Alan and Kerri's Mklll Zephyr.
After
20 years of looking at a MKIII rolling shell and saying to myself “one day I
will get it back on the road” I finally realised that I did not want to wait
any longer to have a MKIII that we can actually drive and enjoy anytime we want
too. Therefore the hunt was on to find a new Zed car to join our MKII wagon
which is on limited use CH plates.
Of
course once the search began it appeared that not one MKIII sedan worth buying
was available for sale any where within a weeks travel, even though they seemed
to be every where a week or so prior. Eventually we took an interest in a car
located in the island state of Tasmania, which had been advertised in recent
editions of the ZZOCM newsletter. After a few phone calls I contacted the owner
of the car (Brett) and had a long chat to him, Brett offered to send a video
tape over for us to look at and we eagerly awaited its arrival. The tape
arrived a day later and was in the video player quicker than a new release from
Hollywood.
After
watching the tape over and over again, we discussed the car and decided to give
Brett a call back. After considerable discussion we agreed on a price and I got
off the phone wondering “what the hell have we just done”. Kerri and I then
started to wonder how we were going to pick up the car from Tasmania as we live
45 mins west of Melbourne.
Eventually
we decided that we would make a short holiday of the trip and fly down on
Friday, collect the car, enjoy the sites and cruise back to Devonport to board
the ferry on the Sunday night for the journey home. We then realised that it
was to be an interesting trip in more ways than one, I had never flown before,
nor had I been to Tasmania and neither of us had been on the Spirit of Tasmania
ferry before. Travel arrangements were then made and we were puzzled at the
extremely low airfare of $70 each until we realised that it was for Friday the
13th, lucky we weren’t superstitious.
Anyway
the day finally came and we headed off to Tassie to collect our new Zed car.
Once we boarded the plane we were advised that Tasmania was already on daylight
savings time which was several weeks ahead of Melbourne which also explained
why our flight which was an hour in total appeared to be 2 hours on the ticket.
We were met at Launceston airport by Brett who was driving his 1968 Galaxie which
was an experience in itself. After a 15 min drive through Launceston and north
along through the beautiful Tamar valley we arrived at Bretts home in the small
town of Legana.
After
money and paperwork changed hands we roared off down the road to the Legana
Holiday Park which was to be our base for the next two days. Once we settled in
the MKIII got a bit of a going over before we went into Launceston to find a
Supercheap for a few tools to throw in the boot “just in case”. A bit of a
cruise around the lovely town of Launceston was made all the better by the
amount of older cars on the road making use of the Special Interest plate
scheme such as a Morris Minor van, early Volkswagen and several early Fords and
Holdens, alas no Zephyrs to be seen other than our new ride.
That
night we returned to Brett’s for a BBQ and a few cool drinks and he told us of
a mate who owned a very nice MKII sedan and lived a few streets away so
arrangements to meet the owner and see the car the next morning were made.
Unfortunately the owner was called in to work the next day and we were unable
to meet him but were told that we could have a look at the car in the National
Motor Museum in Launceston where it was on public display.
Naturally
we had already planned to visit the museum that morning so things fell nicely
into place. At the museum we were treated to an excellent display of classic
cars and motor bikes and tucked up in the corner with classic Fords, Mercs,
Alfas and other exotics was a lovely early MKII sedan in immaculate condition,
the colour scheme comprised of Purple and pink over light cream and whilst this
may sound odd the car is stunning to say the least.
As
we pretty much had the museum to ourselves the staff invited us to step over
the rope and have a close look at the car and also get some good photos, which
of course we did without hesitation. We later found out that the car belongs to
a member of our own club Mr John Pratt so it was quite disappointing that we
did not get to meet up with him.
For
the rest of Saturday we took in the sites of Launceston including the city
gardens complete with outdoor monkey enclosure the spectacular Cataract Gorge
and Devil‘s Heaven wildlife park. Our Saturday was rounded off with a fantastic
meal at the Legana Tavern.
Sunday
morning was time to start heading home and as the ferry was departing from
Devonport we decided to avoid the freeway and opted for the scenic route along
the Tamar river through recently famous town of Beaconsfield which has
thankfully returned to a quiet little stopover and although mining activity has
not yet resumed it is well worth a visit to the much photographed mine which
houses a very interesting museum of the towns history.
Following
our stop in Beaconsfield Kerri took the wheel again for the journey up over the
mountains (and there is a lot of those in Tassie) to Devonport. It is easy to
see why the Targa Tasmania rally is so popular and so challenging, the winding
roads and long straights constantly tempt you to put the foot down and “let her
have her head” which Kerri did as often as possible. It seemed that every time
you turned a corner you were greeted with fabulous views or lovely rural scenes
as the green countryside contrasts so starkly with our flat brown landscape
back home.
Before
boarding the ferry we took in the nearby towns of Penguin with its big market
and Sheffield with its famous murals which adorn many of the towns buildings.
Finally
the time came to board the ferry and end our all too short stay in Tassie. We
had chosen the cheaper option of business class seats and even though the seats
are quite comfortable spending eleven hours in them is far from relaxing with
sleep being a spasmodic thing at best. We arrived at station pier in Melbourne
at 7am and I took the wheel for the drive off the boat and the 45 minute trip
home along the western Highway to Melton.
The
MKIII performed faultlessly from the time we picked it up until we arrived home
and is now on full registration and proudly wears the plates MYZCAR not only
have I longed to have A MKIII as a regular driver for 20 years I have also had
those plates on hold since 1986.
Anyway
the intention of buying the car has always been to drive it and enjoy it and so
far that is all the near future holds, although the brain is already drifting
off with thoughts of a few go-faster mods and some more traditional trick up
bits and pieces. As I said to someone whilst pointing out the various things
that need attention such as trim and bodywork, if there’s nothing to work on
what’s the point of having a hobby car. Also an extended trip to Tasmania is
definitely on our mind as we only sampled a tiny part of what the island has to
offer and what could be better than ripping around there in the MKIII when its
running really well.