You don’t face the choices I do. Look at the conflict this weekend. There’s carzamania on the Monterey Peninsula with the Pebble Beach Concours, multi-million-dollar car auctions, the Monterey Motorsports Reunion, the Concours d’Lemons and much, much, more.
Or there’s Mallala.
Sixty minutes from Motor City, South Australia. Sixty minutes from the world’s fifth-equal most liveable city on this or any other planet. A city where the founding fathers and mothers made the tap water taste crook, so you have to drink Coopers because it is good for you because it’s made by a doctor. A city where the citizens live and breathe cars (no, not a VW diesel-tampering reference) and where 46 years ago legendary car dealer and racer Clem Smith bought Mallala Motorsport Track and made a great track even greater. Clem also collected cars and put them in a museum at the track.
Anyway, back to the big decision. Mallala or Peeble Beach? The answer was clear. Both. So last Wednesday I met Clem’s son Brenton at the museum to talk about tomorrow’s auction of 30 very diverse pieces of machinery. Taking an active interest in proceedings was Mossgreen’s Robbie Richards, who was meant to be objective but picked the red 1968 Mini Cooper S ($38,000 to $44,000) as his best buy. I agree but did wonder why they were such a huge seller when they were such a waste of time at the very popular drive-in movies. (Readers, please do not write in with your stories from the sixties and seventies to prove me wrong. I am still getting over the VWs at the drive-in stories, most of which came from non-male readers.)
I also drove the ex-Murray Rainey Jaguar XK120. Clem did a ground-up restoration on this beautiful red machine. The car is in sensational condition but for some reason on Wednesday the brakes weren’t working. This wasn’t a real problem till I wanted to slow down, say, for a corner. Turning a wheel the size of small flying saucer without power steering while pushing the brake pedal to the floor with no response did have its moments until I realized that the handbrake did slow things down a little. With its history, complete paperwork, condition and the brakes fixed, if you buy this for $100,000 you’ve stolen it.
For pre-war car lovers, have a look at the 1935 Railton Fairmile One Drophead. Now I’ll tell you why this is important. The Railton came from the factory of Noel Macklin, a West Australian you have never heard of, who was such a big deal in England that he got the top gong for his contribution to the war effort. Like most WA entrepreneurs, Noel did quite a few things. He was a successful amateur jockey, played ice hockey for England, raced a Merc at Brooklands, founded the Eric-Campbell, Silver Hawk, Invicta and Railton car companies and the Fairmile Marine boat company, and got his estate and company knicked by a grateful government.
While being in the rich father business, Noel was a person after our own hearts. In 1927, he packed his sister-in-law, Violette Cordery, into one of his Invictas and sent her on a drive around the world to promote the car. Despite this, he lost money on Invictas, so he dropped an eight-cylinder Hudson engine into a lightweight body, making the Railton the fastest production car in the world. You could pay up to $120,000 for Clem’s rebuilt Railton.
My favourites are Clem’s two Valiants. Apart from being classics they represent a time when Adelaide really was the motor capital of Australia. In October Holden’s Elizabeth factory closes after making cars for 69 years. Chrysler’s Clovelly Park manufacturing site is now (named without irony) an “Innovation Centre”. There’s a 1972 Charger that Chrysler tested and developed on the Mallala track and can be yours for about $140,000, and for the frugally minded a replica of the Shell Racing Beechey/McKeown Charger raced at Bathurst in 1971. You’ll pay north of $30,000.
In the Mallala of California, the Monterey action is under way. Kicking off the fun was Gordon McCall’s Motorworks Revival at the local jet base. Basically, this is a selling opportunity for makers of cars, planes, upmarket booze and food and real estate. Entry is expensive, making sure the buyers have plenty of credit, and anyone who looks under 30 can have their ID checked. So far security have looked at mine seven times.
Along with the Gulfstreams, B25s, P51s and helicopters are cars like the new Ford GT Heritage Edition, a 1960s Ferrari 250 GT SWB, a Bugatti EB110, a Veyron Supersports and the Rimac Concept-One all-electric coupe. The Rimac puts out 800kW, is good for 355km/h up your driveway, does 1 to 100km/h in a frightening 2.6 seconds. Yours for about $1.2 million, drive away no more to pay.
Back home, Ford have recalled 42,000 Focus models because they can explode in flames, which is slightly worse for your health than having no brakes. Honda have sent letters to CRV owners telling them that the airbags could explode at any time blasting metal shrapnel into the air and most likely into your new Armani suit (that last bit is not in the letter). “Choosing not to act could be deadly,” Mr Honda says.
Call me old-fashioned but in both cases the carmakers ask you to drive your car in to the dealership. On one hand this is quite Australian: “Let’s have a punt you won’t die or be maimed for life.” On the other hand you don’t need me to tell you.
This is a shortened version of the original article – read the rest at The Australian
