Western Sydney Historical Truck Club

26 January 2016 - Australia Day at Camden

Details

Hits: 2047

It was a dubious start to the nations big day out.  I arrived just in time to pick up my ride to the celebrations at Camden.  Andy Nash’s latest acquisition, a 1981 Ford F350 fire truck had other plans.  The auto electrician had the truck all day the previous day and had given it the all clear.  Andy had the engine idling for half an hour before driving the truck home. Everything seemed OK.  But this morning was a different story.  The engine would not turn over.  We couldn’t very well go down the road and get a can of “start ya-bastard”.  It wouldn’t have  helped any way!  After analysis the one thing we did not know was the status of the battery - it was “NFG” (no good). 

A booster pack from the tiltray and a battery from the Chev made sure that the firetruck made it to Camden in plenty of time for the street parade.
The parade participants included an acrobatic girls troupe, pipe bands, various car clubs,
tractors and vintage trucks.  The WSHTC team was Number 60 on the program out of 78, so we didn’t have to wait too long before moving down the main street.  
There was another hiccup though.  Andy’s granddaughters arrived and took my place in the fire truck.  Fortunately I found a better place where I could watch and photograph the parade from the tray of Gerry Phillips 1940 Ford.  The view from there was spectacular - 360 degrees - hundreds of onlookers, 10 to 15 deep on both sides of the road. Some children signalled the drivers to sound their horns, others were just in awe of the whole spectacle.
After the parade it was lunchtime and the Camden Lions Club provided “Sausage Turn-overs” (a sausage & onions on a piece of bread with a choice of sauces). This left your other hand free to juggle a can or a bottle of drink.
When it was time to go home the clouds started to leak and by the time we got home the rain was falling heavily.  All in all it was a great day out. Everybody had a lot of fun.  Next year I hope to be doing the driving in my own rig - God willing!!