My first car
My parents gave me my first car. It was a Datsun 180B. It didn’t look much, but it went okay and I travelled thousands of kilometres with it in two and a half years.
I got my licence in May 1985, a few months after my 18th birthday. Probationary drivers then had to show P plates and were restricted to 80kmh, I think, but neither rule was strictly enforced.
I remember being pulled over for random police checks a couple of times, including the day before I was due to come off P plates, and the officer didn’t even mention it. Blue Datsuns must have been a popular getaway vehicle or drugs mule considering the number of times I got pulled over in it.
The picture above was taken at the Grand Young National Steeplechase held at the McGauran property near Traralgon in 1986. Peter McGauran was (is) the Federal MP and he’s now the Minister for Primary Industries.
My “friends” jacked up the car and stripped everything from it. I’ve got no idea why there are shoes on the bonnet.
Tags: office, police, PR, Traralgon, travel
Is that a photo of the actual car? What is that you’ve driven over?
Ah, the Dato!
Maybe the car’s on the log because it wanted to be in the steeplechase, too?
Yes Delmer, that’s the car. It was jacked up over a log.
My mother read this entry and wasn’t pleased:
“That lovely little car was barely three years old, and looked GREAT until it was passed over to its new owner.”
Ouch!
Is that an axe on the back seat and a pair of shoes on the bonnet? Did you murder someone Michael?
It’s either a hockey stick or a cricket bat in the back. I kill the odd huntsman with such implements; that’s all.