Cars, part two

Here is a photo of my Uncle Andy driving what is purported to have been the first car in the district, (district of Towaninnie that is) my late mother is seated in the back, she was the Bridesmaid at an early wedding.





Grandfather William Holt, who died in 1929 had a Buick and I suspect it was a 1924 model. His youngest son, Robert, was allowed to drive this car. This came as a surprise to my father David because when he asked for a loan of Grandfather William’s horse and rig, he was told that he would have to go out and get his own as he himself, (Grandfather William) had to do.




After World War 2 had ended and my brothers, Bill and Cyril had been demobilized from the Army, I had the task (it was no task to me but an adventure) of driving a 1928 Essex, Bill’s new purchase, up to his newly acquired dairy farm at Cohuna. All I clearly remember is that as I approached the dividing range, and after that the hills near Bendigo, the Essex kept boiling, with steam spurting out of the ornate radiator cap at the front of the car.

Some little time after that Cyril got married at Tatura ,and I was surprised to notice in one of his wedding photos, his Ford ex army truck is standing in the background, so I assume that he turned up for his wedding in the truck





He and Dorothy motored down to Lorne for their honeymoon, and it must have been in the 1928 Oakland that we used to drive up around Romsey. Cyril told me of this guy on a motor bike coming toward them, around one of those notorious bends so quickly and so wide that he, (cyril), had to put the Oakland right out on the cliff edge to miss him.
This was one of two strange events in Cyril’s life, because he was usually the perpetrator of such acts.
The second strange event was when Cyril was going home from work in his motor bike and side car when a drunken driver came around the corner at high speed and wiped Cyril out causing him to have a long stay in the Melbourne Hospital. The year was 1958/ 59 as I remember him being at the Billy Graham Crusade on a stick.




I also remember we were coming down “Pretty Sally” towards Wallan Wallan and Cyril wanted to see what sort of speed he could get out of it. I am not sure how fast we were going but I do remember that the windscreen was vibrating so badly that we could hardly see through it.
I had a few really good scares in that car and it always happened when Cyril was at the wheel. I remember on more that one occasion getting in the car really quickly so I could be the driver.

The last car that I will mention as being of any interest is a 1947 Dodge. My dad wanted me to get a little Standard Vanguard, but no, I wanted the Dodge, a real car with a chrome ram’s head on the front.
The only problem being that it must already have been around the clock at least once.
In an effort to get some oil pressure I spent hours underneath putting shims under all the bearings, it must have worked to a degree as I now had at least some oil pressure. Of course they don’t have oil pressure gauges on these new fangled cars but just a red light that comes on if the pressure drops or disappears.
Another thing that the new cars do not have is a crank handle, what an over sight!




Two events of some significance happened, )one just almost). Both involved our number two son Larry.
The first was the night that he was born. My wife, Peta had a 40 hour on off labour with our first son, Mark, so she said that this time she was not going to the hospital too soon and just hang around. I began to get a bit anxious and said that we had better get going, well, by this time she could not even walk out to the car.
As we approached the Ferntree Gully Hospital a steepish, twisty, unmade road Peta Sue demanded that I stop the car as the baby was coming. Never one to be indecisive, I planted my foot and the Dodge twisted up the hill like and angry snake. Within 5 minutes of our arrival Larry was protesting at his somewhat rude arrival into the world.
God must have had his hand on the little fella and today he is approaching 30 years in the ministry of Christ.
I say this because we were going to the Dandenong Market from Nar Nar Goon North, barrelling along the highway approaching Officer. There were no seat belts in those days and Larry was jumping up and down on the back seat with great exuberance, like being on a trampoline; anyway he went crooked, front wards and to the left and grabbed the door handle for support. The problem with the Dodge was that the back door opened from the front, the hinges being on the rear pillar, of course as it opened slightly the wind caught the door and he was thrown out on to the road, on the left fortunately as there were other cars following at speed. We stopped the car and ran back to him, he was crawling towards us crying, his two shoes together on the road about 20 or 30 yards from him.
He suffered a bump on the head and a broken leg!
He was three years old.

We have had several cars since those days; the cars haven’t got much character any more. It’s not unusual to drive a car for 10 years now and never even get a puncture. (who wants one ) It seems to me that when I was a boy flat tires were common place.

You know that you are getting old when you have trouble counting up how many cars you have had.

This is a photo of peta's father with his A Model Ford