God looked down upon the small country town of Murrabit and decreed that the seventh day shall be filled with polished chrome, flat top pistons, and lumpy cam. Well, maybe it wasn’t so much God, but I would suggest there was some divine intervention to arrange such a collection of motor mana. On Sunday, car clubs from Deniliquin, Echuca, Swan Hill, and Kerang gathered for the National Motoring Day at the iconic Murrabit Market site.

Cars spanning from the 1920s, right through to the year 2000, and even some bikers had braved the cold breeze to show off their wheels.

Catching my eye was a 1970 Falcon owned by Lloyd and Kristine Healey. Originally heading from his home in Congupna to Melbourne, Lloyd was seeking to purchase a second-hand V8 Falcon.

“ I went down to Melbourne there to actually buy one, a second hand one, and this car was sitting in a Chrysler dealership down there.”

“It was brand new. It had been won in a raffle from someone in Deniliquin but they didn’t like Ford’s.”

“It was less than the car I was looking at, because the one I was looking at was V8, and I thought, “can’t go wrong with a new car.”

For the past 55 years the Falcon has been in the loving care of the Healey’s, towing a caravan around Australia for family holidays, being the main family car until the early 2000’s.

“Oh it’s been magic. It’s still got the original running gear. Never been touched.” said Lloyd

That’s right 243,557 miles, yes miles, or 391967km’s untouched. The exterior and interior of the car are also original, and outstanding.

“It’s been a good car. It’s probably starting to get a bit tired now, at those miles, but I’ll just keep driving it until it really says it’s had enough. I’d go to Perth tomorrow in it, for sure. Actually, we had a trip organised. It was a dozen of us going to Perth when Covid hit. I had it all organised, and I was going to take it.”

“It’s towed a caravan all around Australia. Actually, been over to Perth and Cairns when the kids were little. We used to go away every year somewhere for a holiday with a caravan,” said Lloyd.

While just as pretty, the 1926 Dodge Roadster of Russell Monk hadn’t always looked as shiny.

“I bought it in the 90s from Gisborne. It was just a load of rusty bits.”

“And then been working on it ever since,” said Russell.

With a little four-cylinder engine, a manual gearbox, the Dodge will cruise at a comfortable 40 miles per hour.

“I had to rebuild everything, it is the engine, the gearbox, the diff, the whole lot.”

“A mate helped me paint it, and then I just got the roof done about two weeks ago. So, it’s nearly finished.”

I asked Russell how he survived building a car for so long with a significant other in the picture.

“Well, I registered it in her name. I don’t have to ask anymore, it’s her car.”

Moving on to the time of the space race, I couldn’t help but find out more about Peter Innis’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird. This stunningly beautiful sports car screams space race with its rocket thruster-inspired tail lights and cool chrome fins. Peter, a wealth of knowledge on the Thunderbirds, gave me the low down on this little V8 auto beauty.

“It’s a 1956 Thunderbird, which is the second model they produced. I’ve had it for probably 25 years, I suppose, and restored it all. It was all pretty well rusted out when I got it.” said Peter

Peter explained that he always had an interest in the Thunderbirds, particularly the earlier, smaller ones.

“These ones are especially good because, well, that’s the first of them. They were the small ones.” These small Thunderbirds packed a fairly serious punch with a 312 cubic inch Y-block V8 borrowed from the Ford Customline. The car also featured a number of mod-cons like power steering, powered seats, and although not present in this particular car, power windows were available!

“These are good because you can put the roof down as a sports car, and it also has a fibreglass hard top that goes with it. The white fibreglass top matches the body and you’ve got the best of both worlds.”

Open top, rag top or hardtop, the 1956 had every situation catered for. Peter pointed out that the year also had a unique feature: a spare tyre mounted on the rear bumper.

“It wasn’t on 55 as the spare wheels were inside the boot. They took up too much space, way too much space, and everyone complained about the space problem in the boot.”

“They pulled the spare wheel out and mounted it on the back there, and put that special guard around it so that it would be protected. You just release a handle here, and it just tilts itself back.”

The rear-mounted spare wheel only lasted a year with the 1957 model growing a longer boot and larger fins to mount the spare on a 45-degree angle internally.

The crowd enjoyed live music by the band Dmenshe, a BBQ put on by the Murrabit footy club and a Girl Guide cake stall, adding to the day.

Thanks to the Kerang & District Vintage Motor Club Inc for hosting the event at Murrabit, which was sponsored by the Federation V.V. & C.V.C. Inc.

See all the pictures from the event in the issue.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 22 May 2025.