The wierdest vehicle you have owned?

[Omaroo]

Just thinking that my younger brother, Steven, has some strange and wonderful stuff in his current garage.

What unusual machinery do you or someone you know have?

Steven's garage has these in it:

Studebaker M29 Weasel
http://tanxheaven.com/ljs/m29weaselljs/24-M29%27Weasel%27,Oirschot.JPG

1943 Ford GPW
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2006/07/9.jpg

Amphicat (Steven's was actually "Fleagle"s from the BananaSplits TV show). Here's a link to the Tra La La (One banana, two banana thre.....etc) song: http://www.franklarosa.com/vinyl/AudioPlay.jsp?File=TraLaLa.rm

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2006/07/10.jpg

A clip of the ATV from the show for those of us old enough to remember growing up with it (1968-1970):

http://www.retrojunk.com/details_tvshows/879-the-banana-splits/


(http://www.franklarosa.com/vinyl/BigImg/splits.jpg?width=350&smooth=1)

[DEFENDERZOOK]

for me it would have to be the defender.......

its the slowest...loudest......harshest......roughest..... most uncomfortable thing i have ever driven......
and i love it.....!!
it is unstoppable........

[George130]

These days the Fender for me.
I used to have a Dato 260C with 1980 Ford LTD Front bumper (Couldn't get an original but was given the ford one). I had 2 5 mil sheets of steel behind the plastic.
Friend has and old Jeep mail van from the USA, 1970 Ambulance Dodge Phenix, 1960,s Mercs, 1927 Chev (Mostly rust now)

[bluetongue]

Well the fender is definately up there. It is by sure my favorite...

But some of the other strange (... or in my case... stupid!??) ones over the years...
* I bought a 1976 basketball-orange-coloured datsun 120Y for 600 bucks from my old flat mate so him and his other dole-bludging mates had some cash to purchase some weed.... 120-why?... I still don't know to this day if it was a good purchase or not. Had 2 bald tires, front-fender that stuck out about a foot from the car... but the little thing went and went and went without fail
* 1974 volvo 164E... fuel injected, leather seats, heated seats, in-line 6 cyl, aircon, 18 mpg (if I was lucky)... it had character (for a volvo) but it was the biggest fuel-guzzling-tempermental-piece-of-crap I've ever owned... I accidentally left a plastic bag of prawns in the boot after fishing one w/e down at wollongong.... that was pretty much the end of that car... could never get rid of the smell
* 1974 auto mazda rx4... man that thing was ugly and with the auto gearbox it sounded nothing like the brrr-brrr-brrr that you normally hear, it was just brrrrrrrrrr.... but it was friggin fast!!! Downside was that it used 10L of oil and needed a new set of spark-plugs per week
* oh yeah... and at the age of 22 when I thought I'd do the responsible thing and purchase a 'decent' vehicle I bought a 1989 model nissan pulsar in 1992 for 8990.... those caryard-sharks got me good with 25% interest repayments... car was fine but ended up costing me over 19K

[RobHay]

I once had a Leopard Tank in my Shed.

My younger brother was with 1st Armoured Regt. and was on his way to Shoal Water Bay when the transporter broke down outside of Maryborough Q. Had to unload the tank and as I lived close by they stored it at my place, until they could recover it.

Those things are huge. :eek: Got some photo's some where so will have a dig around.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Chris

I owned a very wierd vehicle once - it only had 1 diff - I bought it kept it for 5 months and gave it to my sister-in-law. http://www.cage.curtin.edu.au/mechanical/info/vibrations/analysis/car.jpg

For some reason I also have this in my back yard!

http://www.msnusers.com/My%20Web%20Documents/Documents/Pictures/PICT1339%2EJPG

Lotz-A

[barney]

had a pink and black morris major elite as my first car, handed down from my grandparents who bought it new the year i was born, it was then handed to my brother who nearly killed the poor thing, then dad and i put a new motor in it and i drove it for 2 yrs until i caught the 4wd bug in 1982 and bought a brand new suzuki sierra for $6900.

[disconut]

I had a bright green 2 door Austin 7 convertible at age 18, and an old Nash Rambler, the one without the front wheel arches. Ugly as!

Trev.

[camel_landy]

I had one of these for years:

Sunbeam Raper Fastback
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Then other than various Landys, I've also had a couple of these:

http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk/data/showroom/DK05NZR1.jpg

...and Zook.... If you thought the Defender was noisy & uncomfortable.... :D

[JDNSW]

I learnt to drive on cars (or trucks) my father owned after I got big enough to reach the pedals.

1923 Ford Model T truck - very basic, top speed 15mph.

1922 Reo Speedwagon One ton. Top speed 60mph, first gear a real crawling gear, only three gears, no synchromesh - think about gear changes on that! Engine a mixture of old and new - non-detachable heads, open valve gear (Inlet over exhaust), but alloy pistons and full pressure lubrication, except for the oil cups on the rockers.

