Aiming for the Stars

Bonnie was our introduction to the AWMMCC and we enjoyed a couple of years driving her at the Mighty Murray Morry Musters. But the step towards owning our "dream machine" needed to be taken so we started looking for either a Tourer or a Traveller. On line, or was it in Just Cars? can't remember now, we found Bruce Perry in Canberra with his crazy little "hot rod", yellow with flames, Tourer. A good Tourer was becoming hard to come by. We liked the high lights and were wary of chop tops, being alerted to them by Noel from the club. Noel had also seen Bruce's car and recommended it to us. It was love at first sight for Doug and it wasn't long until Little Lucifer, "the firey one", later to be known as Lucy, joined the family.

It was difficult getting Lucy registered in NSW due to all her modifications. She has a Datsun 1400 motor which was the 1st problem (officially too big for a modification), she was "too noisy" (though certainly not as noisy as some Harleys!!) and needed more seat belts. Decorative lights had to be wired in and nose cones removed but with the help of Noel, who with his then father-in-law Bill, had restored some 60 odd Morries, after about 18 months, she was on the road!

Not content with just driving her for fun, because she is a great little car and a joy to drive, because of her bigger motor and the fact that she had a tow bar, we decided to buy her a friend.

Lucy's caboosey is an AVan Weekender, 350kg, virtually a bed on wheels with a sleeved annex that slips over the rear opening door. There were two in the yard in Parkes where we bought it. I've seen one other for sale since, but that's all. A rare find?! Since then we've added a few things, like a small microwave (it has 240V) and TV and we also have a little cooler/warmer fridge. So now we're set up with all the basics!

Lucy draws a bit of attention when we're out and about, from happy smiles and waves from children we pass to thumbs up from passing motorists. But one comment we hear regularly from other Morris enthusiasts is "Oh! That's Bruce Perry's car" or Bruce Perry's convertible was at such and such rally. This still grates as we have owned the car for 5 years now. So there was only one thing left to do...get a car that would be recognised as truly being ours and ours alone!