Recent old car hunting trip.
 

Well a few weeks ago work took me into the APY Lands, you all know how much of a car chaser I am so along with work I planned on a bit of a car and part hunt.
I will start out by advising that there is/was a Valiant Charger at a community called Kanpi (50kls south of sa/nt border & 120kls east of wa/sa border), I had seen and inspected the vehicle on previous trips, the body is shagged but had a decent interior with all trims and a tacho dash, So with the plan of bringing the entire car home (after obtaining permision) I loaded up with trailer, wheels wheel nuts winch, tools, oxy set, tie downs and a jack.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14448.jpg

I headed out on a Sunday morning, the plan was to drive the 370kls of sealed road, then head into the bush, this would leave me with 200 of dirt to reach Kanpi, I had spoken to the store manager and had organised to lock the trailer up at his house. I left home at 10am which got me to Kanpi at 4pm, I told teh store guy to expect me at about 4. Here is a picture with trailer in tow.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14449.jpg

I went straight to the store and unloaded the trailer then figured I would go to the dump and check on the Charger, well disapointment set in as I drove into teh dump, I could see that they had had a tidy up in teh community and there was an extra 20 or so cars in there, and at some stage teh kids had torched them, well the cars where all lined up and teh charger was at the end of teh line, so now the interior was burnt out, "FU@K".

Now I am pissed off and thinking I will have dragged this trailer 1000kls (round trip) for nothing, I then remebered about an old EK ute that I had also chased permission to drag home, it would add about 100kls of dirt road but 100kls less sealed road.

I then continued on my way to Kalka (50kls south of sa/nt border & 5kls east of wa/sa border, I offcourse stopped along the way and checked cars as I went, well stupid me (now that I had no trailer) decided I would drive to any cars I spotted. The roads had been recently graded and there was a 5 foot high ridge of loose dirt on road edges, still fuming over the Valiant I drove over 1 of the edges without checking first and got "Beached as Bro" http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14457.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14459.jpg
These pics where taken after I had tried to dig it out for about 1.5 hrs, when I first got stuck the L/H front wheel was about 18 inches above the ground, anway after all that digging I figured I would be there another 2 hors of digging, so I pulled out the sat phone and rang a nurse at Pipalyatjara (near Kalka) She was only about 30kls away, when she arrived it was just a case of attaching the snatch strap, 1 tug and it was out.
I stayed overnight at Kalka and would be for a few nights so I got teh house all cleaned up and organised etc, next mornng I had to drive to Pip clinic (10 kls away), there are 2 ways to Pip from Kalka, I decided to take the back road as it is generally less corrugated, I have travelled this road about 10 times but spotted a car I have not noticed before, it was a long way (150 metres) from the road edge, I spotted the color and some painted on stripes, as I was getting closer I realised it was a Charger.
This is what I found when I got there.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14470.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14466.jpg

The ducktail on my Charger is a little rusted and dented so I decided to cut the back off this one out.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14471.jpg

I then checked it out a little more, Number 54 of the line, so she was an early one.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14474.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14473.jpg

This was Monday night, I had also been told about an old Chrysler ute out at a disused mine site, so after being some rough instructions (left at big washout, right at leaning tree, look for truck on horizon looking east etc),
So Tuesday after finishing the work stuff I headed out to where the mine site, the mine is near Wingalina in WA, it is about 10 kls into WA.
Following the directions I managed to find it, here is teh "big truck on horizon"
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14476.jpg

Then it was a short drive down the hill to reach the ute.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14480.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14481.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14484.jpg

Then Wednesday I headed over to another clinic and did a few days of work stuff there and was all done by Friday night, Saturday morning was a few hours cleaning the accomodation ( I like to leave the places cleaner than I arrived) and then off to the EK ute.
On the way I spotted this through some trees.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14499.jpg

Being an old Datsun man I spotted the spot lights and wondered if it had been tinkered with and had a motor with different intake etc, so I popped the bonnet to find this.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14504.jpg

Sadly the carbie is damaged and melted, but the intake seems ok, and there might be bits in the weber I can get out to sell?

Then I continued on to the ute, forgot to get pictures while there but here it is at home.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14507.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...0/SDC14509.jpg

If you want to see all the pics then go here.
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/j...%20May%202010/

Here's another one for Dave.
 

I have an unregistered Cobra here Dave that you can pick up as you drive by.

Baz

If it is the same price as the ones I have picked up, I will take it.

I reckon there may be an influx of NT Aussie post mail boxes sold soon :)

Baz ,

Would that be your NEW race Cobra??:D

complete with bullet holes, well done.

Funny story but back in November when I was chasing permission to bring the car home, the guy who is the elder in the community told me the car used to be used for running grog 30 odd years ago.

Into the dry communities :)

Just shows the NT is better than Texas for old cars!

next trip out collect that Chrysler ute 's grille. Customs are becoming big again in the USA and that grille will be worth a bit when the craze filters down to OZ.

If I had the trailer with me I would have dragged the whole ute home. (it was 250kls roundtrip away)

Very interesting thread Dave. You certainly have some great adventures!

I wonder how many VE Commodores will be salvaged for 'custom' work in 50 years time? %/

Boxhead

Well done mate. Hope you got permission to remove the cars from the elders. You know land rights and all..:3DSMILE:

Mmmm they may come and claim them back once restored..%/

I hope there was lube...
 

Gotta love nurses

;)

Great post BTW

LoBelly

Now thats a hunting trip.....that looked like tons of fun.....
I to go old car hunting and liveing in the midwest theres
a lot of old junk around hidden in trees and barns and down
in ckeek beds and sometimes the old farmers will tell us "we can
have it if we can get it out of there"......we can get some
really cool stuff around here sometimes....awesome trip and
thanks for takeing us along...

I wonder how many VE Commodores will be salvaged for 'custom' work in 50 years time? %/

Your kidding aren't you!!
Cheers

I enjoy getting out there and looking around.

Have not seen any VE's yet, but there are some VX's popping up.

Once the cars are at the tip they become the property of APY management, I have permission from them to scrounge teh dumps.

A car on the side of the road is open slather, unless there is a lump of tree on it, If your car stops and you are comming back for it, then put a lump of Mulga tree on the roof or bonnet, this means "I am coming back to get it, do not pull me apart"

Any vehicles on "Homelands" you need to ask the owners.

I asked the elder in the nearest community regarding the EK ute as it has been there so long it is almost a landmark.

Regarding rego, as long as there is no monies owed against the chassis number, then all I need to do regarding re-registering is proove to teh MVR that I have intent in restoring the vehicle and it can be registered in my name, intent can be as minor as reciepts for parts purchased for vehicle showing I am willing to spend money on teh vehicle as I intend to own it.

It is alot of fun.

I am awaiting the day when I find something a little more rare or valuable.

I am planning a trip mid July and have been given some tips on car locations.
I have been told about a place where there are 2 Chargers, one was mentioned as being a 6 pack, so hope is it will be an R/T or Esomething.
Also been told where there are a couple of FJ sedans.
And also a John Goss hardtop (but this is only hear say at the moment)
In July I will be close to the locations of the Chargers and they are on homelands, I will be going with a community elder from nearby community, he is the one who told me about them.

Now that is old school COMMUNICATION...!!! Do different tree types de-note a diff message..:p
The chrome work on that Chrysler Ute Bumper/grille looked to be in pretty good nick!!

OZ

It works though, so no issue with it.