1931 Swift. 10hp side valve, right hand gate change gears. Two wire electrical system, vacuum tank fuel system, fabric overed wooden frame saloon body. Very reliable and nice to drive.

1948 Austin 16. Got my licence on this. Very nice to drive, outperformed the contemporary Holden, mainly because of the four speed box, and far more comfortable, but the mechanical brakes made life interesting (and the brake rods always rattled).

John

[crump]

used to own one of these, a private import Cagiva Freccia, 125 two stroke with a top speed of 180kmh, I could actually lift it off the ground, it was that light.


404

[RobHay]

I learnt to drive on cars (or trucks) my father owned after I got big enough to reach the pedals.

1923 Ford Model T truck -
1922 Reo Speedwagon One ton.
1931 Swift.
1948 Austin 16. Got my licence on this.
John

.....and JUST! how old are you......I've seen pictures....well actually drawings, of these things that my Great-Grandfather had.:angel: :D

[JDNSW]

.....and JUST! how old are you......I've seen pictures....well actually drawings, of these things that my Great-Grandfather had.:angel: :D

And JUST! how young are you?

My father never had any very new cars until the end of the fifties. One of the things people tend to forget is that there were relatively few new cars sold in Australia because of the depression from about 1931 to 1939, and then none until after 1945. New car sales did not really get under way until about 1948 (this is when the first Holdens and Landrovers appeared) so that when I was growing up in the 1950s cars from the 1920s were quite common - one place I passed every day on the way to school specialised in Chev 4s; the last Chev four was in about 1928. It took until the late 1950s for post war cars to become dominant on the road, and cars from the thirties were always under represented.
John

[Pedro_The_Swift]

dunno about weird,,,
bought a LWB Bedford van that had been sitting in a chook shed for 10 years,, cost me about 500bucks,, had a electrolux 3 way fridge in the back under some junk that I sold for 500,,

then stripped it back to bear metal and painted it a very nice burgandy,,
had some old 15" cheese cutters on the back, ended up with 31" at's at the rear and 14" on the front,, motor and gearbox and back axel come out of a '70 mustang,, 4.4 windsor and C4= yummy!! used to great line lockies!!! who me Officer?:angel:


last heard of touring Australia carrying gear for a Blues band!!

[discowhite]

bet no one has ever owned a 34ish plymoth on a toyota stout chassis, running international I beam front and dana rear, powered by a 302windsor on nitros and c4 auto.
bloody great for stump pullin:twisted:
http://www.aulro.com/app/data/550/medium/261160460LJFAAy_ph_sized.jpg

[Maggot4x4]

1965 Chev Impala 4 Door Convertible

1970 GTS350 Bathurst Monaro, 30,000 miles, original aqua jets, wish I still had it.

[gruntfuttock]

I have a 5HP Jelbart, a Ransoms, Simms and Jefferies MG6 Crawler in my garage and in my fathers shed a 1950 Bradford.

[Scouse]

I don't think my everyday car is all that wierd but it does get some strange looks :) .

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2006/08/262.jpg

[Omaroo]

I don't think my everyday car is all that wierd but it does get some strange looks :) .

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2006/08/262.jpg

How very cool! :)

[Scouse]

The strangest looks come from other drivers on the freeway when I whizz past them :twisted: .

I only stick to the speed limits though of course.

[seqfisho]

Nicknamed the Moonbuggy,

It was a 85 L300 4x4 Van

Full Gossies conversion

2in body lift

2in spring lift

32in tyres

2.6 Sigma motor

dual batts

custom rear bumper with swing out rear spare carrier

front bar and rally 2000's

2.5 in exhaust


must try and dig up a photo or two and scan them in so I can post


interesting offroad as it spent a lot of time on three wheels:eek:


but never layed it over:angel:

[DiscoDave]

Just exactly what is that Scouse?:eek:

[Omaroo]

I have to love the participants on this forum :) Not ONE of you thought that my brothers M29 Weasel tracked vehicle was anything strange to have in one's garage......:twobeers:

[FenianEel]

I have to love the participants on this forum :) Not ONE of you thought that my brothers M29 Weasel tracked vehicle was anything strange to have in one's garage......:twobeers:

Strange? No
Beautiful yes!
I'd LOVE to have the thing in my garage!!:D

[Scouse]

Just exactly what is that Scouse?:eek:Most of it is a Morris Minor:) .

[loanrangie]

Not exactly weird - 1976 Suzuki LJ50 hardtop with the powerful 550 cc(yes .55 of a litre! ) 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine. This thing would crawl over tree stumps and fit down the narrowest horse tracks in the bush, but was lucky to reach 100kph downhill with a tailwind ! Ahh, the smell of 2 stroke in the morning.

