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November 7, 2024 15 mins

Step inside the garages of Wayne Murphy & Geoff Button and discover what drives them to collect iconic classic cars, and why they think the EV generation need to have  a little more respect for what's revved before! 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
iHeart Upper Hunter good a. I'm Darren Katruvie, and I'm
the first to admit I'm not really into cars. I
drive a Ford Ranger that I've put fuel in and
it goes. But despite being revhead, I literate, I can
appreciate the beauty in the design and dynamics of some vehicles,
especially the classics. In fact, I'm even partial to getting

(00:22):
hooked into the occasional epp of PINP my Ride or
West Coast Customs, but basically only know my boot from
my bonnet. So it might pay to keep that in
mind during this episode, and might chat with a couple
of blokes who might have premium unleaded in their veins
rather than the red stuff. The Upper Hunter Motoring Association
started out with just fifteen enthusias at their first meeting,

(00:44):
and now that number is more than one hundred. Not
only do they know their cars, they own some of
the most iconic ones and love to show them off.
Jeff Button was the inaugural president and is now the
current treasurer of the Upper Hunter Motoring Association, and his
love of cars goes back to his help layer days.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
I always liked cars, like watching car races, and particularly
Baptist and those sort of things. And back in those
days it was always Ford versus Holden. You were either
one or the other. It couldn't be anything else. And
it was always banter amongst friends and mates and whatever.
We'd always be one way or the other, and we

(01:24):
just grew up with it, and we always had our
dream car Mine was a nineteen seventy one GDHL board
and we just went like that through life.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
So were you Younghoon?

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Then I suppose you'd say that, yeah, it wasn't too bad,
but it was mid range.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Probably did you have the long hair to go with it?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I did, Actually, yes, that was normal for period of time.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
One thing you left out You didn't say what color
is forward?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Was probably orange? Yeah, probably that burnt orange that came out.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
In That's one of the safer cols, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Possibly sort of neutral? Red's always dened as the fastest
whites to karmest.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
When did it become I suppose a passion where you
started spending more time and dare I say money on
the things?

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, it's modified the few that I had along the line,
But it wasn't until two thousand and five, but I
sort of got involved in a particular classic car. Just
the finance and everything came into place, and I went
and bought something that was nice, I suppose, And yeah,

(02:42):
we just drove around in that it was fully registered.
In those days, it was just a spare car that
we were having funny, Jeff says.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
The association had an almost accidental beginning.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
A few of us that knew each other around about
would possibly go down to Broke there and the Maitland
Classic Car Club show it the Maitland Showground and things
like that independently but together, if you get what I mean.
It was two thousand and nine and we heard the

(03:14):
then Visitor Information Center boss, Kevin Daugherty was going to
plan this car sharp. He wanted to have what he
called the Carnivalley in spring Fair from August through the
December to try and get something going for Musselbrook to
bring people in. And we heard he was going to

(03:36):
have a car shirt and we sort of said, where
are you going to get the cars from?

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Kevin?

Speaker 2 (03:41):
I'll just put an advertisement out in the local paper.
Aill come and feels started talking amongst ourselves and he's
got one, and he's got one and so that and
we identified two hundred and fifty cars in Musselbrooks game
just sitting in people shed that sitting there. They were
using it, but it was just theirs and they didn't

(04:05):
want to do anything else with it. And we gave
Kevin a bit of assistance for the two thousand and
nine shop, which was a real success that we got
something like two hundred and fifty cars there and a
whole heap of people, and then we thought, well, maybe
we should see something more serious with this if this
So in February of twenty ten, at fifteen of us

(04:28):
got together and had a meeting and decided to get
one at start a club in Musclebrook for that sort
of thing. Over the years from twenty ten to twenty nineteen,
when COVID hit and that more or less brought everything
to it a standstill, we'd gathered over two hundred thousand

(04:50):
dollars for most of it went to a muscle of pcy.
We wanted it to go to local organizations as much
we could. That didn't stop us from helping breast cancer
or prostate cancer or a few or even some of
the local ones were here as child might have cancer.

