LETTER OF THE MONTH
HAMMER TIME
I THOUGHT you may be interested to know some of the story of Hammered
Down (SM, Dec ’83/Jan ’84) and where it’s been for the past 33 years! As you
can see from the pics, the story is a sad one.
As a 16-year-old lad living in Berri, SA, I was looking to buy my first car. Dad
thought we should head down to Adelaide for the 1984 Hot Rod & Street
Machine Spectacular. This awesome black HD Holden was on display there, and
for sale, and by the next weekend I was the proud new owner of a street machine.
Our family moved to Mt Gambier in 1985 and I sold the HD to my brother in- I believe it had a few other owners until 1991 when it was taken off the
road in readiness for paint and mods etc. A relationship breakdown saw the HD
again sold and it was stored in a farm shed at Glencoe, not far from Mt Gambier.
Around 2011 I was living in Renmark, SA and started to wonder whatever
happened to my first car. My brother told me where he thought the HD might be
located. After many calls and dead ends I finally got the bloke on the phone and
arranged a catch-up/inspection. Sadly the HD was in poor condition, and the
owner was undecided on whether to sell it.
It took until early February 2014 to seal the deal, but I finally have the HD back
in my ownership. I’m planning to restore the car back to her former glory; the
intention is to go with the 80s street machine style with as many period-correct
features as possible.
The original builder of the HD was Gavin Poulish [otherwise known as Dr Chop,
who went on to chop a heap of early Holden utes – Ed.]. I could go on and on
about how clever Gavin was with many features/details of this budget early-80s
build. Coincidentally he is also a resident of Renmark, and a few weeks ago we
had a reunion and Gavin saw the HD for the first time since 1985!
Keep up the great work with the mag.
Derek Pfitzner, email
DRIVER REVIVER
I WOULD just like to let Simon Major know that
there are others out there that feel his pain regarding
helping drivers in trouble (Blowin’ Gaskets, SM,
Mar ’17). But there are some of us that still stop
and help, even of the new generation. I am 22 and I
drive around in my modified Toyota 100-series Land
Cruiser and do a lot of off-road camping and driving.
While camping and in the outback, if I stop and help
people, they have always been friendly to me. In the
middle of nowhere we all need to have each other’s
backs and look out for one another.
Once you hit the suburbs and the cities, however,
it’s a different ballgame. I still always stop and help,
but a lot of the time people are ungrateful, aren’t
willing to get their own hands dirty to save their own
car, or are just rude.
But just remember the people who are grateful and
happy when you stop to help. So many people just
pass them on the road and it can really suck (I have
been there myself when my first car died and noone offered to help me at all) and you feel all alone,
isolated and embarrassed.
So helping out can be hard sometimes, yes, but
hopefully one day if you ever need a hand someone
will stop and help you too.
Michael Stolzenburg, emailMAY THE FORD BE WITH YOU
LIKE clockwork, at 1:30am the insomnia devil taunts
me awake. I quickly realise he will not piss off until I
wander the house and balcony like a ranga-cropped
wraith. My little mate Rastus the Jack Russell knows
the drill, so he throws back his blanket and whacks
on his blue singlet to keep me company.
We decide to watch a film. Rasty wants to watch
Convoy (again), but I find Star Wars films next to
our nerd box so I whack ’em on. Rastus sits on
the armrest of my recliner, close enough to show
his support but not intimate enough to offend his
macho Jack Russell image.
So we watch a few Star Wars films, and I start tosee a pattern forming. Every time Han Solo pulls
the trigger on his Millennium Falcon to kick it into
hyperdrive, it coughs, splutters and carries on like
a Phase III with a steaming radiator and cooked
brakes. I am sure many Falcon owners know the
feeling: like an XF with a wet towel on the intake
and a gutful of Warragamba whisky.
Why does his Millennium Falcon always play up?
Being the universe’s fastest four-door must really
suck when Pete Skywalker buzzes straight past in
a tiny XU-1-Wing.
I guess with a name like Han Solo it was
predestined he would own a Falcon; I mean it
sounds like an activity a GT Falcon owner does
on a lonely Saturday night in front of a full-length
mirror while wearing an Autolite decal and 375g of
whipped cream.
Maybe if Han Solo owned a Millennium Monaro
instead, Princess Leia would have put her landing
gear down for him. But I guess if he had a Monaro his
name would be Titty McMoneyshot, not Han Solo.
Redmond, emailYOUR STUFF
Write to: Your Stuff, Street Machine, Locked Bag 12, Oakleigh, Vic 3166 or email [email protected].
Make sure you include your address (not necessarily for publication). Keep it short and sweet!