DAVE RAYNER ZEPHYR & ZODIAC OWNERS CLUB OF MELBOURNE

“I MET John in late December 1968. I’d been down to the beach in my Mk2 Zephyr with some mates and rolled the car over. Somehow I got it back to my parents’ place and parked it on the lawn. A couple of days later I came home and Mum said some ruffian had come to the front door, offering to help fix the car – a big guy, with tattoos! That started a friendship of over 50 years.

“I started spending time at his house and there were all sorts of people coming and going, buying parts. Quite a few of them had Zephyrs, and John started talking about creating a club in 1972. When he moved to a house with a bigger garage, we then had a place to meet, so we signed up 14 members to the Zephyr & Zodiac Owners Club of Melbourne at our first meeting in 1974. It's now 45 years later and the club is still going strong. John was the founder, inaugural president and later patron of the ZZOCM, after my father passed away, who was the first club patron.

“One of the most famous stories involves my dad, who was a magistrate and the mayor of the City of Broadmeadows. Dad had a really distinctive HK Premier at the time and John would service it for him. This one time, JP had serviced the car and was returning it when a couple of cops spotted him. Now, John and the Broady cops had a love/hate relationship, and they were pretty excited about the idea of catching JP stealing the mayoral car.

They pulled him over and John growled at them: ‘What’s wrong with you? The mayor is a mate of mine; I’ve got permission!’ The cops shot back: ‘As if the mayor would have a mate like you!’ So they dragged him up to the council chambers, where Dad spotted them and said: ‘G’day, John! Is the car finished already?’ The cops had to apologise and JP dined out on that story for years.

“John helped me get out of – and into – lots of scrapes over the years, but what is amazing is how many friendships were forged through him. What he has done for me in terms of friends is unbelievable.”