[Rosco]

Not exactly weird - 1976 Suzuki LJ50 hardtop with the powerful 550 cc(yes .55 of a litre! ) 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine. This thing would crawl over tree stumps and fit down the narrowest horse tracks in the bush, but was lucky to reach 100kph downhill with a tailwind ! Ahh, the smell of 2 stroke in the morning.
Yep ... my 1st 4WD also. NING NING NING, NIIIING NIING NING ...... :)
Bro called it the Singer.

It did get tired once tho ... needed a little lie down. :angel::angel:

[loanrangie]

Yep ... my 1st 4WD also. NING NING NING, NIIIING NIING NING ...... :)
Bro called it the Singer.

It did get tired once tho ... needed a little lie down. :angel::angel:

Thats what my brother called it as well ! i wish i still had it, good fun little 4by . My mate had one also, he tipped his on its side but stuck his hand out and pushed himself upright again !

[crump]

I have to love the participants on this forum :) Not ONE of you thought that my brothers M29 Weasel tracked vehicle was anything strange to have in one's garage......:twobeers:

of course we did, but we are nothing if not polite.:D

[FenianEel]

Thats what my brother called it as well ! i wish i still had it, good fun little 4by . My mate had one also, he tipped his on its side but stuck his hand out and pushed himself upright again !

I was in one that rolled once.
What's so good about that?:spudniksnore:
It had 7 - yes 7 people in it!:eek: All drunk as fools - ridiculous behaviour.
But...we were 17:imwithstupid: and needless to say the "driver" got a floggin (literally) from his Dad when they got home the next day. :bat:
For rolling his Dads car, for taking it without his permission & for having a party they didnt know about!:oops2:


He is now a cop:eek:

[Mud_Bogger6]

Ford Falcon, dad used it for racing..........


I wrote it off

[Quiggers]

Nothing unusual about the Weasel, omaroo.

Because everyone here wants one!

Tell us more about this cutie, like specs 'n' history 'n' stuff.

Very nice!

GQ

[Blknight.aus]

Strange things Ive parked in my drive way include

a Tilly

an R series mack wrecker with a plant trailer and APC on the back.

Cranes.

bobcats.

Ferret scout car

Bren gun carrier (also on the back of a mack with a plant trailer)

[waynep]

1953 Citroen Light 15 like this one

http://www.motorcities.com/photo/view/00EPF244313785A.jpg/0/

In NZ, owned by a mate but I was very envious.

They were supposed to be unrollable - but we rolled it !!:p

[abaddonxi]

Nissan Homer

Looked something like this but with a flatbed.

http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/pit/3823/newhomer.jpg

My knees touched the dash, my head touched the roof, I had to drive with the window open to give me enough elbow room to steer. Sold it when I couldn't stop thinking about what would happen to me in a crash.

Cheers
Simon

[BigJon]

1953 Citroen Light 15 like this one

http://www.motorcities.com/photo/view/00EPF244313785A.jpg/0/

In NZ, owned by a mate but I was very envious.

They were supposed to be unrollable - but we rolled it !!:p

I remeber having a toy one of those, possibly Matchbox.

[Bigbjorn]

And JUST! how young are you?

My father never had any very new cars until the end of the fifties. One of the things people tend to forget is that there were relatively few new cars sold in Australia because of the depression from about 1931 to 1939, and then none until after 1945. New car sales did not really get under way until about 1948 (this is when the first Holdens and Landrovers appeared) so that when I was growing up in the 1950s cars from the 1920s were quite common - one place I passed every day on the way to school specialised in Chev 4s; the last Chev four was in about 1928. It took until the late 1950s for post war cars to become dominant on the road, and cars from the thirties were always under represented.
John

JD is dead right. Until after the onset of post war prosperity and until after production caught up with demand, cars were the province of the middle and upper classes. Few working men had cars unless they were very old and tatty. In the west, shearers and station workers had old motor-bikes or went out to stations on the back of contractors & mail trucks. Families used public transport. Cars from the twenties and thirties were in use through the fifties but their day was done by about 1962, by when you were considered to be a bit odd if you were driving an "old bomb". Ford T's were finished by the early 50's though. These being seen by most as a total anachronism by then.

I spent much of my working life in and around the motor industry, and older salemen and dealers would reminesce about the great times after the war when the demand was such that anything could be sold quickly, and the popular makes & models had long waiting lists. One guy told me he was selling new Chevs. in 1950 and the wait was two years. No discounting, of course. Others said their employers commonly would not sell a new car to someone without a trade-in as the new car prices were restrictedby manufacturers advertising, but used cars were "sky's the limit".

