Goal $6,500
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Fundraising for Cancer Council
Cancer Council
Shitbox Rally Autumn 2024
$6,500
Raised
100%
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Our Story …

Mick and Steve are taking part in Shitbox Rally Autumn 2024! This year, all the teams are driving their shitboxes from Adelaide to Perth.

We are doing it for everyone who has been affected by cancer and to show our support, we are doing it in the shittiest car we could find!

Shitbox Rally is the largest community lead fundraiser for Cancer Council in Australia and is now in its 14th year. Part of the participation is that all teams have to raise a minimum of $5,000 but most teams raise well above this amount as you can see with the Autumn 2024 rally target set at $2,000,000 plus.

These funds go to Cancer Council and we are extremely proud to be doing our part to support such a worthy cause.

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Here's what I'm doing …

Shitbox Rally is the adventure of a lifetime challenging participants and their cars, worth no more than $1,500, on a 7 day drive across Australia to raise money for cancer research.

The rally is not a race – it’s a fun, colourful, unpredictable adventure with participants travelling at their own pace in smaller groups. Vehicles often break down but “we never leave anyone behind” and each night is spent camping beneath the stars and celebrating the day’s achievements. It all adds up to an incredible opportunity to see Australia’s vast and beautiful countryside and make lifelong friends, many brought together after experiencing cancer themselves or seeing cancer impact family and friends.

Since it’s inception the rally has been the largest fundraiser for the Cancer Council nationally.

