Bubsie, a replica of its namesake, which travelled around Australia 100 years ago, was in Benalla on Thursday, November 13, almost a century to the day after its ‘twin’ visited the Rose City.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
Almost 100 years to the day that a special road trip passed through Benalla, another rare four-wheeled guest spent a day in the Rose City.
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Bubsie, a Citroën 5CV, stopped at local schools and aged care facilities, part of the way through an epic drive around Australia.
Kevin Amos and the Right Around Australia Team are taking the 1923 classic on the same route the original Bubsie took in 1925, visiting local schools and aged care facilities along the way.
Kevin said the reaction they were getting was fantastic, from wide-eyed youngsters who may not have seen a vehicle like Bubsie before, to older people who had fond memories of cars from its era.
The current 'Bubsie' has been fully restored with new tyres, paint and leatherwork. The engine, however, is the original that rolled off the production line in 1923.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
“It’s surprising how many people recall cars like this, which they either had as a family or they learned to drive in,” he said, as residents of Estia Benalla inspected Bubsie with ear-to-ear smiles.
“It really brings back memories for these folks.”
Estia was the third stop on Bubsie’s Benalla itinerary, having already visited Winton Motor Raceway and the Australian Christian College.
Kevin said it also had a few more stops in the Rose City, before heading towards Melbourne.
“The original is in the national museum in Canberra,” he said.
“But this one was produced the same year.
“It’s a 5CV, which was a way of describing the horsepower for taxation purposes, but it was actually seven and a half British horsepower.”
The original ‘Bubsie’ visited Benalla in 1925.
Kevin said the story of the original Bubsie was so inspirational it was a dream to recreate it.
“One hundred years ago, two young fellows set out from Perth with the plan, if possible, to drive something like Bubsie to Darwin,” he said.
“Their challenge was to do something no-one had ever done before.
“And, there were no roads for at least one third of the trip.
“But their purpose was never to be famous. It was to visit the outback people and the stations in the northern sections of Western Australia.
Students at Benalla P-12 College get a good look at Bubsie.
“They wanted to find out how people were living and to be an encouragement to these people who lived in geographical isolation.
“And some of the people they met had lived on the stations for up to 20 years and had never left it.
“It must have been a sight they had never expected to see.”
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