Sunday, Feb 12, 2017 at 20:57
" Prior to the joining of the rails, the only way people and good could get into Western Australia was by foot, camel teams or ocean steamers, as motor vehicles could not get fuel on the goat track that crossed the Nullabor at that time."
There was at least two cars that got through prior to 1917. One was driven by Francis Birtles in 1912. The car was an American Brush with a single cylinder 10 hp engine, coil spring
suspension front and rear and a wood chassis. They had pre arranged fuel supplies to be waiting for them at regular intervals.
It took them 28 days to drive from
Fremantle to
Sydney.
In 1915 a Studebaker driven by Hugh Fraser, P.W. Armstrong and
John Burton took only 9 days to do the same trip. They had fuel waiting for them in some
places but they could not arrange for any at Balladonia so they carried an additional 100 litres from Kalgoorlie to take them from Baladiona to their next stop.
Some of the spares they carried were two rear axles, one front stub axle, one front spring, piston rings, magneto parts, an assortment of nuts, bolts, screws, split pins, and a piece of sheet copper and rivets to repair any holes in the engine crankcase.
The car weighed 1400 kg but when loaded for this trip it was 2500kg.
I can't help thinking life was a bit more exciting in those days.
This information came from the book titled "Australians On The Road " by Pedr Davis 1979.
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