Father and son to show their pride and joy at Gnoo Blas Classic Car Show – Blayney Chronicle
As a mechanic Michael Baker knows a thing or two about fixing cars, and like many mechanics he’s got a couple of special vehicles that he occasionally gets to take for a spin around the region’s backroads.
Mr Baker owns a 1964 Vauxhall Velox and a 1949 Chrysler Plymouth and will be taking the latter to the Gnoo Blas Classic Car Show this Saturday at Sir Jack Brabham Park in Orange.
Mr Baker hasn’t always had a mad driving passion to own a Chrysler Plymouth, it was more of a fortunate opportunity to be able to purchase a classic piece of automotive history that didn’t need major work to make it roadworthy.
Chris Baker’s 1993 SS Commodore.
“I was taking someone down towards this person’s place near Cowra to look at a vehicle that he was interested in buying,” he said. “He ended up buying the car that he was interested in, and the Plymouth was under a cover in the carport. So, eventually I bought it.”
“I bought it back in 2015 and I just had to do the brakes, the gearbox and give it a bit of a tidy up, but generally it was pretty good.”
Assembled in Keswick in South Australia the Plymouth the car houses a six cylinder flat head that also needed a few oil leaks fixed as well as a welsh plug replaced and a leaky radiator repaired.
It was a chance meeting at the Grenfell Car Show that allowed Mr Baker to establish the car’s history.
“I was at the Grenfell Car Show and this bloke said that he used to own it so I asked him where he got it from,” he said. “He’d done a lot of research and originally the car came from the Katoomba area.”
His Vauxhall Velox’s registration history though is purely Blayney.
“My father bought the Velox right here in Blayney,” he said. “It’s still all original as well. Original coat, original interior, original motor.”
Michael Baker’s 1949 Chrysler Plymouth.
Whenever they can, the pair take both cars for a drive with Christopher being the third generation of Baker to take the Velox for a drive.
However this weekend he’ll be taking his own car to the popular event.
“It’s a 1993 VR SS Commodore that I bought from someone who had it in their front yard here in Blayney,” Christopher said.
“It needed a lot of work,” he said. “I needed to replace the interior and repaint it.”
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