Ed Guido gets to escape the office and cut the mighty 850 Bimmer loose in Tasmania
At last! It was near enough to three years ago that I was contemplating an overdue run to Tassie – preferably with one of the motley fleet out of the shed. And yes, the dreaded C…D (use of the full name of the great plague is now frowned upon in our household) got in the way.
Even so, this is Tasmania we’re talking of, so surely not too much has changed in the several years since we last graced its shores.
Well, yes and no. The big news for anyone taking the vehicle ferry is the Melbourne terminal moved to Geelong just a few weeks before we were due to sail. In fact, the whole thing was so fresh that there were still some old signs up on the freeway network, pointing us to the old and far more picturesque site at Port Melbourne.
While the drive to Geelong counts as one of the least attractive on the planet, it does at least end in a much bigger and more hospitable terminal. As for the ferry trip itself, it takes the same amount of time.
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Loading the car for the overnight trip always seems to involve a couple of hours of rooting around, but frankly it’s still less annoying and intrusive than dealing with your average airport queue. Offloading always seems much quicker.
As for the trip, well there’s food and wine on board, and beds, so really nothing to complain about. The staff seem helpful and if you get a smooth sailing, you roll up in Tassie the next morning ready to roll.
Our choice of wheels for the trip was the 1993 BMW 850Ci, which hosts a 5.0lt V12 engine that drinks like a sailor, matched to a four-speed auto. It’s racked up 240,000km over the years and has been a not-too-troublesome toy in the couple of years we have owned it.
One of the few vehicles not hauling a home
Young Rhys at our local workshop RPM Auto Tech in Heidelberg Heights has been responsible for sorting it, including a recent freshen-up of the front-end bushes and links. That exercise was worth it, making a noticeable improvement to the feel of the steering.
Once we hit the ground, the first mission was a quiet tour of the northwest corner. We put some time aside and yet again only managed to scratch the surface. The scenery on much of the coast varies from desperately desolate to picture-postcard beautiful, all in the space of a few hours. That can be said for much of the state, where the scenery can change quickly and dramatically.
Sweeping roads and no traffic. Utopia
Speaking of rapid changes: Has anyone from the mainland noticed that Tasmanians are nicer than the rest of the population? Okay, that’s a wild generalisation. However the first couple of places we pulled into for a meal or coffee or whatever, we were greeted like old friends. In fact the reception was so enthusiastic at one place, I was left wondering if the very attractive young lady involved may have been on the happy pills. Probably not.
Some days later I shared that observation with former mainlanders who had moved to the island, and they confirmed it wasn’t a figment of the imagination. That’s one reason why they moved there permanently.
One rare disappointment was the floods and epic rain which had hit the state (and much of eastern Australia) just prior to our trip and cut off one of our favourite roads. That’s the A3 from south of Launceston, up towards the north-east corner through Derby and St Helens and on to the coast to Bicheno. Much of it is tight, twisty and spectacular as it crosses farmland, forests and hills before winding down to the sea.
Of course our mission was in part to engage with at least a few of the locals and their cars. We showcase a few in this issue, including Blair and his extraordinary Thunderbird experience, Wes and his BMW CSL resto project, plus the inimitable Tom and Vanessa Bryant with their quirky collection.
A gaggle of Henry’s finest GTs
Tasmania has a rich automotive culture. It’s the home state of legendary racer John Bowe and is littered with motorsport sites of interest, with Longford among the most famous.
Let’s not forget the exceptional National Automobile Museum of Tasmania, located close to the heart of sunny downtown Launceston. It moved into a much bigger purpose-built building a few years ago and has benefited greatly from it. The exhibits turn over every few months and it now hosts a string of outdoor events on-site. It’s a must-see.
As for our ride, the mighty 850 Bimmer, it turned out to be a good choice for the trip. I’ll admit to a little trepidation, as this was the longest jaunt we’d tackled with the thing in a couple of years of ownership. Really the only glitch was my ongoing battle with a flaky climate control – which you have to admit is a very first-world problem.
Aside from that, it was a great choice for the varied conditions – smooth and comfortable on the open highway stretches, while offering good grip and feel in the tighter stuff. I half expect petroleum shares to spike every time I start it, given its typical 15lt/100km consumption, but you kind of expect that going in with cars like this.
In reality, it’s probably cheaper to buy a fly-drive package than take your own car on the ferry. To give you an idea, the boat fare with a cabin each way was around $1400 in early November. However the voyage is part of the whole experience and I don’t for a minute regret the choice.
When we first planned this trip, I kind of expected the five or six days we had put aside would do the job, and yet again was proven wrong. That’s just enough to scratch the surface, with the result you wander away with a long, long, list on the must-see-next-time ledger.
I guess that means we’ll have to go again, soon…
From Unique Cars #474, Jan 2023