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raised: $2,934,060
target: $2,000,000
donate now
Still in the game Feed
showing 72 / 72
9 months ago
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Patrick Smith gave $30.00.
9 months ago
Thank you Pat for your generous donation, you are an awesome son and our first donor😊
9 months ago
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Ellen Robinson gave $20.00.
Hope it hold together Mick!
9 months ago
Thanks Ellen! fingers crossed we don't get stranded!
9 months ago
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Roslyn Hughes gave $100.00.
9 months ago
Thanks Ros! You and Mick can check out the car next time you visit!
8 months ago
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Anonymous gave $50.00.
Good Luck!
8 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>We are going to be sharing our journey getting the car ready for the trip across Australia and will be updating our progress here on our team page so be sure to check in and see where we are up to!</p><p></p><p>To start us off here are a couple of pictures from the advertisement of the car where we decided the car was too good to pass up. It is a 1977 Valiant Chrysler with plenty of character - seems to have more every time we look!</p><p></p><p>This bought on our team name as we are sure that people will be surprised every time that we talk on the CB that we are still in the game! Plenty of updates will be posted here as we progress and please donate if you can to help us reach our goal!</p><p></p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Mick and Steve</p>
8 months ago
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Anonymous gave $50.00.
7 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>We purchased this gem of a vehicle from Murringo, a couple of hours drive from Canberra. With the car loaded we set the GPS straight for the car wash only stopping past to show off the car to Steve's wife Sal. </p><p></p><p>We fed a few dollars into the carwash and it was certainly worth the money to use one of the big industrial vacuums! As the pictures show the former tenants of the vehicle had left behind a bit of a mess but gladly we didn't have any come out to greet us. </p><p></p><p>This was a great first step to get the car to the point where we could begin to see just what we had purchased - now it was time to get home and unload.</p>
7 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>We got the car back and unloaded ready to start work. Having stored the car in the shed overnight the smell when we opened it up the next day was pretty funky! As much as we wanted to tear into the engine and see if we could get the car to run we had our work cut out for us tearing out the interior.</p><p></p><p>We pulled the seats and all of the carpet and insulation from the floors in an effort to reduce the smell. This took the better part of a day to remove and throw in the trailer using plenty of WD spray to free up old hardware. The next day I opened the shed door hoping for less funk but was greeted with the same smell. </p><p></p><p>Looking around the interior the sag of the headliner was apparent. I don't think that all the safety pins in the world were going to hold it up. As you can see in the photos the former residents had enjoyed living in the penthouse suite and had made it their own. They had walked from the boot up the rear pillars straight on top which meant that all it all had to go.</p><p></p><p>One thing we did find pulling the interior was a brand new set of genuine keys for the car! Having purchased it without any keys this means we may actually be able to lock it up on the road - note we do still open the boot with a screwdriver - because Shitbox...</p>
6 months ago
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Anonymous gave $200.00.
5 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>So even with the brand new looking keys the ignition barrel didn't want to play ball so we figured that we would add a feature making the Valiant push button start! </p><p></p><p>We also spent some time giving the fuse panel a touch up so that the electrics may stand a chance of actually doing something when we hooked up the battery. Having hooked up a battery we got a single tail lamp - but we are calling it a win!</p>
5 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>Next thing to do was to see if we actually had a good engine before we got too much further. With the carburettor locked up when we got the car it had been soaked down with WD40 daily and had finally come unstuck. Gladly we could bar over the engine 360 degrees without any hard spots. </p><p></p><p>Having watched my fair share of Vice Grip Garage on YouTube we grabbed some of the best old two stroke to dump down the yap, hooked up the battery and some jumper cables to give it all the volts and hotwired the starter to crank. After a bit of cranking to get the fuel from the coke bottle up to the carburettor the car barked off and came to life. The photo shows the WD40 burning off of the exhaust after it had run.</p><p></p>
5 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>With a running engine we moved onto the fuel tank - if we are going to from Canberra to Perth and back with a Shitbox Rally we are going to need the capacity! As tempting as it was to dump 20 litres into the tank and see how it goes we decided to drop the tank as the boot had a little bit of weight saving happening!</p><p></p><p>The photos justify us taking out the tank - not even the mower would run on that stuff and we did find a few holes along the way which we sealed up before completely rebuilding it with some paint that was leftover in the back shed - brand new!</p>
5 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>With the fuel tank being a couple of gaskets away from being able to hold a full tank we had a little bit of work to do on the boot floor. You can see where the strap for the tank bolts in that the floor had a strange resemblance to swiss cheese. </p><p></p><p>With a gasless mig welder from the father in law and a sheet of metal thicker than necessary we tried our hand at body repair. Needless to say we blew through and created almost as many holes as we patched but we did start to get a little better with some tips from a good mate who told us to turn up the heat a bit after the first plate.</p><p></p><p>We will see how our birdshit welding holds up over the unsealed roads on the rally!</p>
5 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>The eagle eyed among you may have picked up that our car is a couple of pieces short of being complete. One of the most important parts we were missing at this point was a cooling system and most importantly a radiator. First we jumped on Ebay and ordered up a shiny new aluminium radiator as we know it is one of the most important items on the car. Being very excited we put it into the car only to find that the ebay listing was wrong and that it didn't fit the car to the point that the bonnet was about two inches from closing. So we did the right thing and picked one up from a top bloke on facebook for $50 to try our luck. </p><p></p><p>I am still fixing the number of small leaks that have presented themselves in the core of the radiator but feel like we may win the battle but only time will tell. Unfortunately for us as soon as we got the cooling system put together and filled up water started streaming out the back of the engine. Considering that this car has already had the heater core deleted this leak was going to take a little effort but we may have found why the car was taken off the road over 30 years ago!</p>
