Culture and History in W.A. "We were the First"

[ferrari fan]

Last week ,a book has come out that is a compelation of a very long Investigation after a Journo was made aware of a First in West Australia, to do with Motoring in Australia
If ever a Model of this vehicle will come out ,I would dearly like it.
Title of the Book is" Pioneer of the road ",by John Clydesdale
The story of Australia's FIRST self Powered road vehicle
The Bray Steam Traction self propelled engine car ,was the first road vehicle to operate outside Europe,even before United States
the ISBN 0-9580580547-0-3 and available at The Pitsstop bookshop
So for the very first car in good old Aussie ,there you all go, It wasn't a Holden or a Ford or even a Ferrari but a Bray from good old England ,and what a thumper it was!:D

[ferrari fan]

There are models out in 1/16 of steam traction engine motorised vehicles that can give you a realistic view of this amasing contraption
One is a Ertl made" Case" of about 1910- 1915 era
It is just amazing to see this model next to the latest Monaro in 1/18 or a 1/18 Formula 1 model, and to see the progress that was made in this timeframe
To be able to see the remains of this very first vehicle ,one has only to travel to just above Geralton to actualy see the vehicle

[ET351]

Re: Bray Steam Car

ferrarifan, you may be interested in this. I was watching Foxtel on the weekend (History Channel) when I came across an episode of 'Our Century', presented by Ray Martin. It originally aired on channel 9 a couple of years ago.

The episode was called 'Jump In My Car', and was the story of the car in Australia. The Bray got a very brief mention, but failed to mention WA:(

It was a very interesting 25 minutes, but oh so brief. They could have easily done 24 x 1 hour episodes of great Aussie cars!!!

Great to see someone with a real interest in the history of the ol' "horseless carriages"!

Cheers, ET

[ferrari fan]

It is a great sight to be able to see old Machinery ,like a steamengine or a crude oil tractor running! It is an experience that will make an inpact no matter what age one is nor Gender.
The next time here in W.A. a steamengine will be on song ,will be in two weeks time as some of my clubmembers of the Old Machine Preservation soc. will be at the BIG BOYS TOYS exebition ,and a Large steamengine will be fired up together with some very rare hit and miss stat. engines like the big Akkroyd
the steamengine's nickname is "Arthur" and weight is 8 ton
I unfortunatly cannot be there that weekend but it is worth it to go and see this
the next publik appearance is the Royal Show with all the goodies there in september.