Almanac Life: First Car
KD’s 1962 Ford Anglia, parked outside his family home in Newtown, Geelong. c. 1980. {Photo: Kevin Densley.)
Almanac Life: First Car
Recently I’ve been thinking about my first car (pictured above, parked directly outside my former family home in Newtown, Geelong), received from Dad and Mum in 1980 when I was eighteen – a sky blue 1962 Ford Anglia. What a cool design, very retro from today’s perspective. I wish I still had one!
As you can see, it was a two-door vehicle. Each front seat sat on a type of hinge, and you had to lift/rock the seat forward to get into the back. Mine had a Ford radio (bearing a distinctive dark blue and white Ford badge), dating from its manufacture. The radio and speakers were of excellent quality.
The car was a H-pattern ‘four on the floor’, but had an unusual reverse gear, in that you had to go into the central neutral position, then lift the gearstick up, out of the socket, so to speak, and then move it into reverse, which, from memory, was up and to the far right next to third gear (where fifth gear would be in many later cars). There was no synchro in first gear, either – you had to come to a dead stop to put it into first.
Some key memories connected to the car were my father giving me driving lessons on the intricate pattern of roads in the Eastern Gardens, near Geelong Football Club’s old home ground, Corio Oval, which at that time had just finished its era as Geelong’s harness racing centre. When a much younger man, my father didn’t have the mildest temperament, let’s say, so those driving lessons were often stressful for both of us – but we got there in the end, as, like many, I obtained my licence first go.
The old Anglia served me well in my time with Geelong pub band, Murmurs, going all around Geelong and district to gigs (i.e. including out-of-town places like Little River, St Leonards, Freshwater Creek and Modewarre). Usually, I’d lie my bass guitar across the back seat and secure it with seat belts, with my large bass amp fitting snugly in the boot. I remember the first night we played at Little River pub I wasn’t sure where I was going, took a turn very late and almost sideswiped the wall of an old stone bridge. (It had low bluestone walls on either side.) There were a few near misses as a young driver in that Anglia. Another time, on a rainy night, I braked a bit late coming to a stop sign, and the car hit a patch of greasy road, turned about ninety degrees, then aquaplaned diagonally across the intersection and came to rest alongside a lamp post, roughly two feet from it – I was certainly aware of how close I’d come to a major accident, to put it mildly. I was so fortunate no other cars were around at the time.
First cars are very much much about freedom, and independence from parents. One of my sisters recently told me that the best thing about me (the oldest kid) getting a car and licence was that we could now do night time runs to the milk bar without having to ask our mother or father to take us. I also loved nicking into Geelong’s city centre from our home in nearby Newtown, to get a pizza from El Toro Pizza in Moorabool Street. That pizza parlour is still there, incidentally, over forty years later.
Sad to say in retrospect, though, I didn’t look after my Anglia very well – basically just thrashed it around and didn’t get it serviced enough. It only lasted a few years. Near the end of its life, it became hard to start, and, living in a house half-way up a hill, often I roll started it in second gear to turn over the engine. One night, some thieves tried to steal it, but they didn’t have the knack of roll starting it, and next morning I found the car abandoned at the bottom of my street.
In the end, I sold the Anglia as a wreck – an inglorious end for such a great little car.
A rare sight: KD washing his Anglia, c. 1980. (Photographer unknown.)
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Fab piece KD, brought back fond memories of my first car, a grey 1968 Mini, JYA 834. $2 to fill the tank, and it took me everywhere I wished to go. It was a cracker and is still the best car I’ve ever owned. Puttering around in Mini heaven now!
Thanks for your comments, Col. Glad you enjoyed the piece. My best mate’s first car was a mini, too, in fact a mini panel van, which did the rounds of Victoria’s West Coast beaches on his many surfing expeditions in that era.
Classic KD. First drove the family bomb – a 70 Torana. But first car I owned was a 1969 sugarcane Morris 1100.
Thanks, JTH, for your reply.
Ah, the 70 Torana and the 1969 Morris 1100 – classics indeed, with the icing on the cake being the sugarcane colour of the latter! (Highly apt, given its Queensland context.)
Nice post, KD. Sky blue 1967 HR Holden. Three-on-the-tree. How good were these? REM-097 (REM would become a favourite band and 97 was the year of the Crow so an easy rego to remember). Fun car and no seatbelts in the back. Only had it a year and then traded up to a HQ Kingswood of which there were about thirty in Kapunda at the time driven by my contemporaries!
Great memories Kev. Mie was a 1970 Cortina sky blue. Never actually got to drive it much. Some drunken clown wrote it off whilst it was parked on the front yard of where I was living in Toowoomba! Next car was 1971 Kingswood that went forever.
Cheers, Mickey! My family had a HR Holden at one stage – and we had a Kingswood (can’t recall exact model) at another. Of course, we weren’t ‘Robinson Crusoe’ in these respects.
