Benny and the Baz

The joys of driving long-distance in a classic car. Before we start: Benny is our fully-restored 1979 Volvo 242GT, and The Baz is our son Jared’s “rat look” 1990 Volvo 240. Both cars were fully serviced and checked over before we left for Victoria and Canberra.

Our reasons for heading to these destinations was to attend the National Volvo Rally of Australia in Echuca and The OzVolvo Nationals in the ACT.

My wife Claire and I set off at 8am on Wednesday 23 October to meet with another couple, Ken and Dany, also travelling in a Volvo 242GT, at about 9am at Blacksoil with the intention of making our first overnight stop at Narrabri. Jared planned to leave at 2.30am Thursday morning and catch us further south. The first leg to Narrabri was relatively uneventful, with just one stop at Goondiwindi for fuel and food. However we did have one little misadventure while travelling through Boggabilla. While marvelling at and counting the number of burnt-out houses in the town (there were nine by our count) we missed the Newell Highway turn and drove for about 15km before we realised we were on the Bruxner Highway heading for Tenterfield. Disaster averted, we arrived safely in Narrabri for a comfortable overnight stay.

We headed off at about 9am next morning knowing that Jared would probably catch us somewhere around Dubbo, all going well. We were hoping to get to Parkes or Forbes for our next overnight stop. As we were coming into Dubbo we got a call from Jared to tell us that a piece of metal flicked up by a semi had
torn the end out of his rear muffler, and the tailpipe was hanging down. He’d done a bush repair with some metal cable ties which seemed to be holding okay.

We waited for him at a garage on the south side of Dubbo, and as we saw him approach and stop at a nearby red light he was also spotted by a friend of his
who lived in Dubbo, who then followed Jared to our meeting point. Jared’s friend was Neil Hallinger, owner of RPM Performance and Mechanical in Dubbo and who, after finding out about Jared’s problems, happily offered to fix the issue.

We agreed that Claire and Ken and Dany would continue on in the GTs and Jared and I would meet them in Forbes later. Nothing seemed too much trouble for
Neil, who put The Baz up on a hoist and set to work. Before long a second-hand muffler was fitted, and Jared’s trademark “flapper” exhaust was back in place. For all of this Neil refused to take payment for his time and trouble. So please, if you ever have any trouble in Dubbo or nearby, give RPM a call. I’m very sure that Neil will always be willing to help. I drove The Baz on to Forbes while Jared had a rest, and we arrived about two hours after the others.
The next day, Friday, as we were about to leave on the final leg to Echuca, The Baz would not start (battery). A set of jumper leads solved that issue, but that was not the whole problem. It was discovered that the alternator was sitting at a strange angle and the belts were very loose.

Further inspection showed that the alternator bushes were non-existent (turned to powder), with only the metal sleeve still there. We tried the local auto electrician (a very rude individual), Repco and several others to source the bushes, all to no avail. In desperation we tried the Forbes Wreckers, who had about four boxes of bushes. We found a couple that were the right outer diameter but too big on the inner diameter.

Some skilful (??) cutting, the old sleeves, some electrical tape and a well-thought-out bush fix solved the problem. Echuca here we come, arriving mid to late
afternoon, just in time for the first of the activities of the National Rally, the Meet and Greet.

Saturday saw us covering about 80km around the district, visiting a lot of the silo art examples and the local War Memorial. All very stirring, to say the least.

Other Rally participants availed themselves of a paddle steamer and lunch cruise on the mighty Murray River. The afternoon, for all, was spent washing and
shining our cars for the Rally.

Sunday was Show and Shine day, followed in the evening by the presentation of awards. This bi-annual event, organized this time by the Victorian Volvo
Club, is predominantly sponsored by Volvo Cars Australia and is run on a rotational basis by the various Volvo car clubs from each State.

The Show and Shine featured just about every model Volvo from the 1950s onwards, starting with a mid-fifties D544 historic race car right up to the very latest
all-electric Volvos and everything in between. The overall presentation and variety of all the cars was exceptional and the venue for the event, in a shady park on the banks of the Murray River, was perfect.

The presentation dinner, which was held in an old converted commercial garage, was a fitting culmination to a very enjoyable weekend. Good food and good cheer were the order of the day. The “smallish” group of Queenslanders who attended did quite well in the awards categories by bringing home a few National trophies. Two People’s Choice awards (Volvo Cars Australia and Shannons) were presented to Volvos from Queensland.

For all of Jared’s troubles in getting to the event he and The Baz were presented with the Hard Luck Trophy, a most fitting award. Benny was awarded a runner-up trophy in the 242GT/262C class, coming second to a 262C by one point. Suffice to say Benny is still considered to be the best “standard” 242GT in the country.

The last event of the Nationals before we all departed was a hearty breakfast sponsored by Michael Bennett from Volv of Adelaide. Jared, Ken and Dany and Claire and I then headed for Albury, where Ken needed to have his main fuel pump replaced, and Steve Tanner, a Volvo mechanic there, was the only tech in
the area to have one.

After staying overnight Ken and Dany departed for Brisbane, while we decided to stay one more night and used the day to explore Glenrowan and Ned Kelly Country. There is certainly plenty to see. On Wednesday 30 October we headed for Cooma, our next overnight stop.

While traversing the Snowy Mountains Highway at Kiandra I heard an unusual whistling noise coming from under the car, and by the time I said to Claire “That’s a strange noise” it had become a very loud howl. I found a safe place to pull over and on inspection found a lot of oil leaking from the pinion seal area of the diff. Diagnosis … one cactus differential, 70km from Cooma. Thank God for being Platinum Members of RACQ (NRMA) as they quickly arranged a flatbed truck to take us to Cooma where, surprise, surprise, there was a very good Volvo mechanic who agreed to help us out. Jared was just thankful it wasn’t The Baz on the back of the tow truck this time.

At Alpine Auto Repair Gerhardt (Gary) Prosser said he would try to have it replaced/repaired by the following morning. We already had accommodation booked in Cooma, so it was no real inconvenience. As luck would have it my diff was terminal and, unfortunately, the replacement diff was found to be faulty as well. Another diff was sourced from a wreck, but another night was required to complete the repair.

We were already booked into Canberra, 115km away, and as we were unable to fit everything, ourselves included, into Jared’s car we decided to hire a car, take all of our gear there and come back the next day to pick up the GT. Gary, good to his word, had everything ready to go and once he was paid we were on our way. The only little quirk is that now the GT revs 500rpm slower than at the same speed as before. Better fuel economy maybe?

Canberra was for the most part uneventful (carwise, that is) but very enjoyable socially. The OzVolvo Nationals are more for modified Volvos and much less for the purists, with some stunning examples of ingenuity, attention to detail and fine workmanship. Benny scored points in Best in Show but did not figure in the final results, while The Baz was given the Honorary Defect Award (the car most likely NOT to make it home) for the fifth time in succession. Suffice to say it
DID make it home, albeit after replacing the MAF Sensor and disconnecting the kick down cable. Side note: The Baz also got third in Best in Show.

Just after midday on Sunday 3 November, after a tour around Canberra and a visit to the War Memorial, we headed for home, stopping overnight in Kempsey. We left Kempsey at 9.15am the following morning and pulled into our own driveway at 1.50pm that afternoon. Unpacking done … time to finally relax.

Man it’s good to sleep in my own bed!

Source : “The Bayside Vehicle Restorers Club Inc. Magazine”