A taste of things to come...
I'm a car nut, and love to talk/write about them, so expect to see a lot of posts related to Australian Motor Vehicles.
This post is just a random facet of many more things to come, as I plan on starting an Australian Motoring series...
Foreword
As a boy growing up in rural Australia, cars were not only seen to be a necessity, but also a way of expressing one's self. Often being more than 100km to the nearest town, your car was your lifeblood, and more often than not, your way of life too.
I grew to see cars as not just an automobile, but a blank canvas for creating exactly what you need and want. You can paint them any colour, fit them with any engine you like (within reason) and make any modifications you need, to enhance your driving life.
Rural Driving...
You might do a lot of night running along the deserted highways, so you'll kit your rig out with a reinforced "Bullbar", and great powerful lights, or you could end up like this bloke...
Here's a well-kitted country rig, in it's natural environment.
Now, there's sense in the way this one's kitted. Heavy and fully reinforced bullbar, with big driving lights behind steel mesh, to protect the massive investment in his safety. Offroad terrain tyres that would handle almost any terrain, and of course a sturdy and reliable 4WD system to back you up in an emergency. Snorkel fitted for higher air intake, meaning he can now cross waters up to that level without intaking water into the engine. You'll also notice a Spotlight mount on the roof (often used for night time pest control hunting) where he can attach a very powerful light and it's controlled by a swivel handle in the cabin (which is the yellow handle you can see through the windscreen). Of course, we can't forget the UHF antenna for picking up UHF and CB radio, a must in remote locations where there's no cellular signal.
You'll see in the top picture the Kangaroo went straight into the middle. Not an unusual sight, as they see two lights heading at them, and attempt to go between them. By putting lights into the middle, it creates a full "bar" or light, leaving him no choice but to go to either side, or up and over, which usually results in them being clipped at the bottom by said bullbar and flipping over the roof. Of course, this can also mean they end up in the cabin with you, rather distraught, kicking and clawing their way "out". Here's a video demonstrating the way they'll jump up over your lights to get away...
As you can probably tell, it's not always a pretty sight, that guy was lucky he was going so slow.
This lady, not so lucky...
This is a VZ Commodore Wagon, the very same car I drive daily.
So that's just one of the many dangers of driving in the Country. Kangaroos are everywhere and you never know where you'll encounter one. At 31, and driving since I was 16, I've only ever hit 1 'roo but avoided many many more, even at great speed.
My one and only...
This one happened to hit me (not the other way around), he was sitting on an embankment beside the road, some 20 ft above the road itself. A rigid cattle truck was heading at me in the opposite lane so I had nowhere to go, when he dove down the embankment and bounced into the front quarter panel of my car. He hit between the headlight and front wheel with his chest, head smashing into the bonnet (hood), and then bounced his way up the side of the car, damaging every panel and plastic on the way along. The impact rocked the car and scared my front passenger awake with a girly shriek, who was long asleep from jetlag, and awoke to see a 'roo's head smash into the windscreen right in front of him.
The car wasn't that bad, with a metal pole I managed to wedge the panel off the tyre so I could drive home (some further 80km away), there was evidently something bent in the steering, so I babied it all the way. I don't have any photos of this, as it wasn't my proudest moment, and the first "mark" on an immaculate driving record. The car was written off by the insurance company simply because the cost of all panel repairs and full body respray was higher than the agreed value on the car. The car in question was a VT Commodore.
Which after the insurance paid out, we bought a VZ Commodore Wagon, as we live a long way from the nearest shopping hub, and we need to do a monthly stock-up (which fills this machine to it's brim!)
These are great cars to drive, and a staple of Australian Motoring. Our Wagon has had a new engine and gearbox fitted (which I built, prepared and fitted myself) and mostly everything underneath it replaced with uprated items, for a more comfortable ride and of course, improved stability and control.
More about me, and my cars...
I've done 3 levels of Defensive Driver Training, one more step up and I'd be qualified to instruct these courses. Having this training not only made me more skilled as a driver, but also made me really look at the mortality of us, and our beloved cars. As a red-blooded Aussie Boy I always wanted to be a racecar driver, but my family wasn't financial enough to support it.
Besides this car, I also have two other Commodores. They will be featured in stories of their own soon, so I'll try not to give much away, but they're both V8 powered and manual transmission, and both need a bit of work...
The Future...
I also plan on doing pieces not only about Australian Cars and Motoring, but also more about the Motorsport Aspect that bred our car culture and created iconic Aussie Muscle cars, that to this day, are still revered upon.
I'm a typical Aussie, I love my cars, I love my V8's and I love to just get out there and enjoy some kilometers. Driving is such a wonderful way to be free, and with such a large country we're spread across, there is many varied types of vehicle and usages, creating some very unique machines indeed. Hopefully I can cover the things people want to read about, something to enjoy and inform at the same time...
Look out for more posts about cars, and related material.
If you have any suggestions of anything you wish me to cover, leave a comment. I'd be more than happy to give it a go.
NOTE: I do not own the cars pictured, I used google to provide examples only...
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings, I didn't really have any idea where to begin and just went from there, and now I have a whole new idea of what I want to write about... Hope you enjoyed!
Keep an eye out for my new tag #bobloggin which I'll use to link these related posts together, and keep them in a nice convenient area for you to peruse at leisure...
Thanks again,
