• 

  Gary Day drives his 1929 Dodge Roadster about twice a month, and doesn't anticipate ever selling it. Photo Gallery

Gary Day, 58, first met the mechanical object of his desire when he was working as an apprentice electrician in 1968.

It was love at first sight when he laid his eyes on the 1929 Dodge DA Sports Roadster under the Camp Hill House of 1920s Australian rugby league rep John Hunt.  For years Day pleaded to buy the car, but Hunt rejected his offer of $200 because he thought it was too much.

Hunt also wanted to keep it for his children and refused to part with it, even though it had been parked on blocks since 1964.  But the courtship continued.  "I kept in touch with them for years," Day said. "I used to take bags of stamps to (wife) Marjorie because I knew she collected them.

"While I was there I would wipe the Dodge down with an oily rage to keep it from rusting, turn the engine over and pour oil into it."  When Hunt died, Marjorie found their three children were not interested in restoring the car, so she sold it to Day.

"Twenty-one years after I first saw it, I finally managed to buy it," he said. "But I had to pay $10,750 in 1989.  I brought it home and had it running that same day."

Day's loving ground-up restoration reaped rewards with the car becoming grand champion at the Cleveland Auto Spectacular and class winner at Motorfest in 2007.  "These days I'm more interested in driving it and enjoying it than competing at shows," he said.

Day took a hobby course in panel beating and spray painting in 1974 and put his new-found skills to good use restoring a 1929 Dodge Victory Six sedan which he bought for $75 and sold in 1990 for $30,000 after spending about $4000 on restoration and countless hours of his time.
He also had a 1915 Model T Ford and 1929 Buick Roadster which he sold to buy the Dodge Roadster.

"It's actually the Sports Roadster which had the all-steel American body, rumble seat, six wire wheels, side door for golf clubs and chrome trim around the dickie seat," he says.  Day did all the restoration work except for the leather trim and canvas roof.

"It runs very nicely. Smooth for an old car," he says.  "It will cruise at 50mph (80km/h), although it only gets about 18mpg (13L/100km).  The Roadster features a 208 cubic inch (3.4-litre), 63 horsepower (47kW) straight-six engine with three-speed stick shift.

Its starting sequence is like prepping an aircraft: Pull out the manifold heat control knob to warm the carby in the cold weather, retard the spark, apply a little hand throttle on the steering wheel, pull out the choke if necessary, turn the ignition key on and pull the starter button.  Once it kicks into life you advance the spark again. Easy.

The car has several nifty features such as the "Westclox" clock in the rearview mirror with a pull-cord to wind it up and an "Aermore" exhaust whistle that features butterfly valves in the exhaust to create a "steam train" effect.  "It's loud as," Day says.

"It's just a hoon device, kind of like those musical horns you can get.  "It wasn't a standard feature on the car and it won't work at the moment because it's gummed up."

Day drives the vehicle about twice a month, less in the summer heat.  "There's no airconditioning of course, but there are air vents by your feet and the windscreen folds down flat," he said.

"After all that work I've put in, I don't anticipate ever selling it.  "I wouldn't know what it is worth, anyhow."  However, the vehicle is insured for $50,000.