CARnivale 2014- Sydney Australia
Six J type vans drove to the Australia Day CARnivale display in Sydney on Sunday. I have to thank Andrew Trollope and Susan for coming all the way from Melbourne to drive a van to the event. Their help was great. All of the vans from 2013 attended and this year we had an addition of the old Norge Village Dry Cleaners van (featured on the cover of the J type book by D Allison and H Pitcher) in its new livery of the Sydney Packaging Company. This van has been nicely prepared and is now in daily use. It still has the Holden red motor it had when in Tasmania although the brakes and undercarriage have been improved.
I continue to be amazed at the positive sentiments the public has towards the J type. Many were only too happy to stop and tell their personal J type yarn and others just wanted to get into the drivers seat for a photo. I was told of a J which was deck cargo on a coastal steamer going around the Pacific Islands. When in port it was hoisted off onto dry land and provided transport for the crew whilst waiting for the cargo to be unloaded.
Also I was given a photo of Kelvin Mowtell and his company vehicle. It was J type in Ramset (NZ) livery. Kelvin still has great memories of that van. As a young surfer the J was a perfect company ‘car’ as on week-ends he simply popped his surf board and mates into the back and headed to the best breaks.
The 2015 CARnivale will see more J type vans. Let us aim for….
Peter Bateman Sydney January 2014