Overnight storms did not deter owners of a healthy mix of classic and collector cars from turning out at the annual Fish Creek Show n Shine last weekend.
It was still firm under foot, so with no chance of bogging down, everything from a split window Morris Minor to a Chevrolet Impala took up their positions on the boundary for visitors and fellow owners to check over, dream of what might have been or beat themselves up for letting one get away.
Typically, it was the old Fords, Holdens and Chryslers that caught most of the attention but there were some absolute nuggets out there, which for the trained eye would have set pulses racing.
There cannot be many Morgan MX4 Super Sports Beetle three wheelers in Australia, so to discover one in South Gippsland was a real surprise. Especially when the owner treated a small crowd to the sound of its air-cooled overhead valve Matchless MX engine. The same power unit was famously used on the Brough Superior SS100, which took T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) to his death.
Something else that could quite easily end in death if not handled correctly is the 1989 MG Maestro Turbo. And right there, just a few metres from the Morgan was Australia’s only example.
The car belongs to Stan Harrison of Port Albert who has owned the car for three years. “It’s a bit of terror if I’m honest. The previous owner had all sorts of power upgrades done on it and quite frankly, neither the brakes nor the handling could keep up”, said the retired electrical engineer.
Needless to say, Stan’s in the midst of detuning the car and getting it “back to factory”. David Barrett
