On Friday, April 21, Ernesto cranked up the old 1970 Valiant Pacer hardtop to head to Melbourne to participate in the inaugural Melbourne to MOVE rally.
Sadly the old Pacer developed a death rattle and expired just south of the Goulburn River bridge at Seymour, forcing a rather nervous time sitting in the car in the emergency lane as all sorts of cars and trucks roared past us at 100 or 110km/h until Paddy from the RACV in Seymour turned up to save the day.
While waiting on the side of the road I got a call from another rally participant, who had broken down about 20km further along the Hume.
His Oldsmobile had overheated and was also waiting on a tow.
Ernesto was thinking it was a bit of a bad start to the rally, with two vehicles dead before reaching the starting line.
Paddy was fantastic as he carefully winched the Pacer on to the tray of his vehicle and then drove us back to Shepparton, entertaining us with tales and anecdotes from his home country of Ireland. (RACV ‘Total Care’ is worth every cent, by the way!)
Once back in Shepparton and feeling a little flat we made the decision to grab our old 7 Series Beamer and take that on the rally instead.
We arrived at our accommodation in Maribyrnong exhausted but just in time to watch the second half of Freo v Footscray — a bit one-sided, but a distraction from our car woes.
Next morning we traversed the wild west, eventually finding the starting line at CMV Truck and Bus in Derrimut. This massive operation is well worth a look if you’re out that way.
CMV staff and volunteers welcomed us with barista-made coffee and egg and bacon rolls, while the staff from the Museum of Vehicle Evolution supplied us with our instructions and show bags.
Approximately 40 cars, trucks and buses, including a 1921 Bentley, were lined up behind the first car off, a magnificent red Ford Thunderbird — a fantastic turnout for the first rally.
We moved out from CMV, turning heads all the way to Sunbury then on to the beautiful country around Riddles Creek, Romsey and Lancefield.
Tooborac Hotel was the venue for morning tea, and after a short break we fired up the vehicles and headed towards Seymour then up through the magnificent horse stud country along the Goulburn River to Nagambie and Murchison.
Lunch was catered for by the Little Gourmet Food Co at a beautiful private property near Toolamba, then it was on to Shepparton and the finish line at MOVE.
It was all happening at the finish line, with live music, food and beverages for all and a little time to view the museum and all its exhibits before the official rally dinner upstairs at MOVE.
Ernesto didn’t come away empty-handed, snagging the ‘Most Unfortunate Person on the Rally’ prize for his ‘Valiant’ effort in killing the Pacer.
MOVE is an independent not-for-profit museum and relies on events such as this to help pay the bills.
Ernesto was wondering if Greater Shepparton City Council would consider providing a little funding to help this world-class tourist attraction, just like it does for the other local world-class tourist attraction, the Shepparton Art Museum.
Thanks to everyone involved in this rally, it was a huge success and should be back bigger and better next year.
Footnote: This weekend sees the 27th Goulburn Valley Hospice Rallye, which raises funds for GV Hospice Care. This year we are going to travel to Marysville.
It would be great to see a big crowd turn up to view the vehicles and see us off from the starting line at MOVE around 8am on Saturday.