Steam car launches Men Shed’s year

THE new car group at the Torquay Community Men’s Shed went back in time in January, with a visit from Ivan Cave in his 1899 steam car.

Mr Cave was able to assemble the machine using pictures and parts gathered over a long period.

The car is a replica of a 1899 automobile built in England around the turn of the century.

The vehicle was competing with a model produced by Mercedes Benz, which was also at the forefront of the modern horseless carriage at that time.

It was not until the 1900s that internal combustion engines were developed to the point that they had twice the thermal efficiency of external combustion engines, which saw the end of the steam car.

The car group’s next meeting is at the shed on Thursday February 22 at 9.30am.

They will head off to Ocean Grove to look at a Morgan sports car that was a write-off and is now being rebuilt by at John Bailey.

Members are looking forward to the visit, and the shed extends an invitation to non-members of the shed to come along and experience what the shed has to offer.

People do not need to provide their own transport as carpooling will be organised.