ::)So a different location was organised, and the Minor is now sitting around the other side of the shed, sort of out of the way, until I can get some new tyres on it and we can roll it inside Brett's shed (where I was doing the sandblasting on the green one).
Bit annoying, but, it's the owners carpark, so he can do whatever he feels like, I guess. It's not like I'm paying him rent or anything for it!
I just wish he'd start drinking again so he wasn't so grumpy!
And that concludes the adventure! From there, I went down to the Gold Coast to go to Supanova, where I viewed many a young woman in skimpy costume, and generally assed about all weekend. Tomorrow afternoon I shall see about some cheap part-worns for the Minor, and hopefully on Wednesday it shall be inside the shed and out of the weather (it is tarped for now).
Will get some better photos of the gold one either tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday, depending on how much time I have.
Cheers,
Matt