Here in my car
Posted on Monday 17th September 2007
As something different, we visited the Birdwood Motor Museum today.
Located in a small town in the Adelaide Hills, it boasts the finest collection of classic and vintage cars in Australia, and maybe even one of the best in the world. They have impeccable examples of some of the first cars ever built including an old de Dion-Bouton from the Peking-to-Paris race era. Unsurprisingly since there is a Holden factory in Adelaide they had many great examples of that brand, but also many classic British cars including a good range of Austins, Leylands and MGs. Then on the drive back we were fortunate to see a 1967 Corvette Stingray on the motorway before it zoomed off in a blast of V8 rumble.
It was a great opportunity to see some truly unique cars of their era. Many have lasted well in the dry climate of South Australia which is kinder on delicate metallic parts than the harsh European weather and, or course, the roads rarely need to be gritted here. It helps if you are a petrol-head as most people would yawn at such a place, but I felt a sense of history seeing the progression of technology from very humble beginnings to the vehicles we take for granted today.
In a couple of weekends there is the annual Bay-to-Birdwood run, which will be another opportunity to see some more classics that have been squirrelled in someone’s garage all year. If we go for a gander I’ll put up some more photos, speaking of which the rest of my snaps from today can be found here.