Also, re ‘three-on-the-tree’: the first time I drove one (after driving many ‘four-on-the-floor’ cars) was a real baptism of fire. I was in my early twenties and one weekend had to drive numerous trips from one inner Melbourne suburb to another, on the busiest main roads, helping a sister move house. She’d borrowed a van from the place she worked, threw me the keys and basically said, “Over to you!”. For a while, needless to say, gears were crunched as I got my bearings. But I ended up getting the hang of it. Probably after a couple more years, and driving many mates’ cars, I felt I could jump into virtually any vehicle and drive it smoothly.
REM are one of my favourite bands, too. Perhaps surprisingly, I haven’t written about them for the Almanac site, yet. It is on the cards, though, that I’ll do so.
Thanks, Ian, for your ‘first car’ (and, indeed, second car) memories. As far as I’m aware, the Cortina basically descended from the Anglia.
And isn’t it interesting that sky blue has become a significant colour (me, Mickey, yourself) in the discussion so far? I suspect, though. that this may change as more responses are received.
A 76 Ford Cortina for mine. A kind of light milk chocolate brown with black vinyl roof and four on the floor. Bought it from the brother of the current Crows chairman. No worries doing Adelaide to Canberra across the Hay plains and made a couple of trips up and over the mountains from south-west Sydney to Lithgow. Eventually traded it for a Ford XF Fairmont that was as fast as hell but haemorrhaged oil!
Hairiest moment in the Cortina was on the Port Wakefield Road heading north out of Adelaide in the days before it was a dual highway. Cruising along at 110 (probably with some Chisel blaring on the tape deck) we met an oncoming car towing a trailer holding an (insufficiently secured) wardrobe. The wardrobe started to rock and toppled from the trailer, landing right in our path (it seemed to be in slow motion). Thankfully we ended up on one of the few completely flat verges on that stretch of road that was free of stringy scrub and trees and got out of it with a few dents and scratches to the bodywork, a smashed side mirror and a staked front tyre. Got a new paint job out of it. Between the Cortina and the road we managed to obliterate the wardrobe!
Great topic Kevin. My first car was a 1968 Kingswood Tri-matic Premier (if you don’t mind). Purchased from my grandfather for $360 who counted the money when I paid him!!! The police had taken his license after he was pulled over at age 82 driving home from the pub after a couple of quiet ones.
White XP Falcon – RTG 371 $350 from a dodgy used car place on Grand Junction Road Wingfield (the world epicentre of dodgy conveyances), March 1979.
Broke down on the way home. Taught me more than I ever needed to know about welsh plugs and petrol pumps. Lasted about six months. Lesson learnt.
Thanks KD
Hi Greg. Thanks for your response. Between Anglias and Cortinas we’re developing a bit of theme here, though I suppose that’s because they were popular in their era, as well as being economical, small cars nominally ‘suitable’ for young drivers.
The colour of one’s first car appears to be something important in this developing discussion, too.
Thanks, Dips, for your comments. The Kingswood is another model increasing in significance as this Almanac discussion proceeds.
Your grandfather was obviously someone who was very careful with his money – I suppose he grew up in the 1930s Depression years and was shaped in a major way by them – thrifty behaviour was so common, understandably, for those who were part of that generation. Another example who immediately springs to mind is an ex-partner of mine’s father, of the same vintage as your grandfather, who always personally gave you a card without writing on the envelope, so the envelope could be re-used. His daughter, my partner at the time, did the same thing!
Cheers, Swish. Thanks for your words. Fords and Holdens appear to be winning the ‘popularity contest’ so far – not that this discussion is one!
I think it was my second car a (rotary engine) Mazda RX-2 that taught me similar lessons as your first did. I was fortunate that my best mate was a mechanical genius (he owned an RX-4 at the time, and went on to do a PhD in the electrochemical area) who kept it on the road for much longer than otherwise would have been the case.
KD, mine was a mustard coloured 1956 FJ Holden sedan with sun visor which my parents bought for me for $200 at the start of 1972. It had seen previous lives as a local ambulance vehicle and a private car for a very slow-driving local farmer. Not too many miles on the clock and ran very smoothly. Dad saw to it that it had new tyres, front seat belts and indicators added. Only problem was they bought it in SE Queensland and I was a student in Adelaide at the time. Hence a 3-day, very slow drive to eventually get there. On my third day in Adelaide, I was pulled over by a motorbike copper who must have been suspicious of the Qld number plates a long way from home. I think he was disappointed to find that the young, long-haired bloke driving it had the necessary paperwork and the car itself was in very good condition. All he could say (gruffly) was that I needed to get the rego changed over within a set period of time (6 months?). And so it became RVM 270. I had it for about 4 years and 2 or 3 girlfriends.
Ah Ian, you had a FJ! Iconic stuff! Mustard coloured, to boot – that’s interesting, too.
I hope you had a good car radio to listen to on that long drive from SE Queensland to Adelaide.
And thanks for your contribution to this discussion, which is developing a wonderful life of its own.
Hi KD, as we discussed when you posted about your Anglia on FB, yep, my first car too. Mine was red and white, with a miniature fan on the front dash. Which looked great but less than effective in Perth through summer.
