The Club was saddened to hear that Claven Eaton passed away on Friday 30th July, 2021. Claven, or Clay as we all knew him, joined the AMVCQ in September 2002.

His older brother Rex has been a member since July 1989 and it was he who persuded Clay and wife Joan to join and find an Austin. As his own member profile says, he bought an A50 Cambridge, which was later joined by a 1960 Austin A60 Cambridge. Like Rex, he was always an active member of this club, and could usually be seen under the bonnet of a car which was mis-behaving, helping a fellow member get going again.

From a personal point of view, Clay rebuilt two engines for me, my Morris Major Elite and then the Freeway. The Freeway took me over the Nullabor and back in 2009, and it has never missed a beat since and that includes trips to Tasmania and the Barossa Valley in SA. The Elite has never given an ounce of trouble either - a real testament to an art which is rapidly disappearing. No beating around the bush either - if something needed replacing, he left you in no doubt as to its condition.

He had a great sense of humour and was always ready for a chat and a good reminisce. Towards the end he looked after Joan until she was relocated to a nursing home. Our condolences go to his family, especially to Rex.

Nairn Hindhaugh

Clay and the A50

Clay with Vern helping out

Member profile - Clay Eaton (in his own words)

My working career commenced in a garage on the corner of Keeran Street and Gympie Road at Chermside. After about six months I was signed up as an apprentice motor mechanic. I lived with my parents on a dairy farm at Bald Hills and my only mode of transport was a push-bike.

Early in the following year, after I obtained my driving licence, I started looking around for a car. I ended up buying one at UK & Dominion Motors on the corner of Campbell Street and Lutwyche Road, just below the General Hospital. It was a 1951 A40 Devon sedan which I drove for five to six years.

After I completed my apprenticeship, I changed jobs and worked in a garage at Shaw Road, Wavell Heights for about eight to nine years. I picked up a Morris Major at the Albion Car Auction and drove it for a few years. Then I got an FB Holden, had it painted red, rebuilt it mechanically and sold the Major. I ran the Holden for eight to nine years. I used it to tow my ski boat which I obtained not long after getting the Holden on the road. The boat was a 14’ 6” bond wood hull, which had a 272c.i. Custom line motor with constant drive. We used to ski a lot at the North and South Pine River Junction and on long weekends we would travel to Somerset Dam.

When I left the job at the Wavell Heights garage, I started my own workshop in the cow bails at the old dairy farm at Bald Hills, which Rex and I bought from our parents in the late 1960s. We became members of the local Aspley Rotary Club not long after. I worked in the shed for about four years during which time I met Joan. We were married in March 1974 and thirty-seven years later we are still together.

I closed the workshop in 1973 and bought a Yellow Cab in the Sandgate area and mainly worked on the north side of Brisbane. In about 1980 I sold the cab. We then bought into a kiosk at Bunya Mountains where we stayed for about 18 months. Following a family tragedy, we took over the mail run from Dalby to Glenmorgan where we connected with the Surat mailman. We sold the business at the kiosk then and concentrated on the mail contract and carrier business at Dalby.

We ended up buying a house in Archibald Street, Dalby. We had the Post Office mail run business for about eight years. I had a C30 3 ton Chev truck (350 motor) for about four and a half years. When the carrier business increased, I changed over to a 6 ton cab over Interna-tional UD diesel vehicle. After selling the mail run, I worked for the local Wambo Shire Coun-cil for a further 12 months before we moved to Bald Hills and lived with Rex for about three years. There I worked for a local hire place at Lawnton.

We moved back to the Bunya Mountains for two years and lived in the house we had built previously before moving to Bald Hills. We sold this house in 1995 and moved to Cleveland.

After about five to six years, I joined the AMVCQ, so I commenced looking around for an Austin. Rex and Maurice steered me in the direction of Grafton where I purchased an A50 sedan which was drivable but that was all. I brought it back to Cleveland on a car trailer and two years later got it back on the road in early 2004. I now also have an A60 sitting at Rex’s place at Bald Hills waiting for minor restoration work down the track.

Clay Eaton