(05:11):
That started at Facebook go fundme page for him and
we'd give a few hundred dollars to that, or we'd
hear of some worthwhile organization, have a meeting and so
what do you reckon? Come up with a figure and
donate it.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
So was that ever the intention when you started the
club or was that just something that sort of came
out of the goodness of the members who just thought
this would be a good idea.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Now, it was definitely not intentional at the start. It
just flowed and we thought we might be able to
make a few dollars. Never thought we'd make that sort
of money out of it. It just played on. And
the club is made up of normal people, shall I say,
from the the community, and they all had that community value.

(06:04):
So it flowed easily that we won't shout beer for
everybody for the night, We'll donate it to somebody that's worthwhile.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Are you saying holding lovers and normal people?

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Well, that is of one of the things with the club.
We don't hold that hold. And Ford think if you
come along in a scrappy old car of any breed,
and you enjoy the car, and you enjoy the companionship
of the other members, that's what it's all about if
somebody says, I'm going to Gundy Pub for lunch on Wednesday,

(06:40):
puts it out there. Every member is welcome to come,
and we're not going to criticize any of them for
not coming, afford or a hold them. They can bring
their little Morris or their little Anglier, whatever, and we
enjoy the companionship in the company. That's what the club's
based on.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Still to come, our conversation turns to bragging rights, on
which dream machine is already parked in the current president,
Wayne Murphy's garage, and we asked Wayne and Jeff what
they'd love to own if money was no object. I
heart Upper Hunter, I heart Apper Hunter. I'm Darren Katrubi

(07:25):
and more. Now of our conversation with a couple of
Upper Hunter car collectors and car buffs, Wayne Murphy and
Jeff Button, they talk a language that reveals a deep
seated infatuation with all kinds of cars, but nothing more
so than the classics.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
I'm Wayne Murphy. I'm the current president of the Upper
Hunter Motoring Association and have moon for the last four
or five years.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
Wayne Murphy says he feels as though his love of
classic cars is in the DNA.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
I had a cousin who was about five years older
than me, and of course when I was twelve seventeen,
so him and all these mates were into all sorts
of cars, and he was like my big brother, so
of course I ended up with them all the time.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
So it's all his fault.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
He started it. I was only talking to him earlier
in the year and just talking about some of those
early days with the cars, the ones we modified. Then
weren't allowed to put him on the road, So yeah,
that's where it started.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
What was your first car?

Speaker 3 (08:33):
The original first car was Simka or Rendez, but while
I had that, I was in the process of putting
holding six into one of the anglier at the same
time he was putting three oh seven V eight into
his Taruana.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Do you know how many cars you've owned in your life?

Speaker 3 (08:56):
That is a good question of twenty. Of course, as
I got older, I got married, worked till go over everything.
We went through pretty much standard cars or through that period.
It was really until I retired and got involved with
the Upper Anna Motoring Association that I actually was in

(09:20):
a position to look at actual classic cars. So there
was quite a variation of vehicles, comodols, falcons, Minis just
goes on and on them.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
How do you decide what ones to keep and what
ones to sell? And why do you sell them if
you love them?

Speaker 3 (09:38):
The main reason when I was married, I had a
couple of quite nice cars, but they weren't suitable for
married life with kids, and that was the only reason
I got rid of them. And at the time none
of us realized just how valuable some of those cars
would end up being. Yeah, we looked back and wish
we'd kept them, but not practical Now.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Yeah, the association does tend to have a more male
skewed membership, and that even the love of a good
woman might sit a close second to some blog subsession
with their cars. But that's not the case for Wayne Murphy.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
My wife Bev loves the cars as well, so it's
not a problem at all. My son, my daughter, my
son in law, they're as gen on cars as I am.
I think they're just waiting for me to pass on
so they can get their hands on a couple of them.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
So, speaking of your current cars, how many do you
own at the moment.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
There's five old cars in the family and then we've
got three normal cars.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
So I've had to look at the five cars. It's
hard to really, I suppose single one out because they
all grab your attention. But the first one in the
garage as I entered was the Pontiac. Tell me about that.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah, I actually bought that for my wife had previously
brought her that's in two eighty z X. But yeah,
it didn't go, didn't have much go, so so she
told me, and we happened to see one of these
Pontiacs up in at Portball Quarry, but it was left

