The President's Page

Greetings Fellow ASCC Members,

My best wishes to you all for the New Year, which is well underway, and hope that 2026 is treating you well so far.

For those of you in States with agreeable weather all year round you may not appreciate the anticipation we have in the Southern States, when it comes to the finer times of the year and we see a plethora of events in which to indulge our automotive passion. Currently I'm trying to make the most of it, and balance various domestic jobs of course…

We had the recent AOMC & RACV Festival of Motoring in January, an excellent event held in the picturesque grounds of Cruden Farm Southeast of Melbourne.

It was well attended, raising somewhere in the region of $12000 for Redkite. There was quite a bit of interest in the Armstrong Siddeley, and it was very encouraging to meet with a number of young enthusiasts ( ie under 30) who have classic car projects of their own.

I imagine that by now there will have been all sorts of outings in other States too, and we'll be looking forward to seeing some reports of those in the magazine before long !

This last Saturday I spent at the Ballarat Swap Meet, trying to find homes for miscellaneous superfluous parts, mainly Triumph (nothing Armstrong Siddeley I should add!), and had a very enjoyable social day. I had several young restorers approach me looking for parts for cars, a Standard 8, Nissan Cedric and Austin 16 Hp, and not being able to assist I asked whether they were members of appropriate clubs. Surprisingly none were, but all were thankful for the suggestion that it would be a good idea.

Of course this brings me to the subject currently high on the agenda for the Board, the Club spares and plans for eventual relocation. Our Club has been extremely fortunate to have had members with the foresight and dedication, stocking and providing the spare parts for so many years on such an enviable scale.

As expected there has been a great deal of discussion and advice about how best to proceed, and some good, realistic suggestions made. Andrew Clearwater, who no doubt has been conferring with Geoff, raised the point that the slow moving stock could be stored further away from central areas, likely to be the case depending on available storage, and that the faster moving, consumable and remanufactured stock reduced to a scale whereby it might be made more readily accessible and storable. We will keep investigating and update members on decisions and timeframes.

Further to the spare parts is the 16/18Hp engine bearing project, championed by Andrew Christophersen, which, by the time you read this, will be underway. Like most remanufacturing projects this is a big undertaking for the club, but critical for maintaining our cars, and we are grateful for the work that Andrew has put into this.

We know that the start of the year hasn't been an easy one for some members, and our thoughts go out to those that are not keeping in good health and our sincere condolences to those that have lost loved ones in recent times. Our thoughts are also with anyone who has impacted by the recent fires and floods around Australia. We are aware that one of our Victorian members lost 2 Sapphires and various parts in the fires. Thankfully the family were unharmed.

Before I bid you all good day, please remember that the National Rally will soon come around. It promises to be a great few days, the Rally Committee is doing a wonderful job.

I hope to see many of you there!

Until then, happy and safe motoring.

Cameron Wright, President ASCC