3rd Annual Mount Alexander Vintage Engine Club Inc. Rally - Guildford Victoria April 17-18, 1999

The Mount Alexander Vintage Engine Club Inc. is a small and progressive club located at Guildford, near Castlemaine, in Victoria's historic Goldfields area, with a growing membership of over 40 enthusiastic collectors, restorers and modelers.

The club supports many local community events and organisations and other club rallies, with members exhibiting their engines and equipment throughout the year. However, the "big" event for the club has become the Annual Rally held at the picturesque John Powell Reserve.

Building on the success of the two previous rallies, the club members decided to extend the event to one and a half days this year with a picnic-set up day on the Saturday afternoon and the rally proper on the Sunday.

This was also partly in response to requests by exhibitors who wished to stay longer to enjoy the hospitality our club provides and the many attractions in the surrounding area.

It was certainly a popular move, judging by the lines of eager exhibitors waiting at the gate to the rally grounds hours before the official starting time!

The shear range of engines and machinery on display was phenomenal, with working models, a rare "Kay" open crank, a Tangye, a Gardner, Listers, Villiers, A.H. McDonalds (including a "P" type), a Scottish "Kelvin" (complete with home made model carousel) and the list goes on and on!

It was really encouraging to see exhibitors displaying larger horsepower engines too and the club truly appreciates the effort, time and cost to bring engines of this size to a rally.

This years rally was enthusiastically supported by over 200 engine collectors who came from Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Swan Hill, southern New South Wales and Adelaide, South Australia. In addition, the local vintage car club also turned out for the Sunday and displayed over 12 of their magnificent vehicles.

The MAVEC Rally has always been popular with members of the general public in the Goldfields area and this year was no exception. Excellent weather also contributed to a very successful and enjoyable weekend for all!

Consequently, the 2000 Rally will now be a full 2 day and 2 night rally - so be sure to mark the date in your calendar! You won't be disappointed!

MAVEC Inc. would also like to acknowledge the generous support of the Shire Council of Mount Alexander, Beard's Mitre10 and BP CountryWide Petroleum, Guildford CFA and the Guildford Primary School Parents Group in assisting with the organisation of the rally.

This report is © Copyright 1999 Mark Kennedy and is reproduced here with his permission.

Editor (Paul Pavlinovich): I also went to the Guildford rally this year, and was very impressed by the organisation put in by the clubs involved. There was some serious machinery on display at the event, including considerable numbers of rare engines. I did cause quite a stir with my digital camera though... People did not seem to know what to make of it. Next year, I'll probably turn up with some machines, my Southern Cross should be restored in time. Interestingly I noticed quite a few people from the Geelong group who seemed to be boycotting their own rally (there have been some problems with the people who run the show grounds in Geelong - this year they scheduled camel races and some sort of horse show on at the same time as the rally and placed ridiculous (IMHO) restrictions on the engine exhibitors. They also forced a short notice change of date.
12 July 1999 - Well folks, finally the long promised pictures - there are quite a few, so please be patient - this one is going to take some time to load.

