Thanks, fingers crossed. Dashboard lights fixed, exhaust mounts tweaked, may need a new battery, a non-working temp gauge isn't a roadworthy issue is it?
Very excited that we have managed to raise over $2,000 for the Shitbox Rally and the Cancer Council so far. We're still working hard to raise plenty more before April.
After taking the Victor for a good run at the start of the week we decided that it was not yet ready for a Sydney trip, so my trusty Volvo 122s will do the trip to collect my co-driver instead. This gives us another couple of weeks to fine-tune the Victor before it's registered and on the road. It needs a bit of a tune up to clear a very small miss and possibly some front carpet or rubber to help deaden the sound of the little 1500 screaming through 3 speed gearbox, but overall I am very excited by how it drove over about 40km of testing in traffic and am looking forward to driving it much further.
Merry Christmas to all those who have supported us by reading this thread or by donating to our everydayhero page.
Thanks AnnosL
Well it may look like I've done nothing but I've actually been very busy cleaning up wiring, checking and adjusting wheelbearings and joints, adjusting handbrake... Planning on taking her to my favourite show of the year, Kustom Nats at the start of January on Philip Island, so keep an eye out for us if you're coming along 😀
Anyone know of somewhere I could find the original style oil filters for one of these?
HI All, it's been a while since I've updated this thread, but for good reason, we've been hard at it with the tools and spit-polish to get to today, when we finally have our Shitbox Rally Vauxhall Victor registered!!
There's still some niggles (temp gauge doesn't work and fuel gauge invents levels as you drive) but we're super excited to have it registered and are ready to hit the road.
In more good news we're only a couple of hundred dollars short of $3,000 in money raised for the Cancer Council so far which is a great start, although we're always keen for more http://everydayhero.com.au/desertsailors
And to celebrate we're having a sausage sizzle at the Lucky Coq in Prahran all afternoon Sunday 19th, all funds raised from the sausage sizzle go to our team fundraising in support of the Cancer Council
Had an interesting night last night, as Melbourne locals would be aware we had a 'little bit' of rain yesterday afternoon. The Vauxhall is safely locked up behind a gate in the spare loading dock at work, undercover and out of the way. With the torrential rain I thought I would take a quick look to make sure the Victor was OK before heading home. I'll let the photos do most of the explaining:
4:52
4:53
4:54
4:56
4:57
4:58
We dragged it out at around 9pm and pulled all the drainplugs out of the floor. There is water in the sump, but everything else looked ok so we put the key in the ignition, dash lights came on, headlights/indicators/wipers worked, turned the key and it fired straight up! 😀 Relief is an understatement.
Here's what it looks like the next morning:
see the high-water line on the radiator surround?
up and over the generator
and straight through the interior
As a result of this incident I am now confident we shose the correct team name for the Shitbox Rally, team Desert Sailors seems very fitting, and in reverence to Top Gear I now know our Victor as the Vaux-boat-all
A Big thankyou to the Lucky Coq in Prahran for holding a registration party for us yesterday, we managed to raise $230 in raffle takings alone, and are yet to count up the money from the sausage sizzle, so the day was a great success.
I will start a thread elsewhere, but we also got a very generous donation which we are about to begin auctioning off. We have a 1/10th scale 4x4 electric Ford XR8 ute from approximately 2006 signed by the majority of the 2006 V8 supercar team (I will list the signatures tonight). Because of the value of this we are holding an auction on eBay starting today. There is no reserve, the starting bid is $260, which from the research I have done is less than the current retail of one of these chassis, before the signature collection is considered. As the model was donated to us, all proceeds from the auction will go to our fundraising effort supporting the Cancer Council.
A little update, the Victor has been pushed into daily service this week, and so far so good (aside from spitting a wiper within 2min of leaving home this morning), strengthened the roofrack a little and am testing it with some weight, get some funny looks in suburbia!
What's mroe exciting, thanks to the $300 raised through the model auction we are very nearly at our $4k minimum fundraising! Great news since we leave 1 month from tommorow
Reimagined/Recycled/Upcycled Cool
Craig Torrens6 times Australian, 7 times State Hillclimb Class Champion
Very exciting news, we've now fundraised over $4,000! There's still more in the works, but less than a month to go before the rally and the car's registered and running well, we've reached our minimum fundraising target and we're itching to get underway. Big thankyou to everyone who has supported us so far.
