On Saturday 31 March 2001, the 2nd Cruise of Gemini Panelvan owners gathered at Just Gemini Spares for the March Cruise & BBQ.
It was immediately apparent that there would be a top turnout of choice vans and wagons. There were all sorts - a clean TG van just back from the paint shop in Honda CRV green, Adam's show-worthy TD wagon with custom body mods and a blown motor that managed to just make it home, Sean's huge stereo crate TD van and Andrew's grandma-stocker TD wagon with EFI and a Garrett T3. Not to mention the guy that we accosted in Hindley Street only the night before - turned out his clean TE van has a Nissan FJ20!
Once we were underway, we had a total of 11 vans and wagons, plus 2 nice sedans. The Cruise had only been going for a few minutes when disaster struck! Dave’s TD panelvan died during a change down to 3rd gear and would not go. Pulling over to the side of the road, several vans did the same and soon there was a huge taskforce of Gemini enthusiasts all desperately trying to get the thing running. Brad, who brought his killer-looking TG van (with huge Convo Pros!), casually did his thing and had Dave’s BreadVan running again with a quick suck on the fuel line. Thanks Brad, and thanks to all the other fellas who gave it a go. It could have been disaster, as by now both organisers were parked on the side of the road, but thankfully, the Cruiser's used their brains and their Cruise-sheets to find their way to the BBQ area at Semaphore beach.
The Cruisers who had stopped on Main North Road to help Dave had to bypass the scenic route to Outer Harbour and head straight for the BBQ area, where Sarah-the-Wonder-Cook already had everything under control. Many thanks to Sean who got the owners fired up enough to get their vans into formation for some killer photos on the lawns in front of the beach. Another clean wagon with an EFI/Garrett T3 turbo combination joined the Cruise, (strangley enough he was the brother of the Andrew, the guy with the grandma stocker), as had been his intention - he was just running late. We were now up to 6 vans and 6 wagons, plus 2 sedans - not a bad turnout at all.
We’re sure everyone enjoyed the barbeque. Thanks to Just Gemini Spares, we were able to enjoy a free barbie and have a big yak about cars - what more to do on a Saturday afternoon? Next time, the barbie will be bigger, better and moveable! You'll just have to wait and see on that one....
Moving out and heading down the coast, the cruise went a little awry. Unfortunately, earlier on in the Cruise Dave’s reverse lights had turned on and stayed on. Not really so bad, until we pass a bored motorcycle cop, waiting for the football traffic to arc up after the big game. He was laser gunning people in the meantime. When he saw Dave’s van, followed by about 7 more vans, he looked for the car with the most obvious defect and had some fun. The result - a defect on the reverse lights and 13" Momo steering wheel of Dave’s chamois panelvan. Spewing! The rest of the cruise stopped up the road and waited - thanks guys, that was great of you. Luckily, the defect only required that the car be inspected by a Police officer, not the Transport SA depot at Regency Park. The sigh of relief was louder than a blow-off valve, let us tell you. We got stuck into the car and removed the offending bulbs and again, we were on our way. (Thanks to Andrew's bro and Crimmo for the screwdrivers!)
The cruise down Jetty Road, Glenelg, while uneventful would have looked like a cool sight with no less than 8 vans and wagons still on the cruise. We took it slow and steady, not wanting to attract any more attention from the Johnnies. The yellow canary on Dave’s windscreen reminded and pretty much told him it was time to go home, long before the end of the cruise in the city. Other cruisers made hasty plans to meet up, but unfortunately the cruise quickly dissipated, with only five vans finishing the cruise.
Although it was well organised and the route was well planned, this particular cruise was a victim of circumstance. However, bad luck will not be a deterrent and you can bet that we’ll have something planned for you wagon and van owners before too long. Keep your eyes out here on HotGemini.com and on the counter at Just Gemini Spares.
After all is said and done, it was probably better that Dave got a defect than say, the stocker with the Garrett T3, or the clean van with the FJ20. How hard would it have been to fix THEIR defects? (thank God they looked so stock!, true street sleepers)
They certainly wouldn’t have had the defect off less than 24 hours later.
Adam & Dave wish to extend Many thanks to:
- Steve at Just Gemini Spares (8258 7722) for his support and promotion of the event, for his BBQ meat, and his promise to build a better barbie for next time. Let?s see it!
- Sean 12 for again for bringing his clean-as panelvan along and for being the non-official Cruise photographer.
- Sarah, Dave’s girlfriend, who was a champ and started the barbie sizzling before we even got there.
- HotGemini.com, without whom the Cruise would have been smaller.
- Brad with the TG with Convo Pros, who fixed Dave’s car.
- The two sedan owners who brought their cars along and were welcome - just to prove we’re NOT Gemini racists!
- Finally, all the other champion Gemini panelvan & wagon owners who brought their hotties out for a Killer Cruise!
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