I recently had the opportunity to drive a Series 1 Daimler Sovereign. By this I am referring to the model based on the Jaguar XJ, not the earlier car based on the 420. The Sovereign model was introduced in 1966, as a Daimler version of the Jaguar 420. The 420 was essentially a Jaguar S-Type with a restyled front to resemble the the MK...
Our Bay to Birdwood trip was the 5th annual roadtrip of this nature. We had 8 cars and drivers participate this time, with 25 across all 5. All eight cars returned on their own four wheels, and no tow trucks were required. While we had a few mechanical issues, there was nothing that stopped all eight cars completing the trip. The total distance for...
Our final day of our road trip to Adelaide and back started in Hillston at 0630. Our first destination was Condoblin for breakfast, via lake Cargelligo. We would be taking Lachlan Valley way as our route generally followed the Lachlan River. The scenery was much greener than yesterday, with more farmland. The road was also pretty good too, and it was great to cruise...
Today was the penultimate day of our big road trip to Adelaide and back, and the biggest distance covered. We started early in Broken Hill, leaving at 0630 local time. Broken Hill observes South Australia time, so we lost half an hour heading east. We didn’t have a normal breakfast stop, the plan was to stop a rest area near Wilcannia rather than in...
On Day 6, we started out in South Australia, crossed over into Victoria for Breakfast and then into NSW for Lunch, before ending back on South Australia Time. As usual we left Loxton early and headed to our first destination, Merbein. This was the only part of our drive where we overlap with the route we used to get to South Australia. There is...
After leaving the Finish Festival, we still had a few hours of driving to reach our destination for the evening. We managed to leave around 1400, which gave us a bit of extra time for the drive and to reach our destination. As we went to leave, I had a small issue with my car. As I went to start it, it didn’t catch...
Once participants have finished the Bay to Birdwood route, the event is not over. Next there is the finish festival. All the cars participating line up in the expansive grounds of the National Motoring Museum in Birdwood. Not all cars participating in the Bay to Birdwood participate, but most seem to. it is also possible to buy separate tickets for this event. As you...
Today was the actual Bay to Birdwood event, the core thing we based our trip around. And what an event! It really surpassed my expectations. I don’t think I have ever been to a more community oriented automotive event. Perhaps the closest is the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, but I rate the Bay to Birdwood above that. The event is in three main...
Today was the fourth day of our big road trip to the Bay to Birdwood. However this day is unlike any other in that we didn’t do much driving. Today was meant as a slower today to rest a bit in the middle of the trip. It was also an opportunity to see some other automotive related things and immerse ourselves in the car...
Today we got to sleep in. Going west, the sunrise was later, and so we didn’t leave until 0645. We departed Mildura bound for Renmark, our breakfast stop. Instead of taking the main highway, we took some back roads via Werrimull and Meringur. This was much more pleasant than the main roads with the road trains. We had to pass through Quarantine on the...
Today was the second day of our big road trip to Adelaide for the Bay to Birdwood. As is usual, started just after sunrise at 0630. However, today was going to be different. While most of us were going to stay on the planned route, the owners of the Corvette and Petrol Blue 280CE would go direct to Mildura via Hay to try and...
This Chrysler Museum is a small car museum in the centre of the town of Grenfell. It is run by the owner, and most of the cars on display are cars he has bought over the years. I attended as a stop on my big road trip to Adelaide for the Bay to Birdwood Event. One of our group called ahead to make sure...
Today was the first full day of our big road trip to the Bay to Birdwood in Adelaide. We met at 0615 for an 0630 departure to maximize daylight hours. Events later in the day would make that worthwhile. All the cars started right up and were ready to go. After the rain and fog of the drive up from Sydney it was a...
Our trip to Adelaide for the Bay to Birdwood starts tomorrow morning in Bathurst. We learned very quickly the first year that starting out from Sydney is a bad idea. The goal of day zero is for everyone to make their own way to the start point the evening before. The last few years I’ve had to work on the day, so have arrived...
Over the past four years, a group of friends and I have done annual road trips in our classic cars. Most of them have been constructed around an event, taking back roads there and back. This year the event is the Bay to Birdwood. The Bay to Birdwood is probably the largest event for older cars in Australia. Given that insurance and regulations are...
Yesterday was the October St Ives cars and coffee event. I was free on the day and went along in my Citroen DS. After rain and showers for the last few days, the weather was really nice and the ground wasn’t wet or muddy. The previous weather may have kept people away as numbers were a bit down compared to last time I went. ...
Last night was the September 2026 Night Drive. We revisited a route we last tried in July of 2024. The drive focused on the roads north of Wisemans Ferry. We met up at Hawkins Lookout, as with last time. Unusually, it was quite busy, being used a staging point for a roadworks crew. We left before they started. The route took us north from...
Today was the annual French car show. The event was traditionally held around bastille day in July at Silverwater Park. However, like the issues with the German Car show at Gough Whitlam park, the council would cancel the event at the first sign of moisture. Last year they moved it to September. I didn’t attend as it was on the same day as the...
I attended the National Holden Museum in Coffs Harbour earlier this month. It is quite a new museum, established after the previous Holden Museum in Echuca closed down in 2024. While a lot of the cars in that museum were on loan, the permanent collection was sold off by Burns and Co. Apparently the owner of this museum purchased a decent number of the...
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