Our Haflinger 700 AP
A brief history

Although the Haflinger is a collectors item, it is also a reliable work horse and an indispensable tool on many farms like ours. Our Hafy was manufactured in 1969, making it 31 years old in 2000. While most cars of this age would have been on the scrap heap long ago, or locked away in a garage to be brought out on occasions and driven around the block, ours is still doing what we bought it for all those years ago - as an all terrain, all weather, all purpose farm utility.

Originally purchased to be used on our 2500 acre sheep/cattle farm near Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, the Hafy was used to take us all over the property, from the flat river flood plains to the highest peak know as Eagles Rest. It was also an ideal vehicle to use when rabbit and fox hunting taking us through rivers and thick bush. The standard built-in rifle holders are a great help also.

In 1983, the farm sold and the Hafy having been brought back to Melbourne, I got my drivers licence. No prizes for guessing what my first car was. That year I drove the Hafy to school, to dates, all over Melbourne. The next year to work, scout camps (as a leader with 1st Bayswater Scout Group), dates and around Melbourne. The next year I bought a regular car to drive, so the Hafy was only used on camps. In 1988 I left Australia to work overseas and for nine years hafy was in moth balls.

In 1997, now married, we moved back to Melbourne and bought our new home with ten acres and the Hafy found the new home more to its liking in Beaconsfield (above). Being used so often now since the nine year abstinence, repairs were being need a little more frequently than usual (left). Fuel lines were replaced, the silencer was rusted through and needed replacing with the exhaust pipe being directed to the left side just forward of the rear wheel, replaced battery and leads and stripped the engine down for a good clean and service. Much appreciation goes to Tony Hrelja for his enthusiasm and willingness to make the drive out to our farm to assist (several times).

We used Hafy for all manner of tasks on the farm from bringing in the hay, collecting tree refuge (right), to simply getting to the back paddock in the middle of a wet winter. We even did a little driving around the village to run errands as well as to the nearby villages of Berwick and Upper Beaconsfield, much to the interest of passers-by, and to their frustration when following me up the Beaconsfield/Emerald Road into the hills.

In 2005 we again made the move to the United States and, once again, Hafy is back home, sitting patiently, waiting. But we have plans. Maybe even a trip across the Pacific? We'll have to wait and see.

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