EH

My old car, a 1964 EH Holden, 3 speed manual, 149cc engine.

I owned this from 1985 to 2006. Before that it was my Dad’s - an inheritance in 1978 from his uncle, who worked for General Motors Holden, and who bought it new.

I miss this car. It may have drunk more petrol in a week than my current car (diesel VW) does in 2 months; it may have been boiling in summer and cold and drafty in winter (especially when holes developed in the floor plate); and it may have been a strain to drive with no power steering, no sync in first, no handbrake for the last 10 years and various other ailments… but it was cool!

I miss the comments from old bastards (“that was my first car”, “I met my wife in that car… if you know what I mean”, and of course “they don’t make them like that anymore”). I miss how easy it was to fix things, even for a gay dunce like me. And how cheap it was to service. I miss the looks from young straight guys. And I miss the special wave from other EH drivers as you’d pass them on the road - a slight lift of the right hand, keeping the thumb on the steering wheel.

I wish I still had it, but it’s gone to a better home, hopefully in a garage. For years it lived out in the street buffered by winds off the bay, and rusting away. No way to treat a lady.