headed to Trilby Station, Tilpa, Emmdale, Ivanhoe and Hillston. ▪ Photo contributed
A group of members of the Outback Model T Ford Club passed through Cobar on Friday on their jaunt through Western NSW.
The four members and their partners/friends, who hail from Junee, Parkes, Goulburn and Wellington regularly travel around Australia in their early model cars.
This year they were to travel to Cape York in Queensland but had to change their plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After leaving Cobar they were headed to Trilby Station, Tilpa, Cultowa Station, Emmdale, Ivanhoe and Hillston camping along the way.
“We’re in no hurry,” club member Colin Macaulay from Junee told The Cobar Weekly.
And in their vintage vehicles, the oldest of the group dates back to 1915, they are
definitely not in a hurry when their cars
are powered by 20HP engines and their average cruising speed is only about 60km per hour!
“We can probably go out to 80 on a good, straight road,” Colin boasted.
“We like to have a good look at the scenery along the way.”
The strong, swirling winds on Friday on their drive up from Nyngan had proved to be “a bit hairy” as their cars only weigh between 800-900kg (even towing their camper trailers they are still lighter than an average modern car!).
Colin said they were all pleased to be able to stop in Cobar for lunch and to stock up on groceries.
He said all of the cars have their original engines, diffs and gearboxes.
They have however been rebuilt “with little tweaks here and there to make them more safer and reliable”.
None of the vehicles however have any seatbelts fitted which Colin said is not really a worry at the pace they travel.
Colin picked up his Model T Ford about 12 years ago and when he gave it a new paint job he encouraged Neil Druce from the Junee Licorice Factory to come on as a sponsor.
“I told him it was great advertising as we travel all over Australia advertising his product,” Colin said.