Sunday, October 6, 2013

Rotary Car Show, Wesley College. 2013


Despite forecasts of rain, Sunday 6 October 2013 turned out to be glorious spring day. Consequently there was a terrific turnout for the 2nd Como Rotary Car Show. 179 cars attended. Here's a selection of some of the highlights.

I got to park the DKW with the Porsche section. Neat!



Gorgeous Porsche 356

The Mercedes-Benz Club were out in force http://www.mbccwa.org.au/

A pair of Mercedes-Benz 220s.

Stylish interior.

NSU's ground breaking Ro80 rotary engined car. Unfortunately the Wankel rotary engine was the car's weak point and after some years of trouble and poor performance they began to break down. Once the engine failed, the car was basically unrepairable, consequently very few Ro80's remain on the road. However, in the 1980s Mazda developed a successful rotary engine, allowing some NSU's to be saved by transplanting in a Mazda engine (which is approximately the same size as the original NSU engine). There are several others scattered around in Western Australia but this is the only one registered for the road.  It is now powered by a Mazda rotary engine.

The NSU's Mazda engine. The engine is surprisingly small for such a large car. But then Auto-Union, who owned NSU, had long experience of manufacturing cars with small, economical engines.

Lotus sportster

Jaguar E racer



French 1925 Amilcar

A couple of Bentley's

MG TCs


1930 Vauxhall T Type Hurlingham


A couple of blower Bentleys. The black Bentley caught fire during an interstate rally in 2003 and was burnt down to the chassis. A heroic restoration managed to get the car back on the road and in the magnificent condition you see it now.

The owner of this 1920s Fiat had a nice set of photos showing the terrible condition it was found. It took three years to restore the car, then the car was almost totally destroyed when a fire swept through his garage. Everything past the firewall was burnt out. Although many people suggested the car was beyond saving, he set about re-restoring the car. It took 18 months full-time effort to complete restoration of the car. It highlights how robust old cars can be and that nothing really is impossible if you're determined (and have a lot of time to spare!)

Plymouth

Rileys

MG TF and Austin-Healy


1948 Lincoln. An amazing machine

1946 Buick and 1950 Holden 48-215


Plymouth Belvedere - aka "Christine"

Jaguars



1951 Bristol Brougham

Facel-Vega - quite a rare French car... why wasn't at the French Car Festival??
Ferrari's

1965 De Tomaso Vallelunga. One of only 2 right hand drive Vallelunga's built. This one features a Lotus engine in the back seat. It would be a very noisy ride!

Mustangs

Valiant Club

Mustang Club

Photos from the Rotary Club - http://comorotarycarshow.com/2013-cars-2/