Fletch is in Junee, NSW visiting the GasWorks Garage Museum located appropriately in an old gasworks building. The museum is home to a collection of interesting motor vehicles and some iconic mechanical devices, including a collection of lawn mowers and the first Victa motor mower from 1953.
First up are two visitors to the museum, Ken and Helen, with their impressive 1983 ZK Fairlane. This car was the first to transition from Ford's traditional V8 to the 4.1 EFI 6 cylinder engine with a C4 Box. It's a beautiful example of this model with very low km's and only the bonnet repainted. Yes, it has a few rattles and squeaks, but they love it. Ken and Helen extoll the car's virtues, saying it still cruises today beautifully.
Next, we meet Roger, the Junee Gasworks Garage Museum owner, whose family has a long legacy in the area. His father, Dan, a motor mechanic by trade, became co-owner of Belfast Motors in 1986 when he was only 23 years of age. Belfast Motors became a Ford Dealership in 1988, and Roger joined his father in the business. So cars were in the family genes, Roger became a collector, and many of these vehicles are now proudly displayed in the Museum. At a glance, Fletch spots Ford models from XK – XP and an EJ Holden.
Fletch then picks a couple of the many interesting cars on display, a 1966 XP Fairmont popular amongst enthusiasts. This one is the super pursuit model with the 200 engine, in original untouched condition with only 63,000 miles on the clock.
Then a real treasure is the 1915 'Tin Lizzie' T-Model Ford with a 2.8 four-cylinder engine. Amazingly they built 15 million of these cars. Roger talks about the versatility of the T-Model and a Birdsville trip, where they covered between 80km and 200km a day, depending on the terrain.
A 6-cylinder Ford Zephyr was one of Roger's family cars. He has many early memories of his mum, dad and the kids touring around in the Zephyr. He recalls stories of the Zephyr's speed, between 90 and 100mph, and he has some unpaid speeding fines as proof.
The Gasworks Garage Museum is well worth a visit if you're in the region or just passing through, and only a gold coin donation for entry.
