AustLit

'In the early 1960s I was driving only the second car I’d ever owned—an original FX Holden. Laurie, whom I met at Melbourne University at about that time, greatly admired this beaten up and slowly disintegrating vehicle. When I announced my intention to change to a motor bike Laurie offered me £100 for the FX but I thought he should take more account of its parlous condition and eventually we settled for £60. This represented £12.00 per working cylinder. Laurie became a familiar figure round the place in this hiccupping car—I don’t think he ever did get that errant cylinder firing—and he drove it on and on for what seems like, from memory, years, but maybe was only months. Eventually, when to its growing unreliability were added harassments like registration, an insatiable taste for oil, and other annoyances, he drove it to some North Melbourne back street, removed all identifying traces, and simply walked away from it. Maybe it’s still there!' (Author's introduction)