I suspect that all things automotive is in my DNA.
I grew up with cars in my life. It was normal. I just loved to be near them,
to listen to adults talk about them and to just sit and watch them. Sad eh?
The info on this page will help explain why, I hope.
I grew up with cars in my life. It was normal. I just loved to be near them,
to listen to adults talk about them and to just sit and watch them. Sad eh?
The info on this page will help explain why, I hope.
The Airport Service Station.....
When he was about 19, (c1936) my father bought some land and built the "Airport Service Station" opposite the then Wagga airport on the Sturt Highway, just east of the town. Within a few years, he vied for top petrol sales with "Silvalite, which was on the western approaches to Wagga. This image shows no workshop yet, but I notice he had the comfort of an outhouse. That's Dad on the motorcycle & possibly Bruce Nelson, standing. Phone number 59
It was the first service station in the area to go "One Brand", "Shell Oil" in this case.
Prior to that he sold "Golden Fleece" and "Alba" products.
Notice the freshly painted facade is the same as the first image and the workshop has now appeared. I remember it as being Shell, and at the age of 7, I pumped my first gallon of petrol there in 1958. It's value was 4 shillings, or about 8.8 cents per litre
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Ron's 1903 Oldsmobile......
In 1957 my dad bought for 30 bob ($3), the remains of a 1903 Oldsmobile. When I was only 6 or 7, he and I dug it up off the banks of the Tarcutta Creek at Borambolla. The engine was separate from the rest of the car and because it had been mounted on a cart and used to fumigate rabbits, it was in fairly good shape......unlike the rest of the thing.
I grew up with the rolling chassis in the backyard. We climbed all over it playing when we were children. Over the years and without any cash, slowly, he managed to 90% restore it. These pics were taken by the Wagga Daily Advertiser (c1974) for a story on his project. He never did quite finish the restoration but after he died, it was completely re-restored by its new owner, Terry Lloyd of Canberra.
At that time I had to find new owners for his cars. He had, a few years earlier, given me the 1952 Wolseley 6/80 that I not only grew up with, but went through the windscreen of, when I was just 13. As I mentioned above, I found Terry Lloyd, a fellow member of the Veteran Car club in Canberra, who was interested in the Olds. He visited the car and after some quick research realised it was a genuine car, not made up of bits n pieces, like so many of them are, and made Mum an offer she couldn't refuse. Abigail went to a good home. My sister and her husband Peter were given the Goggomobile Dart, yes a DART, and Sandy bought the "Model T" from the estate. Mum was a little lady but she was left with a monstrous 351ci Ford Marquis to contend with.
Realising the thing was just too damned big for her, she asked me to make up a short list of suitable "new"cars for her, which I did and eventually she ended up trading the big Ford in on a Toyota Corolla Seca, which was perfect for her.
I grew up with the rolling chassis in the backyard. We climbed all over it playing when we were children. Over the years and without any cash, slowly, he managed to 90% restore it. These pics were taken by the Wagga Daily Advertiser (c1974) for a story on his project. He never did quite finish the restoration but after he died, it was completely re-restored by its new owner, Terry Lloyd of Canberra.
At that time I had to find new owners for his cars. He had, a few years earlier, given me the 1952 Wolseley 6/80 that I not only grew up with, but went through the windscreen of, when I was just 13. As I mentioned above, I found Terry Lloyd, a fellow member of the Veteran Car club in Canberra, who was interested in the Olds. He visited the car and after some quick research realised it was a genuine car, not made up of bits n pieces, like so many of them are, and made Mum an offer she couldn't refuse. Abigail went to a good home. My sister and her husband Peter were given the Goggomobile Dart, yes a DART, and Sandy bought the "Model T" from the estate. Mum was a little lady but she was left with a monstrous 351ci Ford Marquis to contend with.
Realising the thing was just too damned big for her, she asked me to make up a short list of suitable "new"cars for her, which I did and eventually she ended up trading the big Ford in on a Toyota Corolla Seca, which was perfect for her.