The VW man (AKA Bruce) asked us if we knew about a clearing sale near Wagga and if we were going. Clearing sale?? Show me the details man!!!
So one email later, I had the details. I read through them, forwarded onto the boss and then told him that we were going...Maybe I should be called the boss now?
The clearing sale was on Saturday 12th May – gates open 8am with the auction starting at 10.00am. We filled up with the truck with gas, hooked up the trailer because we were not coming home empty, and its best to take both the truck and trailer just in case, plugged the destination into the GPS and got a fist full of dollars. We were set for the road trip of a lifetime………. Well this weekend anyway.
At some god unearthly hour, way way before the Kookaburra’s rose, we showered and left home. Our first stop was Yass for an early morning wakeup coffee and breakfast. The McFranchise was empty so the odds of getting a decent coffee at that hour seemed good, or so we thought. The coffee smelt of burnt plastic and tasted about the same. The Hot chocolate was reasonable, so being the caring sharing person I gave the hot chocolate to the boss. Maybe it was the sweetness of me offering him the hot chocolate, or him trying to get the taste of the burnt coffee out of his mouth, either way the faces he was making were pretty awesome.
The GPS decided the best way to get to Marrar. Where is Marrar you ask?? It’s about 40kms from Wagga. Don’t ask me in which direction, as I wasn’t navigating – which was probably a good thing since it was so early.
All the destructions said that it was half way between Coolamon and Marrar – so we took the GPS’s advice. It told us to turn right, go through Gundagai, turn into Junee and follow the road. While we travelling near Junee, we spotted about 30 or so Holdens. Because they were Holdens, we kept on driving.
Eventually 280kms from home, we found Marrar and the signs to the clearing sale. It was like everyone in town and beyond were there. I don’t think the local P&C were equipped for the number of people that eventually turned up – it was over 500.
We stood there in awe and looked over the pallets and paddocks full of vintage car heaven. I think that everyone who was into old cars was there, The drool from the guys was enough to make the dead grass grow.
Anyone want a flathead engine? Take your pick – there were about 20 of them. Also included in the clearing sale were tractors, farming equipment, aerolight’s, chev trucks, ford trucks, dodge trucks, ford sedans, holden wagons, a ZD sedan, wine barrel trucks and more. Apparently the beer barrels are not called beer barrels, but now called wine barrels because wine has more class……..
The auctioneer was a wizz. I guess he had done this once or twice before. I had my eye set out on a few things, like a set of antique wheels that would make a great garden ornament. We were willing to go to about $30 or so, and we made our bid. $70 later, the wheels were not ours.
The next thing I wanted was a golf cart on steroids called a Farm Cart. I knew it was a farm cart because that’s what it said on the side of it. It was fully optioned with air conditioning and had stop and go on the pedals so you wouldn’t get confused as to which one to press. We had our price set and didn’t go over. In fact we didn’t even get to bid as the starting price was $1000. It eventually sold for $3500.
The bidding was fast and furious
Chev Horse truck $2000
2 door Kombi $2200
37 Beer barrel $4100
Ford Ex Army truck $3200
48 Ford Truck $5600
White Kombi $500
ZD Fairlaine $2600
39 Chev Sedan $2100
39 Ford Coupe Ute $950
Green Beer Barrel truck $3000
And one of the last things to go was the T Model. It went for $4100. We didn’t realise that everything on the farm was for sale, including all the sheds and the shipping container.
We had bid on one of the above items, and we won. So after the bidding of the T Model ended, we loaded up the old girl on the trailer and headed home. We had to tape some of the doors shut, and put rope around the handles so they didn’t fly open. We made it home in one piece.
The trip seemed to go really fast on the way home.
I guess that’ s because I was asleep most of the way.
