History
The 1924 Ford Model T Special "Whistling Dixie" spent fifty years as a lowered racing special in South Australia and in West Australia, then competed briefly in NSW in historic events in the early 1990s driven by me and by Dean Frye. In 1994 we rebuilt it to satisfy a challenge to drive, unaccompanied, around Australia using some of the route used by Francis Birtles in the 1920s - much of it unsealed and rarely used. The car's undercarriage and running boards were raised, with 12" added to the shortened chassis, and had a specially constructed lightweight three seat body with an integral tool compartment under the hood and sitting over the engine and cowl, long range fuel and water tanks either side of the single rear seat, dual batteries and various other special equipment. The mudguards were made with open steel frames covered with canvas, which proved very successful. In 1995, Dean and I drove it over 45,000kms right around Australia, visiting over 90 regional towns to work as we went. The car performed amazingly well, and we often stopped to assist drivers in modern 4wd vehicles who had broken down or become stuck. In the course of the year we raised over $40,000 for charity. We arrived home in late November 1995 and the car was used as a daily driver for another two years before work commitments unfortunately required it to be sold. It is now at Middlebrook Station in Scone.
