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Welcome to the Adelaide Hills Motor Restorers Club

The Adelaide Hills Motor Restorers Club was formed in 1984 by a group of people with a common interest in preserving the machinery of our past. In particular, cars, motorcycles, trucks, tractors, stationary engines and machinery manufactured in South Australia. Membership is open to anyone who shares this interest whether or not they own any machinery.

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Meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at 8 p.m. in our von Doussa Clubrooms, corner of Cameron Street and Druids Avenue, Mount Barker.

The club owns a collection of machinery, which includes a Kaesler Clover Thresher (circa1915), an 8HP Blackstone Engine (circa1904), a 4HP Kaesler Engine (circa1920) and a twin cylinder 150HP Blackstone Engine (circa1950). This machinery has been restored and is maintained by club members. The club’s annual rally, “Power of the Past”, is generally held in March, at the Mount Barker Oval. Other clubs join our members to display engines, machinery and vehicles to the public.
The club’s official newsletter, “Tappet Chatter”, is published monthly.

A Brief History of theAdelaide Hills Motor Restorers Club.

Well, it all started over a couple of beers in the Great Eastern Hotel, Littlehampton early in 1984.Talk about starting a new club spread amongst a few car enthusiasts and Steve Bowes (the Publican) placed an

advertisement in the local paper, “The Courier” inviting members of the public to meet at the Car Park of the Littlehampton Hall for an inaugural meeting to be held on 23rd February 1984. Hey! The result was pretty good and 29 people attended. The attendance list includes the following current members: Adrian Probert, Peter Macrow, Michael Sheehan and Brian Walsh.

A steering committee was formed which comprised: Malcolm Wicks, Ken Butler, Bob Upton, Rex Cameron, Jim Clarke and Steve Bowes. The committee met on 1st March and established the name of the club and its goal of catering for vehicles, motor cycles and stationary engines of any age, make or model. The decision to keep the club open to engine and machinery collectors was influenced by Kevin Woolard and by other engine enthusiasts. The steering committee even got to consider a constitution which shows how advanced they were!
The inaugural club meeting was held on 22 March 1984 and a committee to organise club affairs was elected. The inaugural club run was to Malcolm Wicks’ property at Balhannah and that took place on Sunday 29th April. Members brought BYO picnics and the Museum and Historic Car Club Collection were inspected followed by a visit to the Nursery. The club re-enacted this run during the twentieth anniversary of the Club in 2004.
Club affairs soon settled down with meetings held on the third Thursday of each month at the Littlehampton Hall initially and later at the Littlehampton School. A competition was held for the design of a newsletter cover/logo and the prize went to Ron Luck although the ultimate logo, which we are all familiar with, was devised by Malcolm Wicks late in 1984. In January 1985 the newsletter first bore the logo and also its new name of “Tappet Chatter”. This journal has played an important role in the club and has kept members up to date with events and amused us with articles that reflect its name!