Return to Hasbeen's garage

23 Views
No Comments
No Likes
Published on 29 April 2017

Pity you kids don't know what REAL cars were like. My first car was a 1934 Morris 8/40, & what a rocket ship it was in 1957. I lived in Randwick [Sydney], worked at GMH Pagewood 2.5 days a week, & attended Sydney Uni the other 2.5, on an engineering scholarship. The little lady was parked on a hill, as she was a little short on battery & cranking power on cold mornings. God knows how old the spark plugs were, I didn't. Would start all day after her first warm up. I had the car & no money, 3 uni mates had no car, & just enough money to fill the 8/40 with petrol each Friday night, for a weekend chasing birds around the beaches each weekend. Don't think we ever caught any, but hope is strong in the young. Then I joined the navy, & after some training they sent us off to the RAAF NO1 BFTS [basic flying training school] at Uranquinty. Drove the little Morris there from Sydney, with another trainee, & all our gear. She didn't actually stop up any of the hills, but I think we were holding up some of those slow 50s semi trailers up some hills. At Quinti I was the only one of 6 navy types with a car, so all 6 used to pile in for a night out in Wagga on Saturday nights. Only 3 of us left to graduate with a big night in Wagga, & the poor little Morris died that night. We got involved & stayed the night. Never heard of antifreeze, the Morris had a cracked head, & radiator the next morning, having been left out all night. We were off to Pearce WA for our jet training in just 4 days, so the Morris was given to someone on the next course. Bought a 1936 Pontiac Super Chieftain, roadster, with the dickey seat missing over there. We got 10 in that one night, but that's another story.