Nullarbor car antique/ruin

Submitted: Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 14:33

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Member - Cruiser74

Hi folks,

I was going through my phone yesterday and found this short video I took whilst crossing the nullarbor earlier this year which I had completely forgotten about. I can't remember which road house this was at but I had been reading the "Across the Bight and Nullabor" book and saw an old picture of the Brush car used by Birtles on their crossing in 1912. When we stopped for fuel I saw this old thing on display outside and wondered if it is possibly the shell of the original vehicle.

I wouldn't think such a great piece of history would just be left out there to rot but given it has a "For Sale" sign on it with a hefty price tag (possibly just a joke/graffiti) I couldn't help but wonder. Any ideas? Apologies for the shaky video as it's just taken on my phone.

Craig

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Reply By: allein m - Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 15:37

Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 15:37

There is a show that has been on Austar tv few times about the car history in Australia and back in the early day there were doing those trip s into the remote part of the country

And the big one was people trying to get from Melbourne to Sydney the fasted from day one one guy got 20 or more punctures and the speeds on those roads

I would love to see a 2014 Ford or Hyundai do the same time on the exact roads they would not get a 100k before falling apart

And the guy that did the first trip From Adelaide to Darwin no road just make your own he broke down and had to return after getting more money and another car to fix the original one

And the all female garage in Melbourne

It is a fascinating to see John Eric Murray (‘Gelignite Jack’)
/biography

I wonder how Health and Saftey officers would rate him these days

AnswerID: 532696

Reply By: Shaker - Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 17:51

Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 17:51

There is a Brush Runabout in the car museum in Wynyard TAS,
Interestingly they have timber chassis rails & I believe the first vehicle to use coil springs, which were underslung.

AnswerID: 532702

Reply By: 671 - Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 18:17

Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 18:17

I can remember hearing people still talking about the exploits of this bloke back in the 1950s. It is absolutely unbelievable what they did in those cars and on those "roads" in the early days of motoring.http://www.nwvs.org/CarPhotos/NN043/SHEERWIZARDRY.pdf

There is also a lot of info about the Redex trials for those young enough to remember. To think we are told we have to modify today's cars to drive over the same roads.http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/1954-redex-trial/clip2/

AnswerID: 532703