OUR CARS – TORRENS
GT’S SPOOKY EXPERIENCE WITH HEADLIGHT SHIELDS FOR HIS VB
FLYNN’S WRECKERS
is an enormous wrecking yard just outside Cooma in southern NSW. Back in the 1990s, I bought some V W stuff from Wayne, who runs t he place established by his dad in t he 1950s. In t he years since I’ve spent at least half-a-dozen days wandering around the rows of old cars, many dating back to the 1930s, 40s and 50s, just for f un.
And I’m not the only one ! These days Fly nn’s is an internationa lly recognised destination for car ent husiasts. You’re a lmost as likely to f ind a European or American tourist wandering around with a camera and a smile as you are an Aussie car ent husiast look ing for parts for a resto.
Anyhow, after working hard at Summernats in Canberra with Street
Machine magazine last summer, I gave myself a day off and drove to Cooma and paid t he $10 entr y fee for a rela x ing af ternoon of wandering around the rows of classic Kingswoods, Falcons, Valia nts, P76s, Crowns and Dattos.
It was while down the back of Fly nn’s – in fact, t he ver y last row – t hat I made an awesome discover y!
Casually poking around, I lif ted t he bonnet of an early Commodore wagon to be greeted by a headless si x-cylinder engine wit h an old Aunger headlight cover sitting on top. I pickedup the headlight cover and thought how great it would be to find a good-condition set at a wreckers or a garage sa le to put on
“TWO BRAND-NEW, IN-THE-BOX METRIX HEADLIGHT SHIELDS IS AN AWESOME DISCOVERY!”
my ‘new’ brown 1979 V B Commodore SL wagon.
The one I was holding was damaged, so I tossed it back into t he engine bay, closed the bonnet and wandered a long the side of the wagon, cupping my hand against the back-door window for a look inside.
What I saw astonished me! Sitting amongst bits of other junk on the back seat of the Commodore wreck was an old black cardboard box with a faded label… Metri x Headlight Shields. Poking out of the box – the packing tape had long ago lost its adhesion – was a dust y pair of headlight covers, ly ing on t he now-perished remains of the original plastic wrapping. Both lef t doors of t he wagon were locked so I ran around the other side to claim my prize: Two brand-new, never-used, unblemished, new-oldstock, in-t he-box, Made-In-Austra lia, Metri x headlight shields ! Incredible !
Ohay, so f inding t wo plastic headlight covers in an old Commodore isn’t quite t he same as f inding a forgotten Ferrari in your grandparents’ garage, but the sequence of events that day – my finding one headlight cover in an engine bay and then finding a brand-new boxed set in t he ver y same car
– is a lmost too freak y to believe !