5 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>With water streaming out from between the engine and transmission we accepted that the welch plug in the back of the block had obviously rusted out and needed to be replaced. So we threw the car up in the air and set about pulling it out of the car. Needless to say this was a grubby job and we felt like this car had seen a mudpit or two in its time!</p><p></p><p> </p>
5 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>Another key item we were missing was brakes - who would have guessed that a car sitting for 30+ years might need a little more than a bit of fluid? As with the radiator we agreed that this was an important safety item and that we should buy it new so that we know it works and we won't have to worry about it. </p><p></p><p>Having received our new brake master cylinder and a kit to bench bleed it we filled it with fluid and started bleeding. After second guessing ourselves, installing it on the car and trying to bleed it in the engine bay we eventually figured out it had a manufacturing error where the front port was drilled at an angle and had completely missed the circuit it should have been connected to - junk. So again we did the right thing and ordered one for $50 off a guy on facebook. </p><p></p><p>We also had to admit defeat with the soft brake lines which had swelled and were completely blocked which saw liberal applications of heat and WD40 on repeat as well as some vice grips when I inevitably rounded off the fittings. Glad to say that after all the lines were installed the master cylinder showed up and was bled and installed only dealing with a stuck calliper and some blocked bleers.</p>
5 months ago
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Ronald Coombes gave $50.00.
5 months ago
Appreciate the donation mate! Hopefully the old girl will get us there and back!
5 months ago
Appreciate the donation mate! Hopefully the old girl will get us there and back!
5 months ago
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Chris Tarlinton gave $10.00.
5 months ago
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Michael Gallon gave $1,650.00.
Bunnings Barbecue! Special thanks to all the family members that came out to help!
5 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>Now with brakes but the car still blown apart in the garage we have worked toward piecing it back together which started with the transmission. As before we swear that this car must have been through a mud bog with the amount of build-up on the transmission but it was no match for Abi's enthusiasm! </p><p></p><p>I spent some time pulling out the old Welch plug and struggling to get a good angle to smack the new one in but was eventually successful. Though still not complete this is one less hole in the cooling system which can only represent progress. With this done we put the transmission back into the car without draining it or spilling a drop! </p>
5 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>Having put the transmission back in we were keen to get the car up and running while it was still on stands to try the transmission and make sure we had gears. While this was a good theory the car which had initially sprung to life and sort of idled no longer wanted to play the game. It had a significant miss and would not idle occasionally backfiring through the carburettor which is all kinds of fun for the guy under the bonnet. </p><p></p><p>As you can see from the pictures we found the culprit with 0 compression on Number 6. We pulled the valve cover were greeted with one pushrod that wasn't like the others. Having pulled the side plate we quickly found that the pushrod was not only bent but was broken in two. The car may have gotten a bit hot at some point either with our enthusiasm and no coolant or back when it was parked (we think because of the welch plug). </p><p></p><p>Those who have thought about it may have figured out that this really doesn't add up as without the pushrod the valve should be shut and we should have compression - and you would be right. A couple of quick adjustments with my 4lb tuning hammer and we were back in business. I got a single pushrod from our friend down the road as well as another piece, put it back together and it ran much better - but still didn't idle. </p>
5 months ago
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Bree Kerns gave $2.00.
5 months ago
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Fiona Lyall gave $50.00.
5 months ago
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Anonymous gave $25.00.
Good luck!
4 months ago
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Jac Travers gave $113.00.
Danke
4 months ago
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Breanna Kerns gave $2.00.
4 months ago
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Anonymous gave $1,000.00.
Thank you Michael and Tracy Hardy for your generous donation
4 months ago
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Breanna Kerns gave $2.00.
4 months ago
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Ruby Carey gave $4.00.
4 months ago
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Anonymous gave $60.00.
4 months ago
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Anthony I gave $50.00.
Good luck fellas and have a blast!
3 months ago
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Chris Tarlinton gave $10.00.
3 months ago
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Anonymous gave $620.00.
Awesome cause
3 months ago
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Anonymous gave $2.00.
3 months ago
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Anonymous gave $50.00.
Good luck!
3 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>At some point we have to start putting the car back together! But first there is the need to add just a bit of metal remembering that this has to pass roadworthy. </p><p>To say that we are amateur panel beaters would be generous but we are doing OK with an angle grinder, a mig welder with shielded wire and a rusty guard kindly donated to us by a bloke who has more than a few old Valiants hanging around the place. </p><p>Needless to say I blew plenty of holes into thin rusted metal welding these up but we certainly are having some fun while we are at it. </p>
3 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>Considering how long we will be spending in the car and the lingering smell of rats nests in the car we broke out the pressure washer again but this time INSIDE! This was the only real way to get the car close to clean and smelling a little better. </p><p>Each time we move the car it seems to throw up another little roadblock. This time the mechanical fuel pump gave up and wouldn't pump enough to fill the bowl in the carburettor. $20 later and I had a new electric pump off ebay installed and knocking away very loudly - need to remember to isolate it a little more!</p><p>We also spent some time like many Shitboxers out the front of Bunnings luring people in with the smell of fresh snags. Between that and a couple of donations to our page it was a great day out in Gungahlin Bunnings Canberra. </p>
3 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>One job we had been putting off was getting into the wiring of the car. With more than a few rats calling this home for a couple of decades there was a bit to do. With a bit of patience a soldering iron and some tape all the looms were soon repaired which meant that it was time to start putting some lights back in. </p><p>We got a spare tail light with the car for the left hand side which took care of where the plastic that retains the bulb had broken away but that still left us with a broken blinker on the right hand tail light. These things are not designed to be universal to let you switch a lens from side to side but with a grinder and a can do attitude I think that the end result came out OK! Only notice it if you really look!</p><p>I then spent a good amount of time remembering how the headlight buckets had come out and even more time trying to get what was left of a bulb out of one of the indicators. Another note to self here to adjust the headlights to not blind other drivers but since we put in some old sealed beams there isn't too much chance of that.</p>
