This was the the article I wrote for the Victorian Military Vehicle Corps newsletter..... Malcolm

After the longest dry spell for many years, the Champ weekend on May 3rd - 4th at Russell Altmann's property at Stawell was held in rainy conditions. The 4 members attending gathered at Keon Park at 0830 hrs. and after last minuite refuelling and final adjustments to packing, the 3 Austin Champs headed westward along the Western Ring Road towards Ballaratt Road .

We were making good time until the Melton bypass road when the lead vehicle slowed. A quick investigation showed that it had begun to overheat. We were delayed in Melton for a short time whlle the radiator was flushed out and new coolant added. The rain began at Ballrat and continued on and off for the rest of the journey, I was beginning to wish I had fitted the canopy.

On arrival at the Altmanns we were greeted at the by the gathering crowd of who were just returning from a short 4X4 tour around some nebouring properties. Vehicles attending the tour included a Humber powered by the Rolls-Royce B60 engine and a Sarecen powered by a Rolls-Royce B80 as well as 7 champs which are of course powered by the Rolls-Royce B40.

Special guest Gus Gowers from the UK and Author of the book "The Champ Enigma" was conducting his vehicle inspection and carefully checking engine numbers, chassis numbers and supply contract numbers and discussing with the proud owners the small differences between the champs.

After a great evening meal we talked with Gus around the table in the kitchen for several hours, mainly discussing the heratige of the Champ. All Champ owners have an interest in the fabled Champ winch, the use of which is described in the vehicle handbook. No Champs in Australia have yet been found fitted with the factory produced Power Take Off, although a couple of owners have fabricated their own. Gus has been through the build records of all the Champs produced (almost 13000) and has discovered that only 7 were fitted with a PTO. He showed us photos of an original working PTO that he has found in England, when stripped down it showed no evidence of mass production leading him to conclude that it was manufactured in limited numbers. No winch has ever been found, it is suspected that none were produced.

We retired to bed quite late and in the morning awoke to the sound of more much needed rain. Breakfast was a mouth watering selection of pancakes, after which Russell opened "The Champ Shed" where he keeps a vast array of spare parts not ony for Champs but also Humbers and other militay vehicles. We could all have spent hours looking at parts and probably spent hundreds of dollars on those much sought after bits ,but for me that would have to wait for another day.

All to quickly the weekend was drawing to a close, the Champs were lined up for a photo session and at 1330hrs we headed for Melbourne arriving back at Keon Park at 1710hs




Back to The Champ Camp 1997 main page

---

The Austin Champ Register Home Page

---