My old man got it from a mate at the pub for $300. He told me he had bought a Ford Escort. Now, Ford Escorts (Aussie version) were not cool in Belmont in 1979 but at least it was relatively new, so at school the next day I let people know I had myself a Ford Escort. The car arrived at home that afternoon.
The final stage of the walk home from school was across a large park and I could see our house in the distance. In 1976 when walking home we could see our old telly on the front verandah and we sprinted home knowing we had a colour TV. Oh, the joy.
From a distance midway across the park, I could see that the car out the front was not a newish Ford Escort but a very olden days something or other. My heart sunk. The closer I got, the older it looked. By the time I got home I could not have been more disappointed. My older brother had a 1975 Ford Fairlane and he picked up chicks. I could only envisage an Anglia assisting gannies with their shopping.
Talk about ungrateful, I was a sook. But … it was a car and that car could get me outa Belmont and all over Perth. I grew to love the Anglia. A bloody ripper of a car.
Hi, Rick. Thanks for your interesting and detailed response to the considerably expanded Anglia piece I posted here on the Almanac site.
As I indicated in my Almanac article, one’s first car does mean freedom and independence – the more I think about this, the more important this makes this first vehicle.
With regard to my Ford Anglia, and how I grew to view it, I think it was a classic case of the wise words of the Joni Mitchell song, Big Yellow Taxi: ‘You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’.
Cheers, mate.
First car was Ford Zephyr Mk.2 with 3 on the tree, bench seat, no radio in two-tone nipple pink. Had no power, but could be improved by pulling the choke knob out at about 25mph in second gear… Early on, ran out of fuel with gauge showing about 1/3 full, never trusted that needle again. Mostly trouble free, bench seat was useful at drive-in. Used to straighten it up around a bend near home by clipping the last of the rumble strips with the rear tyre. Probably spent less time at the mechanic’s place than the TC Cortina I bought in 1972 to replace it…Wouldn’t say it was fondly remembered, but it wasn’t too bad and the freedom was its best point.
Hi Bucko. Thanks for your first car memories. I particularly liked the specific details you brought up, which brought your story to vivid life: ‘two tone nipple pink’, the effect of the choke knob, unreliable fuel gauge etc.
As for the Ford Zephyr itself, I do remember it – there were quite a few around, from what I recall. I think at one stage my grandfather (Mum’s father) had one.
I never saw too many Ford Anglias in my neck of the woods.
My first car was a brown 1964 EH Holden wagon.
I sort of wrote about it here (there is also a pic):
https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/almanac-life-13-passengers/
https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/vafa-premier-c-the-cys-preview-the-e-h-holden-rd-3/
Sorry, here…!
Thanks, Smokie. I do remember the story connected to your first link – about carrying 13 passengers.
And I just checked out the second link – nice piece about your EH, among other topics. This Holden was a bit of popular classic, as I remember. Your piece also reminded me how, back in the day, many of us relied on the print version of the Trading Post to buy cars, musical instruments etc. Alas, it doesn’t exist in a hard copy format these days.
Just read Smokie’s story about 14 blokes in an EH and it brought back memories. In 1990 when my son was in Year 6, the Primary School had a cricket team, effectively run by me and one other father, as usual…. Anyway, we entered a knock-out comp played on Wednesdays after school and needed to get about 7 kms to the venue. No other parent offered, surprisingly, so I got my father to carry half and I put the other half in my NA Pajero (the first LWB model with the high roof. Anyways, afterwards, Dad had had to leave and thus I was left with 11 kids, bags of cricket gear, no mobile phone and sun sinking in the west. “Alright, all you kids get in front, middle, rear, wherever, but keep your heads down in case a copper sees us”. Took all of them back to the school in one piece.
Would not even think about doing it today, but not much worse than the 6 of us, plus driver and ball, who used to fit into my basketball coach’s Mini on Saturday arvo in under 14s basketball…
I mentioned in another piece recently about our baseball coach regularly filling his VW Beetle with himself, the score, the gear bag and at least nine under13 kids to travel to away matches.
I just remembered that I as coach, ferried nine junior softballers in the back of a tray top ute from Ingle Farm to West Beach one weekend in 1980. The parents got the point after that.
Hi Bucko and Swish – some of our stories about what we did in, with etc. our early cars would not bear repeating these days, I feel! The number of passengers is only the beginning … different times, indeed.
Funny thing I remember, though, connected to the above ‘vehicle crowding’ is a time when at least a couple of classes were brought back in a bus to my school (St Joseph’s College, Geelong) from the PIx Theatre, Geelong West (no longer there). We’d been taken to see the film Walkabout and were seated inside the cinema, ready to start watching. Then a teacher suddenly discovered there was to be some nudity in the film, so the younger classes present, including mine (Year 6 and 7 or thereabouts), were immediately dragged out, put in a bus at probably double the allowed passenger capacity and promptly taken back to school. I still recall the bus’s suspension under major strain, the bus almost grounding out as it went over bumps and around corners.