Still a few stickers to add, but the Victor is Stickered! We had great fun at the Lucky Coq today covering the car with stickers from all of our sponsors. Thanks so much to all our supporters:
Tommorow morning the rally begins! The Vaux-Boat-All has been pushed into daily service all week after a condensor failure gave us a scare last week and things are looking good. Not using oil or water noticeably, no new rattles...
Just wanted to say a big thankyou to everyone who's supported us along the way, we've worked our butts off to get this car on the road and raise the funds necessary to compete, and every dollar donated and every kind word on the forums has helped us along the way. We've raised just under $6,000 now and are very proud of the effort for a couple of students in their 20's. We be sure to update everyone with plenty of pics at the end of the trip.
After 3500 LONG km the Vauxhall Victor and the majority of other shitboxes made it to Cairns last Friday afternoon.
Our Victor made it through mostly unscathed, with only a cracked radiator causing issues on the road (aside from some rubbish fuel and woeful handling :P ) We ended up raising around $6,000, and as a bonus the Victor sold before auction for $1,000 which also goes into our fundraising efforts for the Cancer Council.
We loved being on the rally, so many great people and sights, all of the little towns we stayed in were so welcoming and the scenery was absolutely stunning. We proved what is possible in an old car and look forward to doing it all again next year.
We're exhausted and thrilled and in need of some spinal realignment after 10 hours a day on bench seats so I will leave you with some highlight photos of the trip:
Well done! Looks like a fantastic trip. I would say that you definitely had the best car there, with the Falcon limo coming in as a close second. All the people in the boring '90s cars will have missed half the fun!
waveman1500 wrote:Well done! Looks like a fantastic trip. I would say that you definitely had the best car there, with the Falcon limo coming in as a close second. All the people in the boring '90s cars will have missed half the fun!
Amen to that. I travelled with Ryan most of the journey in a 1979 Fiat 131. Our car made it to the end too although it ended up in the wreckers once we reached Cairns.
Brett Nicholson
Melbourne, Victoria
1974 VW Superbug L - Olive 😎
1971 Morris Mini Moke - Mopoke
1966 Austin Mini - Audrey
1965 Morris Mini Traveller - Trixie
2007 Land Rover Freelander 2
2009 Nissan Pathfinder
waveman1500 wrote:Well done! Looks like a fantastic trip. I would say that you definitely had the best car there, with the Falcon limo coming in as a close second. All the people in the boring '90s cars will have missed half the fun!
The limo was fantastic, as was a similar period hearse. The Saab and Alfa drivers were a little game as well
I think around 10 cars didn't make it this year, those I know of for certain:
2 Mercedes Benz 1980's models
1 Daihatsu Move (holed 2 exhaust valves)
1 Ford Corsair (Head and headgasket cracks)
1 Holden Astra (0 compression in all cylinders)
1 Saab
1 other 80's sedan with a cracked gearbox
7 days straight in the old girl was enough, we had always planned to sell, it was still a littel sad to see it go, but getting $1k for it (which goes to the fundraising) and seeing it potentially back on the road was a great feeling.
baybuscamperkid wrote:I think around 10 cars didn't make it this year, those I know of for certain:
2 Mercedes Benz 1980's models
1 Daihatsu Move (holed 2 exhaust valves)
1 Ford Corsair (Head and headgasket cracks)
1 Holden Astra (0 compression in all cylinders)
1 Saab
1 other 80's sedan with a cracked gearbox
The 80's sedan was a Camry.
I also remember at least one (maybe two) deceased Magnas.
EDIT: Ther was also an XF Falcon that didn't make it beyond day 1.
Brett Nicholson
Melbourne, Victoria
1974 VW Superbug L - Olive 😎
1971 Morris Mini Moke - Mopoke
1966 Austin Mini - Audrey
1965 Morris Mini Traveller - Trixie
2007 Land Rover Freelander 2
2009 Nissan Pathfinder
