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Waltzing Matilda Jet Powered truck

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5 years 2 months ago - 5 years 2 months ago #198190 by Lang
Don't know about Matilda but this would frighten the crap out of me to be behind the wheel.



And this one 333mph (536kmh) over the quarter!


This is what happens when you put a relatively small jet in a car - 386mph!
Last edit: 5 years 2 months ago by Lang.

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5 years 2 months ago #198194 by werkhorse
Moth... Let's just say that the previous owner was in a spot of financial difficulty... Story goes that an S2 KW was also "disappeared" at the same time. ;)

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5 years 2 months ago #198195 by Lang
Moth and Werkhorse
Do you blokes have any photos of the truck back in the day when it was in its prime?

Lang

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5 years 2 months ago #198199 by hayseed

The Moth wrote: .
Why is always the question I ask, why destroy it and bury it.


To Hide the Evidence...
The story I've heard (& Werk alluded to) is the "Repo" man was Looking for It, So they Pulled it apart & sold the Bits & Pieces & (shall we say) Hid the distinctive Bits...

I seem to remember a well researched Article (with Photos) on the Then & Now of the Truck in (I think) Truckin' Life 20 odd yrs ago!

"Be who you are and say what you feel...
Because those that matter...
don't mind...
And those that mind....
don't matter." -

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5 years 2 months ago #198200 by The Moth
You are right "Swishy" - we shouldn't forget Tommy, he was a bit insane but aren't we all. He used to drive his jet boat up on to its trailer - and then when it was tied

down - he would push the trailer around the carpark with the jets thrust.
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I have the article you posted , but I prefer to remember him by this one.
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I have added a tribute to the bottom of it

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5 years 2 months ago #198201 by The Moth
The things that show up in my in box .. this was sent from America, its a "Thermo King" promo shot of the truck - "on the line" at Calder - with "Superboss" - you cannot get much more than that for "back in the day"
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5 years 2 months ago #198203 by werkhorse

Lang wrote: Moth and Werkhorse
Do you blokes have any photos of the truck back in the day when it was in its prime?

Lang


Not real early ones.... I do have one from just before it vanished.
There is a site dedicated to it on Facebook with many photos from back in the day... Even some from the actual build

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5 years 2 months ago #198205 by The Moth
Ok – you need to understand that there wasn’t any “Jet Truck” in the world before “Waltzing Matilda” – and a USA challenge was on the table, so a lot was done in secret over the 6-7 weeks it took to build her (she was of course designed before the build started).
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- the color promo photo of ‘Matilda and “Superboss” is the original truck, right at the very start – and in its prime back in late 1978, its probably one of the best out there.
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I crewed for another drag team at that actual event and are standing behind the truck, about a hundred meters, on the road were the race cars were brought in (well out of shot) – and that photo is taken from the “press photographers” position, alongside the old (mini) VIP seating they once had. Its not taken from a place the public could get to.
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When ‘Matilda launched – it was the first time the truck had ran at 100% power – it was untested before hand (they of course started it and ran it up on limited power before hand , but you couldn’t just do a full power “test run” in any suburban street). It was going to be off into “the great unknown” on that first run, with anything possible to happen. On a run at that event - Ormsby nearly trashed it in the runoff , when he hit the air brakes and it locked a wheel at 200kph. Building a missile is one thing, being the first to learn how to drive it is a very different thing.
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It was the first jet drag truck anyone had ever seen, and even us crews, abandoned our own team cars and rushed forward to watch it run down the strip from near the burnout area - behind the startline – that was a mistake as we met the jet blast in the face and learnt the hard way – not to do that again. As part of a drag crew, getting ready to stage the cars – we were never carrying cameras (or thought to).
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The early photos and dating of “Waltzing Matilda”.
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Although I have a bunch of old photos of ’Matilda (including parts of the build) – none are actually mine so posting them can be an issue. For the public - in 1978, photography wasn’t what it is now (everyone carries a digital camera in their pocket) – it was all film rolls and stuff – drop it at the chemist, pay though the nose and wait weeks to see if you got anything and so most photos taken by people in 1978 were not real good. Only the elite had a good camera with a zoom lens and knew how to use it. They are the best (and rarest) of photos and were usually still limited to 35mm film (most people still had the smaller 110 “cartridge” cameras).
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’Matilda’s builders are well recorded, but the history is a bit muddled. Fortunately I also do newspaper and other research, so the first official “published” photo in a newspaper of ‘Matilda was 11th Nov 1978, and the truck was not finished at that point and doesn’t even had the body on it yet - the race event against “Superboss” started on 26th November 1978.
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The signage painted on the truck, gives away a photos approximate date. Once ‘Matilda raced “SuperBoss” that first event, it became famous and the world had its first “Jet Drag Truck” – so more sponsorship offers came in , but they didn’t change it immediately – so over time, the signage changed a bit for different events and eventually changed a lot , but that didn’t happen straight away.
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The silver “parachute” pods (they look like rockets on the back with a Ford logo) - are another great giveaway – as most photos you will see don’t have them. When its “drag tours” etc, were finished – they were taken off. So, no “pods” and different signage – it’s a later photo of when it became more of a static display than a race truck.
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5 years 2 months ago #198212 by AaronS
I grew up at Castlereagh. The drag strip ended just near the back fence. As kids we used to sit on the roof of the shed in the back paddock and watch the cars come over the hill and pop their chutes. Even had a top fueler come through the paddock once and wrap itself around a tree, before my time. Used to ride our bikes on the strip and up to the pits and run through the bush. Was still steel cable through the trees where they used to camouflage planes in the war. One of my most memorable memories of the drag strip was Waltzing Matilda. The drags were loud but holy hell. We watched it on the tele with the sound off. I was only a little tacker of 2 or so but remember dad saying it was a jet truck. Good times indeed.

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5 years 2 months ago #198213 by werkhorse
This id the only photo I ever took .... would have to be the very late 80's but I have a feeling it was around 1990-91





The silver “parachute” pods (they look like rockets on the back with a Ford logo) - are another great giveaway – as most photos you will see don’t have them. When its “drag tours” etc, were finished – they were taken off. So, no “pods” and different signage – it’s a later photo of when it became more of a static display than a race truck.

Moth .... It seems to have the parachute tubes in this photo ...

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