Ajax piston pump model P5
A couple of Amplion engines. I had never heard of these before this rally - interesting little engine, very quiet for a 2-stroke.
ARGH! The Maytags are coming, the Maytags are coming... I had not seen any of these at a rally before. As in the ones found at USA rallies, I'm sure people will either grow to love or hate them - like Renault cars, there does not seem to be any middle ground...
A Bamfords of unknown stature
Bamfords 3hp
Another little Bamfords 3hp
A Bruce McLure 5hp dating from 1930. These engines were built in Warnambool Australia (nearest major city is Geelong). There do not seem to be too many of these around now. They certainly fetch good prices at sales and auctions.
A Champion engine (looks kinda like a rebadged Ronaldson and Tippet to me)
An open crank champion, which again looks like another rebadge, possibly a Rosebery.
This monster is probably the loudest thing I have ever heard at a Rally short of a Lanz Bulldog at full revs... This is a radial Continental aircraft engine. The gent operating it only ran it for a few moments at a time (I do not know if this was out of courtesy or his own personal pain tolerance levels).
The other side of the Continental.
A miscellaneous Cooper
Another little Cooper which may look somehow familiar to any USA readers
Whoohoo another Cooper, this time marketed as the Little Wonder
This is the much more common guise of the Cooper Little Wonder. This one is missing most of its hardware though. The two vertical stands would normally be about three feet higher and support a pair of shearing heads (probably sunbeam brand). I've got one of these in my shed waiting some TLC.
This is a Coventry Victor 12 hp diesel. I think it had opposed pistons from memory - anyone care to correct/confirm me?
A collection of creamers - a couple of Alfa Laval, and a Lister or two.
A Crossley 4hp diesel
A Deutcher Gem built in Hamilton in 1910. A nice rare engine. This one was smoothly chuffing away to itself - much like a steam engine.
Another angle on the Gem
A dragsaw with what looks like a Rosebery 2hp open crank on the back
A Dunlite lighting plant with a novel cooling tank made from a discarded LPG cylinder. I'm glad i was not around when he cut the hole in the top...
A Fairbanks Morse Eclipse - another one which should be familiar to USA readers
A "Felix" engine. I've never seen one of these before, although it looks vaguely familiar.
A Gippsland and Northern 3hp - basically another Ronnie rebadge.
Another USA import - a Hercules
This is the first one of these I have seen painted green - usually they stand out painted all red. I don't know which is the correct colour.
This is Lister's poor cousin, the JAP engine. I dare say they came in for their fair share of ridicule during WWII when they were very prevalent.
Kelly and Lewis
Kelly and Lewis 4hp
Rosebery open crank?
A Kelvin Marine 2 Cylinder engine powering a hand-made carousel model
MacDonald Super Diesel
Lister 2L - This used to be owned by a friend of mine... I wish I had known he was selling it. Brian did a top notch job restoring this engine - it never had any trouble winning "best in show". It looks a little worse for wear now... I guess the current owner does not polish it every few minutes.
Lister A29
Lister D
Another MacDonald - a wonderfully reliable engine.
The king of the MacDonald's - an Imperial Super Diesel (albeit a small one in this case)
A little baby MacDonald, I wonder if it will grow?
Marino Pump made in Brisbane (in the state where old Victorians go to die, Queensland)
A Massey Harris Sundial 2hp - these are one of my favorite engines. I've been on the lookout for one for ages - condition unimportant - if you have got one, and don't want it - please e-mail me :-) - This one is "as found" and is running very happily. I've never been sure about running engines "as found" - I can see the point of showing people what they really looked like when they worked, but it does not do much for the "image" of our hobby - but is image important?
A Moffet Virtue 2.5hp - looks like another Ronnie
ditto
Petter AV70 3hp. A striking engine, painted a striking colour. Nice runner.
Wow! A ronnie which is actually badged as a Ronnie! 2hp built in 1949
This ronnie 3hp has an interesting hopper arrangement. I also think that this is not quite a ronnie - possibly a Novo in disguise?
Ronnie 4w 4hp
Ronnie 6hp
Ronnie Austral
Another bright blue engine, yep, another Ronnie Austral - normally seeing one of these at a rally is a treat, Guildford suffered from Ronnie/Austral overload... then I suppose that should be expected since they were built in the area.
Ronnie/Austral 4hp
Ronnie/Austral 6hp
Ronnie saw
A chopped up Ronnie exposing the guts
Another view of the cutaway Ronnie. It was nice to see something like this at a rally... helps people to understand what is going on inside the engine, and if we are lucky bring a few more kids into the hobby to carry on our traditions. (uh-oh... I'm starting to sound old aren't I? - bugger)
Another rebadged Ronnie, The Ideal engine.
No more comments for now... It is after midnight and I have to work tomorrow (today)...