When I was 8yo (1949) we were living in a short street in an inner suburb of Brisbane, around 60 homes. The cars were, a 39 Dodge (My father's); a 48 Vanguard owned by people who had a fish cannery, a couple of small coastal vessels and a lot of residential property; a beautiful 35 Hupmobile owned by A Mr. West who had a steel and engineering supplies business. He continued to use this car into retirement past 1967; another 48 Vanguard owned by the local alderman and solicitor; a Vauxhall of unknown vintage made into a ute by its builder owner & which for years was driven with just a long exhaust pipe, no muffler. This man generally drove off in the morning quite conservatively but came home via the pub most nights at high speed and often slid around the corner from the main road, even spinning it on a couple of occasions. This was the sum total of vehicles in the street. A few more people would have had telephones than had cars.

Hazell Bros. in North Parramatta near the old cemetery were Chev 4 parts specialists and survived into the sixties. They advertised widely.

[Mudguts]

i had an old red Bongo van, so gutless it wouldnt climb even the smallest hill, it eventually blew a spark plug clean out of the block .

the bloke i sold it to, used araldite to stick the plug back in .........i dont know if he lived:)

http://www.mazford.com.au/images/auction/F1000cream/Bongo%202_IMG.jpg

[Vandermorph]

We usually have normal cars like Commodores and Falcons but we always have had a panelvan as far back as i remember at the moment ours is on the market A 90 model Falcon AU for $1800 it has a spoiler cheviot rims and a sports steering wheel. And no one will buy it. We have just today bought a 92 commodore ute for $4500 i think the panelvans are pretty wierd

[p38arover]

I had one of these for years:

Sunbeam Raper Fastback
http://www.sunbeamrapier.com/rapier7.jpg



I've wanted one of those for years (ever since I bought my Hillman Hunter in 1971 - and which I sold about 3 years ago) They weren'r sold here.

However, I think they'd have sold more if they had been called Rapiers! :D :D

Ron

[DEFENDERZOOK]

Most of it is a Morris Minor:) .


so....whats the bit under the bonnet from.......?
morris never whizzed past anything that wasnt parked........

[JDNSW]

............

Hazell Bros. in North Parramatta near the old cemetery were Chev 4 parts specialists and survived into the sixties. They advertised widely.

Hazells was the Chev 4 specialist I was referring to above.

In 1949 our street had eight houses in it. We had the Swift, and apart from that there was a 1928 Chev 6 roadster coupe with a dicky seat, a 1930 something Chev sedan (That was the Wilsons who had the only phone in the street), and a mid twenties Essex. The only other cars in my extended family at the time were one uncle with a 1928 Rover 9, another uncle with a 1926 Morris Cowley, and a cousin with a 1923 Austin Seven.
John

[JamesH]

1965 Chev Impala 4 Door Convertible

1970 GTS350 Bathurst Monaro, 30,000 miles, original aqua jets, wish I still had it.

I bet you do. I saw in the paer just a few days ago that one went for something like $84 000 or something like that.

[Scouse]

so....whats the bit under the bonnet from.......?
morris never whizzed past anything that wasnt parked........Nissan A15 :p .
It's getting pretty tired now after having done approx 350,000km in the last 11 years (and it was 2nd hand when I fitted it). That's one thing the Japs are good at - copying & improving on original designs :) . The old Datsun bodies might rust away but the mechanicals live another day.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

[quote=Scouse]Nissan A15 :p .
It's getting pretty tired now after having done approx 350,000km in the last 11 years


Hey! thats the motor in my forklift!!!
and done about the same amount of hours,,

runs on straight Moreys,,,:D

[LandyAndy]

Not owned but driven.
Leyland Chieiftan truck.Drove it for a Cocky,LOUD NO SYNCYRO(the only way to learn your way around a truck gearbox) but plenty of HP for its size.
Andrew

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Not owned but driven.
Leyland Chieiftan truck.
Andrew

hey Andy!
was that the one in the old add??

[Scouse]

Hey! thats the motor in my forklift!!!
and done about the same amount of hours,,

runs on straight Moreys,,,:D:p :p
Every couple of weeks, it's time to add another couple of litres of oil. Thankfully it's free.
I've even dipped it a few times & found no oil at all on the dipstick.
Can't kill 'em :) .

[LandyAndy]

Pedro
Im confused man
Andrew

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Hi Andy,,

wasnt there an add where a Leyland truck jumped a creek
????

you could see the dummy in the centre fall apart,,

no a real dummy,,
um,
a non person dummy,,

whew,

[barryj]

I have to love the participants on this forum :) Not ONE of you thought that my brothers M29 Weasel tracked vehicle was anything strange to have in one's garage......:twobeers:

I thought every garage should have one :D .