DRIVE TIME
REALLY? WE’RE ALLOWED TO GO SOMEWHERE?
HIT THE ROAD
THIS MAY seem a litt le a lien for some of you, depending on where you live. Up till recent ly, and t hanks to Covid, those of us who had the mixed fortune of liv ing in Melbourne weren’t rea lly a llowed out of our suburb, let a lone cit y or state. A year ago, t his would have seemed like some dystopian fantasy where the countr y is ta ken over by t in-pot dictators.
For some of us, one of t he biggest issues was an inabilit y to exercise our vehicles, which as you k now is a slow but certa in deat h. For t he cars t hat is. With a f leet tin-tops and a herd of motorcycles in the shed, I swear you could hear a chorus of oil sea ls hardening t hrough lack of use.
In bet ween turning into an expert on indoor activ ities and going slightly mad, you of course make plans: what you’re going to do and who you’re going to v isit the moment t he restrictions are of f and t he state border blockades come down.
The list started to look like some sort of weird epic poem, running down pages and pages of somewhat disjointed desires, needs and addresses. Added to t he persona l stuff was a monumental menu of cars and people we needed to shoot for t his f ine family organ – just as soon as lockdow n ends.
And now it has. Which has created an unthinkable dilemma. After giv ing t he transport of delight a fresh drink of oil, which way do we go when we turn out of the driveway? I want to get back to Tasmania prett y urgent ly, there is a host of cars and people we need to catch up with in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and a ll points in bet ween. And which car gets to go on which gig?
So now we’re enjoy ing a bout of epic dit hering. Ty pica lly, I’d do severa l long trips across a year, at least a couple of them in the seventies toys, the might y 1979 Kingswood and the 1976 633 Bimmer. Which car and which way first?
Maybe it will come down to a coin toss. In any case, the t hought of f inally getting back on t he road and spending some qualit y time cruising t hrough t he Austra lian landscape makes life ta ke on a far happier perspective. One of fa r horizons, chasing t he sunset – seventies st yle...