Today my boys and I, and a mate of theirs, drove to
Toowoomba, about 2 hrs west, to the Darling Downs Veteran & Vintage Motor
Club’s annual Swap Meet, their 42nd this year. I hadn’t been since
2012, so was absolutely blown away by the increase in numbers this year - not so
impressed by the traffic jam that saw us cover the last 5 km to the Toowoomba
Show Grounds in an hour! Anyway, after we
got through the gate, we had a short pow wow about who was going with who. My son Liam, and friend who had travelled with
us, are both Army mad, so it was decided they would troll the stalls looking
for ANYTHING army, and Callum, (my other son, they’re 15 yo twins), came
with me – Good boy, I needed a pack horse ;-)
I was on a mission this swap meet - I had a shopping list and some cash burning a hole in my pocket. I usually start meandering through
the rows of car parts, brica-brac and other detritus from just near the entry, working
my way uphill to the Vendors pavilion, but this time I went straight to the
top, the Vendors shed. I wanted to score certain new items early then relax and
peruse the old shit ;-) Besides, with Toowoomba Swap being pretty big, I wanted
to get the uphill walking done first, before my legs started to make me feel
old. I checked my list and headed for the various vendors - some were a gold
mine, others struck out, so I moved onto the private stalls with trays and
boxes of every automotive part imaginable. Here I found some new old stock parts
that the vendors couldn’t supply. Callum and I tried to methodically cover as
much ground as possible, and some other gems were uncovered and crossed off my
list. We caught up with the other two who were very keen to show off their
purchases, all military in origin of course, then they decided that all the boys
would head off together, which really suited me. I work better alone ;-) We agreed to meet outside the burger stand in
an hour, so off I went and found my best purchase of the day, a set of front
and rear mudguards – brilliant for the Humber, just brilliant! The ones I have just aren't right, too rounded for the look I;m going for.
After a long two hour drive home with all the boys
asleep, we arrived home with our booty, as the pictures below show. The
mudguards are perfect ! A couple of days work to get them up to scratch, but perfect for the job.
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| The seat taking shape. |
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| The circa 1915 mud guards sitting in place. |
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| The left hand rear guard. |
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My haul below - running board brackets, new front bump stop rubbers, two
gas shock absorbers for the rear and the makings for the sparkplug
leads. Oh, and some new old stock neoprene bushes for the front shocks.
One happy camper ;-)
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| My haul ;-) |
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