A 1972 Toyota Corona Mark II
As I have alluded more than once I am a country boy.
I bought this car when I was 18 and at University the first
time.
I went to Uni that first time in Armidale NSW about 110km
(about 70 miles) from where I grew up.
A friend had rebuilt the car from the parts of three wrecks
and was planning to use it for rally driving. But his plans changed and he
decided to sell.
I needed a car and the price of $500 was something this poor student could just about
scrape together. As it happened I gave Mike $300 and a Gold Sovereign coin I
had in my coin collection.
 |
| Me (about 20) and Ian (about 18) |
Well that car did me sterling service. Being a young and
silly person I drove it everywhere - Sydney 475km (296 miles) in six hours.
Brisbane 464 Km (290 miles) in four and a half hours through the mountains along the New England Highway (I said I was
young and silly). Armidale is on the Northern Tablelands of NSW, at about 1,000metres
(3,280 feet) above sea level. Because of the cooler mountain climate the first European
settlers dubbed the area New England. I found the highway
was almost deserted late on Saturday nights and so the best time to travel.
My Toyota was the car I had when I married Deb.
 |
| I'm the Baby on the left, Deb is my child bride. The groom's men are my elder brother Michael and Ian. The bride's maids, page and flower girl are Deb's siblings |
We took it
on our honeymoon, we were so strapped for cash that we camped on the NSW north coast for our honeymoon.
About a year after we were married, we bought a newer car (a
1978 Holden). My younger brother Ian and I resprayed the Toyota so he could use the
car now he was at Uni.
Ian drove the car for another couple of years. Then he bought
a newer car (a 1980 Nissan ute).
It then passed to my Mum because her car had broken down.
Mum drove it for another three or four years between Armidale where she was
working part time and the farm where she lives with her husband Stan (next door
to the farm I grew up).
The car’s useful days came to an end when mum fell asleep at
the wheel.
But maybe the car was looking after her, Mum woke up in time
to avert a total disaster but the car was damaged to the point it was no longer
worth repairing.
A frequent Oz bush tradition is to have a car graveyard on a
farm and Stan’s place is no different (you just never know when a part might
come in handy).
I half imagine that when I go back to visit, the car that
was a part of years of our lives is kind of keeping an eye on us.
6 comments:
Love this story. :) What a great little car. Our "family" car was a little Toyota Tercel hatchback that my dad bought in 1984. He used it for years then I inherited it in 1992. I drove it 10 hours each way to college for a couple of years and then had to hand it down to my brother. It made it through two brothers and then a sister but then my youngest brother was less than kind to it and it finally gave up the ghost. Sadly, my youngest sister never got to drive it but I think it was nearing 200,000 miles at the end (or maybe even passed that). Go Toyota!
I kinda wish we still had our first car, but my hubby wrecked it pretty good. You and your bride both looked like children when you got hitched. Kinda like me. (I was a mere zygote.)
A very inspiring story that tells about valuing happy memories! :) And not just memories with people, but also with fancy rides like the one you got there! Much thanks for this post!
Maybe the car really did protect your mother from harm. As you can see the accident made the hood pop up, which is an indication of the force of impact on the tree, but it's a good thing that your Mum walked out of the accident unscathed. We must be thankful for that, AI.
Great story, thanks for sharing and blogging about it, I remeber my first car took me 2 years to save up for it (it was that cheap) i was insurance by Youi insurance at that stage, but only for a short while, as i pranged it in to the back of a tow truck...good old memories..haha
I had similar incident, but my insurer refused to pay, funny enough i googled cheap car insurance quotes and found cheap insurance, so it is not always the best to get cheap car insurance.
Post a Comment