(11:17):
hand drive and manual, so she wasn't interested. And she
made the mistake of saying, well, if it had been
one or the other, like right hand drive or automatic,
it would have been fine. So then I started looking
and eventually found the Pontiac in the US and brought
it over. It's turned out at burb, very nice car.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Can I ask how much it cost?

Speaker 3 (11:40):
It was seventeen thousand US dollars, so it's worked out
come around about twenty seven thousand all up with some
work done.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Did you have to do much on it because it
looks pretty Schmid?

Speaker 3 (11:53):
No, it was more just air conditioning and some other
bits and pieces and of course getting it over here
was part of it, but no, it's worked out well.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
What are the other cars you've got?

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Of course the one five of the Angler, but this
one unfortunately nicknamed Harry because of the Harry Potter Show.
And then there's the HR Premiere, which has been a
nice car. And then I Mustang Fastback. I always wanted
a Mustang. I was fortunate enough to find this one.
The latest edition is the HJ Manaro GDS. It's got

(12:29):
a bit of work to do, it'll be right, we'll
get there.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
How often do you drive the cars?

Speaker 3 (12:34):
As often as I can. The club has quite a
few events, so there's a chance to get them all
out quite quite often. Other clubs have their car shows
or their events. We often get invitations to join them,
so there's no shortage of events for us to go to.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
Looking at the future, do you ever see the day
where people like selves would have an ev in the collection?

Speaker 3 (13:05):
I'm afraid not me. The area up here, it just
wouldn't suit me.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
No.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
I can understand why people in the city use them,
and it makes a lot of sense, I suppose for them, but.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Not for me.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
I'm afraid.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Would you say that there's been any evs produced that
would even you could even consider being in a classic category.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
In the future, I have no doubt they will be
at some stage times change the era before what I'm
interested in. You're looking at the twenties and thirties. Well,
there's not as many people involved in that era anyhow,
because we've all aged. So it's no doubt in the

(13:50):
future that'll happen. Through the years people different people will
be looking at different types of vehicles, for sure.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Both men must have one particular car each they would
love to buy if cash money was no object.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Jeff, I've got a seventy one Boss Mustang and I'm
pretty happy with that. Morals that come along at the
right time, and I've had it for nearly twenty years now.
You only want to be in nineteen seventy Escort Burnt
Orange sixteen hundred. Both me and the wife had one

(14:27):
at the same time, although we weren't going together at
that stage. But she had exactly the same car and
color as what I had, and a brother I'd painted
between the two tail lights painted black, and her brother
had done exactly the same thing on hers. If I
find one of them, that'd be just great.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Wow. Wouldn't you be popular if you gave that as
a surprise gift?

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah? Great Mother's Day present, wouldn't it?

Speaker 3 (14:54):
And Wayne Dave Tomaso pan Tira. It's a a very
very powerful sports car made back in the day when
I lived in Wollongong. One of the fellows we knew
imported one stunning vehicle, but I'll never have the money
for one of them.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
So if you see a classic car cruising around the
Upper Hunter chances are it's being steered by one of
the members of the Upper Hunter Motoring Association. New members
are always welcome and a simple Google or Facebook search
will deliver details on their next events. So I'll park
my Ford Ranger for this episode of I Heart Upper Hunter,
which one day might be a classic. I'm Darren KATRUPI

(15:36):
cats you next time

Speaker 2 (15:39):
iHeart Upper Hunter.
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