Rob in the ‘Hood: A little drive down memory lane
They say a man has two loves in his life - his missus (present and past), and his never-ending love affairs with cars (current and questionable past).
Cheers, one and all. Do you want the good news or the bad news first? The good news is that there are only 36 days to Christmas. The bad news is that it’s just 42 days until the bills come in.
A case of cup half-full, half-empty. Just remember you can’t have your Christmas cake and eat it. On with the show.
Life is full of surprises
After three decades’ living on the North Coast, the CO and I never fail to be surprised to discover something old, new, borrowed and blue, now living in this Far Outpost, the beautiful South Coast.
Recently, we were driving home in our ‘not-out-of-the-box-early-automobile’, when we spotted a number of classic cars parked outside one of the neighbouring properties in Uvongo. A row of golden oldies caught our eyes. Well, my eye, at least.
They say a man has two loves in his life: One: his missus (present and past), and Two: his never-ending love affairs with cars (current and questionable past). Maybe that should be t’other way round?
Californian dreamin’
My very first car was a 1954 Hillman Californian. I thought I had arrived and would dazzle the dolly-birds.Three years later the car was a write-off, due to the murderous cold winter of 1963-64. No heater, no anything; it was a rust-rotted write-off.
In a roundabout way it was a deciding factor for my leaving on a jet plane to come to South Africa. Still, although my love was unrequited, I was (still am) a sucker for old cars. When I saw these classics on my very own doorstep, so to speak, I had to stop and admire these beauties.
An old favourite
The owner came out to see who was having a look-see at his cars. “Can I help you?” he asked. “Well, you can give me that Vauxhall Velox if you like,” was my cheeky answer. You never know; he just might give away the car.
“It’s a 1958 model, isn’t it”. The owner was suitably impressed: this old codger knew his cars from long, long ago. “Yes, it is; would you like to see the others?” I was ‘in’!
Cars from long ago and far away
Good neighbour, Brett Bellinger, along with his dad, Clive, own some two dozen classics. Brett decided to bring home to Uvongo a few of the cars, and is building an impressive extended garage in which to store these marvellous, mint condition vehicles. Memories of a bygone period, when ‘cars were cars’ were revived.
Brett proudly showed me around. He knows his cars inside out – mileage, year, model, history, etc. One classic car which caught my eye was a late 1930’s Austin Six.
“There’s a history to this car,” Brett ventured to tell me. “It was driven here all the way from Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).” My late dad would have been in his element seeing these cars from yesteryear. Like father, like son, I guess.
I walked round admiring these vehicles, lovingly restored, lovingly cared for. I gathered my own thoughts. If only I had kept that Hillman Californian; if only I had kept my two Sunbeam Rapiers. I might have been a rich man by now.
If only. Life is full of dreams. Thanks, Brett, for the great look-around.
See you, Rob.
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