Macquarie 2010 Classic Cavalcade

A Classic Cavalcade

The Macquarie 2010 Classic Cavalcade run in April was a great day out for many NRMA Classic Car Club Members. John Flower, Vehicle Coordinator for the event, shares his thoughts on the day including who won the People's Choice Award.

The inaugural Classic Cavalcade was held on Sunday April 18th and involved a drive from Parramatta to Goulburn via Berrima. The event, known as the Macquarie 2010 Classic Cavalcade, was organised by the NRMA Classic Car Club in conjunction with the National Trust of Australia (NSW) to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Governor Lachlan Macquarie's rule in New South Wales.

The event was made possible by a grant from the Paul W Butler bequest to the National Trust for the public exhibition of vintage and veteran cars in New South Wales.

The concept of the rally was to visit National Trust properties in New South Wales and allow NRMA Classic Car Club members to take their classic cars on a relaxed drive off the expressways. The event was also held to coincide with the National Trust's Heritage Day in which all properties were open.

Forty-two vehicles took part in the event which started from Old Government House, Parramatta Park. The weather on the day was classic autumn with blue skies, a slight coolness in the morning but beautifully warm as the day progressed.

Among the cars entered were a 1965 Ford Shelby Mustang, a 1964 Bentley Flying Spur, two E-type Jaguars, a 1955 Austin-Healey BN 2, two Austin Healey Mk IIIA Sprites, a rare Triumph Vitesse convertible, three Singer Gazelles, a couple of Ramblers, five MG Bs, a 911 Porsche and a Land Rover Mk III.

Cars began to arrive at Parramatta Park from 7.00am and registration was held at the café in the park where entrants could enjoy a breakfast of egg and bacon rolls or toasted sandwiches, mugs of hot coffee or tea and other delights.

At 8.15am entrants gathered on the lawn in front of Old Government House where they were welcomed by Ian Carroll, President of the National Trust of Australia (NSW). Following Ian's welcome, the event's vehicle co-ordinator John Flower outlined the route for the day, how the route instructions were set out and what to look for in answering the quiz questions.

The start flag was then waved by Ian Carroll with NRMA Classic Car Club patron Colin Bond OAM and the first vehicle out of the gates was the classic NRMA Holden HD Patrol Van driven by NRMA Ambassador Ron Wilton. Following on was the 1909 Scat of Malcolm Garthon with son Jacob riding shotgun, the 1928 Fiat of Gary Powell and the 1926 Studebaker of Joe de Vries.

The route took the cars along Woodville Road to join the old Hume Highway at the "Meccano Set" intersection. From there they travelled to the Cross Roads, along Camden Valley Way and through Camden. After Camden the instructions took them on the original Razorback road to the top of Mount Hercules where they joined a later version of the Razorback at the Anthony Hordern tree.

After Picton the cars stayed on the Old Highway through Bargo and Yerrinbool and then took the Great South Road alongside Mittagong, through Bowral and up Oxley's Hill road to re-join the Old Hume Highway for the final run to morning tea at Berrima.

The venue was another National Trust property, Harper's Mansion, on the hill overlooking the town. There the local committee had prepared delicious scones and jam with tea and coffee. It was a welcome break and marked the end of the "traffic" section of the run. From Berrima to Goulburn would be more country driving.

After an hour's break the cars moved on through Exeter, Bundanoon, Wingello and Penrose to join the Hume Expressway for the last thirty kilometres to Goulburn.

The destination was the historic property Riversdale built on what is now North Goulburn near the gaol but which was in the original township of Goulburn when it was first laid out in Governor Macquarie's time.

At Riversdale the National Trust was holding a Vintage Fair which had started at 11 o'clock with the arrival of the Cavalcade at 1.00pm being a highlight of the day.

In addition to the Cavalcade cars there was also a large roll up of classic cars from Goulburn and district car clubs which added to the tremendous display of vehicles.

After enjoying their lunch, Cavalcade entrants could wander through the house and grounds enjoying all the fun of the fair.

All visitors were invited to make their choice of the best car in the Cavalcade display and the winner was Gary Powell's brilliant 1928 Fiat Tourer. The car looked immaculate and his crew of Margaret Powell, Amanda Powell and Lisa Waldner were always smiling - even on the side of the road on the way home after the event when the Fiat failed to proceed - for a while! Gary won the People's Choice trophy and petrol vouchers to the value of $100.

Neil Mason's beautiful 1969 Daimler V8 250 came a very, very, close second. Neil's car has only 49,000 kilometres on the clock. He was thrilled to learn that the Daimler was so popular taking pride of ownership to a new level!

The NRMA Classic Car Club patron, Colin Bond OAM together with the President of the National Trust (NSW) Ian Carroll presented the People's Choice Award to Gary Powell and thanked everyone for taking part in the day.

NRMA Board member Alan Evans represented NRMA Motoring & Services.

Many entrants have sent messages indicating how much they really enjoyed this new event and the National Trust has indicated it would like to organise a similar event in April 2011 with a different National Trust property as the destination.

Thanks must go to the team from NRMA Motoring & Services and the National Trust (NSW) who helped organise the lead up and the day and to Greg Burke, Alan Daly and Les Robards - the marshals at all venues.

John Flower, Vehicle Coordinator, 2010 Classic Cavalcade