A Brief History

The Roadster originally came from Lanes Motors, Melbourne, to a farm in St. Arnaud and then on to Geoff Whatmore in Bendigo. I purchased the car in pieces from Geoff in 1983 for $875 and bought it home in 3 large trailer loads.

At that time I had a Bendigo swap meet site next to John Broadbent and Frank Robins, and with their encouragement I spent many swap meets searching for missing parts. I did all the mechanical work myself, ie the chassis, springs, shackles, king pins, tie rod ends, gearbox, multi-disc clutch, differential, back axles and rear brakes. John Broadbent fitted the tyres and tubes, and the 4 cylinder OHV engine was reconditioned by Repco (Bendigo). All of the useable body panels went to Super Strip, Reservoir, for chemical stripping and then on to Mark Rye, Chewton, for the completion of the metal body work.

The plating was done by Endeavour Plate, Glenferrie, and Panels & Performance, Kangaroo Flat, undercoated the metal body work. Graeme Martin, Golden Square, finished the 2 paint pack work and Ken Smith, Castlemaine, finally assembled the car and delivered it to me in November, 1998.

I changed the carby from the original Marvel to a Zenith updraught as suggested by Peter Pinner of the Buick Car Club of Australia.