A 52-year restoration project
She has a weird name, is 115 years old, was almost destroyed in a fire, and has been restored twice but still looks immaculate – her last restoration 52 years in the making.
The 1907 Alldays and Onions has been a long-time project and labour of love for 88-year-old Geraldine man Peter Morrison who found the historic car in a yard near Pleasant Valley in the 1950s.
‘‘The old fellow was a bit of a hermit but he agreed to swap it for a Villiers motor that he could sharpen his shearing blades with,’’ Morrison said.
The car cost him just over £19 , and it was missing the body but still had the bonnet and was mostly complete, he said.
Morrison undertook its first restoration and when complete, it was put on display in the Geraldine Vintage Car and Machinery Museum.
However, a fire at the museum in 1970 almost destroyed the car, along with many others.
Now, 52 years later the small 10-horsepower motor car has been fully restored and returned to the museum in pristine order.
‘‘It’s taken me a long time, ‘‘ Morrison said.
‘‘The guards, fuel tank and other bits and pieces I have had to manufacture, you can’t just buy parts for them.
‘‘My son who polished all the brass work has been the inspiration for me to get it finished so it can be displayed rather than sitting unseen in my garage’’.
Morrison said the car has been in Geraldine all its life.
The town’s GP Dr Mills was the first owner and he sold it to the Presbyterian Church when he was called to duty in World War I.
‘‘The Rev Tocker used it for many years until it was sold to the Webb family whom I purchased it from.
‘‘My Dad wrote the late Rev Tocker asking about the history of the car. He replied with a story about how one day he was out driving and the rear wheel sheared off and flew past him at great speed.’’
The car has a two-cylinder 10hp engine and three-speed gearbox with a unique ratchet system on the drive shaft that prevents it rolling backwards if stalled on a hill.
‘‘The car doesn’t have much puff. A good nor’wester will pull her up. It’s really more of a display piece, it’s too valuable to have out on the road.’’
Morrison, who did his mechanics apprenticeship with family firm Morrison Brothers in Geraldine, has also restored a 1913 and a 1970 Morris Oxford.
‘‘I volunteer one day a week at the [Geraldine] museum but won’t be doing any more restorations. At 88 I deserve to retire.’’
‘‘The car doesn’t have much puff. A good nor’wester will pull her up. It’s really more of a display piece, it’s too valuable to have out on the road.’’
Peter Morrison