Life realignment 50 years up track
LOWERING a vehicle’s suspension was big business in Geelong in the early 1970s.
And so was the Ford Motor Company.
For Garry Nelis, who ticks over 50 years at Geelong business Safety Motors today, customers would call up as soon as they took delivery of the latest muscle car and bring it in to the Bellerine St workshop to be lowered.
Garry started on September 19, 1967, as an apprentice to Ray Rankin, who established Safety Motors in 1965 to fit car seatbelts and child seat restraints.
But as vehicle safety improved after world-first seatbelt laws were introduced in 1970, Safety Motors specialised in steering, suspension repairs and wheel alignments.
Brother Peter Nelis joined as an apprentice in 1970 before Garry bought the business in 1973. More recently, Garry’s children Grant and Tammy work at the business.
“Often people buy a brand new vehicle and drop it off the next day at the workshop to be lowered,” Garry says.
These were mainly Australian muscle cars, like GTHO Phase 3 Falcons, GTS 350 Monaros, RT Valiant Chargers or XU-1, SL/R and A9X Toranas.
He said one of Safety Motors’ original customers and friends was Rex Gorell, who back then ran a small car yard at the top of Moorabool St and would send used cars over to be repaired. The car yard is still there, but Mr Gorell went on to forge one of Australia’s biggest motor dealerships across Geelong.
There have been some surprises along the way, like the tiger snake that dropped from under a farmer’s Toyota LandCruiser as Garry and Peter were removing the rear suspension, or the $20,000 in a paper bag found in a glove box while Garry was searching for the car’s locknut socket.
When you consider a lefthand mirror was an option extra in 1960, Garry says modern cars are state-of-the-art and as a result less make their way into the workshop.
Safety Motors is on the market with commercial real estate agents Darcy Jarman and is set for auction on September 28.
The Nelis brothers expect to lower the roller door for the last time in December.