Vintage adventurer hopes to break record

Ford Model A, similar to Mr Ward's 1930 example.  Australian Model As were built
in Geelong, Victoria

Vintage adventurer hopes to break record

Last year I did a post about a chap in Michigan who ran a Model A Ford as his main car every day for a whole year (and who still drives it frequently today).  Now a "vintage adventurer" (what a great term!) from Australia's Gold Coast is planning to beat the current record - set in 1936 - for the fastest journey time from London to Cape Town by a Model A in his own car, according to this article that popped into my inbox this morning.

Mr Wade sounds like the archetypal adventuresome Aussie (and seems to be proof that an active lifestyle can be good for the health) and all-round good egg, much like his compatriot I reported on at the beginning of the year, who similarly drove his Model T Ford across Australia and then from Durban, South Africa, to Moscow. 

Not only is Mr Wade aiming for the London-Cape Town record but he intends to take part in the Peking-Paris race beforehand and then ship the Model A to America and drive it from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles - in short here is another vintage car and driver who will have travelled around the world by the end of next year!

Whether successful or not vintage man and machine will have followed in the wheeltracks of many an historical endurance racer in famous long-distance journeys such as the Peking-Paris race, the London-Cape Town route and the myriad others who continue to this day to prove what the motor car was and is capable of.  It will be a testament to the car's longevity and strength that it should be able to undertake this trip, although Mr Ward has taken care to refurbish all the mechanical components which is fair enough.  It should be remembered, though, that cars of this vintage were engineered for rough use simply because the road networks that were in existence at the time were limited at best.  A round-the-world trip should therefore be quite possible even in a 1930 Model A.  I fully expect to read about Mr Wade's adventures and arrivals in Paris, Cape Town, Los Angeles and finally his home town of Wongawalla in 2013 and I'm sure the documentary he will be making en route will be a fascinating record of the endeavour.  The best of luck to him and his car.