I van Smith is 93 years old. Back in the late ‘60s and early ’70s he worked as a roads foreman at the Victorian railways. His area of responsibility was the line between Ballarat and Mildura. One day he decided he’d get himself a new Falcon GTHO. So he went into the Ford dealership at Ballarat. ‘I’m here to buy one of these HOs’, he said to the salesman. To which the salesman replied: ‘are you sure you can afford it?’ With that, Ivan turned on his heels, walked out of the Ford dealership, and went across to Wyres Brothers, the local Ballart Holden dealer. He drove out of the Wyres Brothers showroom in a brand-new Monaro GTS 350, burnished bronze in colour, with parchment trim and parchment roof.
Ivan’s wife, Jacqueline, loved that Monaro, although Ivan himself was never fully sold on it – in particular the big coupe’s (lack of) brakes and the handling.
Still, it wasn’t as though he was looking to replace it the day he saw a shiny red Torana L34 on display at the Holden dealer at Donald. Ivan just happened to be passing through Donald on the drive home from work from Mildura to Ballarat, when he spotted it.
“I saw this beautiful car sitting out
