History
My 1975 Tropicana green Cortina wagon affectionately know as the "Booger" was a beast form the outset. I purchased this car and it was literally sitting in a paddock being used as a kids cubby house with about 130,000 original kms in 1995. It had been left for years and was a second owner vehicle. I paid $300 for it and literally had to drag it out of a paddock. I got it home and fired up the old cast iron 6 cylinder by adding some fresh fuel and not much else. It had a crappy paint job with crows feet paint all over the bonnet and mould throughout the interior. The floats and needles in the carby would get stuck and so you would have to pull the fuel lines off and needles out and give them a clean every time you started it. I eventually realised that you could just give the carby a tap with the old knockometer and this would rattle them loose, the only problem being that you had to start the car first wait for all the fuel in the carby to be used before giving it a knock. A drawback from this operation was that after a short while the bonnet handle broke so I threaded a maccas straw with a chuppa chump sick through the cable and this was still there till the day the car died... Booger had a lot of attitude and had a massive flat spot in the carby at about 1/3 acceleration and it would almost literally choke out and stall so some handy work with the manual choke was required in order to drive it in some manageable order. The front passengers seat was broken so when someone was sitting in it and you took off they would go flying back! I don't know if it was the ordinary design of the Cortina or whether it was just my car but if you hit a hard bump in the road the back tailgate would fly open, after loosing 3 carton of bee out the back of it on the great ocean road one time I added a bit of telecom rope fixed to the back of the seat. The rear drivers door window regulator was also cactus so a little choc of wood would hold it up in place. After driving it for about a year and after numerous black road snakes and rollbacks (or flat out drive backs as we did in it) reverse finally gave way...I changed the box only to find the replacement I bought was also kangaroo ted...changed it out again and this one only lasted a month before bombing reverse again. I decided I was only ever going to move forward in a positive direction and became the worlds best parallel parker via pushing with one foot out the door...One funny incident occurred in Melbourne where there is centre parking on the road, another car and the booger met nose first halfway in the space and an argument broke out as to who's space it was , I conceded to end the argument that he could have the space as long as he backed up as I told him I have no reverse. He said Bulldust , I said jump in and have a go!....he was dismayed that Booger only went forward, he then said right ill back up and drive in behind you , I said ok and moved it into the space and got out...what was he going to do scratch my crows foot paintwork or some of the dints? Booger was not know for his nimble and road hugging abilities however when put it in a straight line plant the go peddle and watch the needle run off the clock. I had a few mates that bought hotted up commodores spending some $7K which was a lot in our time and it would pump them into the weeds in a straight line every time, however stopping a 6 cylinder Cortina was not fun and the brakes would fade to the floor religiously. One of the best features of the box was that no matter what it would hold second gear which made it great for compression lock ups when trying to slow it down from warp speed. This green lantern would do long distance commuting every week as I lived in Geelong for uni and worked on the morning peninsula ...it loved it and frequented Sydney for funny overnight road trips and the like. Maintenance wasn't a strong point for the Booger as it seemed that every time I spent any money on it something more would go wrong so it was pretty much left to its own devices. I ran it for years without an air cleaner, changing the points and an oil change was pouring more in the top. I spent more on the kenwood stereo and amp and 6 stack CD player and none of my mates barely had a single CD player. Surf and road trips were always taken in my car as it had the most room and could take all the c*** and boards. At rock above the falls in Lorne on New years eve in 1996 we were able to not only sneak in 90 cans of beer, 2 boxes of goon and a couple of bottles of bourbon strategically stashed into the panel door trims of the car but we also were able to sneak the car in it self...I met my now wife that night god know what she was impressed by as the morning after new years we were ripping up circle work in the paddock. Other redeeming features of the car included a set of hella spot lights, a beer can exhaust tip, saas steering wheel that came with it....all in all a legend of a car. I used to love flying along in this old beast looking at the bonnet that was detached from the subframe and it would lift at speed, this coupled with the large hump in the bonnet to accommodate the 6 banger was a great sight. When I eventually gave it to a mate ...he did the unthinkable ....a full service, changed oil, plugs, oil filters, leads , fuel filter and actually put an air filter in it. 3 weeks later its died. There are too many stories about the Booger and I could write all day...RIP Boogs you were legendary...
Modifications
beer can exhaust, steve urkel doll strapped to the aerial, VB stickers on the back, manual window wipers, Maccas straw bonnet release, kenwood stereo and amp + 6 stacker, AC that didn't work, heater that was permanently on