3 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>So behind the scenes of all of this I had been trying to fill holes in the original radiator that I had picked up cheap - because Shitbox. Unfortunately this just wasn't to be as there was always another hole to be found and they were increasingly difficult to get to being in the middle of the core between the fins. Solution? EBAY! So $150 later and I have a state of the art universal radiator which ironically fits better than the one that was supposedly for this car that I ordered last time. </p><p>At the same time during the last test drive the water pump seal had also decided to exit the chat and began dribbling coolant (water) everywhere. Inspecting it once it was removed only confirmed that this would totally make it to Perth. Closer inspection of the lower hose also showed that the anti-collapse spring was now just an assortment of rust ready to plug the new radiator. </p><p>With the new radiator in I had a look around at spare radiator hoses and found that a stock upper and Rodeo lower that I had spare were about right. You may also note the transmission cooler, and yes, ebay, $35.</p>
3 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>Another place the car was having difficulty holding fluid was in the transmission - yes I was very tempted to just tighten the pan bolts and send it down the road. But a filter kit was cheap so I decided to drop the pan and change it out.</p><p>This could be one of my wiser moves as the bottom of the transmission pan had a delightful array of inclusions. First there was the magnet that had bounced around and had broken apart sending metal fragments everywhere and then there were the earwigs that had also found their way in.</p><p>Again the eagle eyed among you may see that there is one bolt that isn't like the others in the pile and the shade of red suggests it may not have come from a Chrysler. The dipstick cap had also become loose on the stick making it impossible to check the fluid level and may have also been in part responsible for the number of earwigs in the transmission so I broke out the heat gun and some solder and fixed that up too!</p>
3 months ago
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Still in the game
<p>This post is a few shots to show where the car is sitting today and despite appearances it is close! A few more items to check off the list before we can take the car for a roadworthy and see what kind of shape we are in. I have run it through a few heat cycles up on stand and the radiator and water pump seem to be doing the job fixing the incontinence issue.</p><p>I have also warmed up the transmission - had to replace the selector shaft seal - went again and am happy to report that the transmission has all 3 gears! Also had to fix a pinhole in a transmission cooler line but that is par for the course. </p><p>We have had some great help from Pat who spent some time installing the back seat where he plans to join us for the trip back to Canberra from Perth!</p><p>Lastly I figured it was time to change the oil and actually get the car a new filter this time. This will hopefully be one of many oil changes throughout the trip. Knowing we will need tyres I also picked up a set of 6 sports rims in Shitbox spec so that we have some spares for the road.</p>
2 months ago
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Steve Smith gave $400.00.
2 months ago
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Chris Tarlinton gave $20.00.
2 months ago
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Sean B gave $200.00.
Good luck and enjoy
2 months ago
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Ellora Thwaite gave $4.00.
1 month ago
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lea vivarelli gave $50.00.
Good luck!
1 month ago
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Anonymous gave $50.00.
1 month ago
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Luke Baker gave $50.00.
Take a spare head gasket with you!!!!!
1 month ago
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Melissa Mosher gave $20.00.
1 month ago
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Anonymous gave $200.00.
1 month ago
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Brett Gallon gave $200.00.
All the best guys!
1 month ago
Thanks Mum and Dad! fingers crossed all the work on the car pays off!
1 month ago
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Chris Tarlinton gave $20.00.
4 weeks ago
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Dayna Smith gave $50.00.
Good luck!
4 weeks ago
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Georgia Ghirardello gave $20.00.
3 weeks ago
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Josh Brown gave $50.00.
Great cause! Good on you and good luck :)
3 weeks ago
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Trish Ryan gave $100.00.
Safe and dusty travels!
3 weeks ago
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Lina Haines gave $25.00.
Onus mate
3 weeks ago
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Janet Gerrard gave $20.00.
3 weeks ago
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Anonymous gave $100.00.
Yay Mick! Drive safe and have an amazing time! Em.S.
3 weeks ago
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Renee Fleming gave $100.00.
Great job Steve! We are so proud of you xx
3 weeks ago
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Bruce Hughes gave $50.00.
Good luck fellas
3 weeks ago
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Julia Rutter gave $50.00.
Way to go Steve!
3 weeks ago
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Anonymous gave $100.00.
2 weeks ago
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Alan Littler gave $30.00.
2 weeks ago
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Ingrid Rampton gave $100.00.
Give it all ya got guys, love Ingrid and Cameron from BG27 #Forever14 💜💜💜
2 weeks ago
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Erick F. gave $50.00.
For steve and colleague, wishing them the best!
2 weeks ago
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Peter McPhan gave $50.00.
Great work Mick.
2 weeks ago
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Em and Kev gave $100.00.
2 weeks ago
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Luke Feain gave $20.00.
Good on you Mick
2 weeks ago
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Anonymous gave $50.00.
Good luck and enjoy!
1 week ago
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Ryan Bacon gave $50.00.
Good luck mate
1 week ago
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Deborah Gallon gave $21.00.
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The Impact, Outcomes & Charity

Shitbox Rally is a dedicated fundraising event for cancer research with funds going to Cancer Council.

Cancer Council is one of the largest non-government funders of cancer research in Australia. We conduct and fund research studies across all cancers and all stages of the cancer journey.

Thanks to the community funds raised such as Shitbox Rally we can fund world-class research that reduces the impact of cancer for everyone.

$41 million over the past 13 years has been raised by Box Rallies to date, supporting ground-breaking projects such as:

  • A research study to develop a vaccine that protects against lymphoma cancers.
  • A research trial to standardise international guidelines on melanoma removal.
  • A research grant to revolutionise the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

These projects wouldn’t be possible without your support.

Donate Now