MILEAGE MASTERS

SOME CARS JUST KEEP GOING, GOING AND GOING ... MORLEY WANTS TO KNOW OF OTHER VEHICLES THAT HAVE STOOD THE TEST OF TIME

- DAVE MORLEY

My pal was once into cars. We loved cars because they could take us away to places where new experiences and different people were waiting to astonish and meet us. Usually in that order, but not always. Of course, I'm talking about 40 years ago now, when we were both young fellas with no money and no idea.

And then, something changed.

My mate suddenly grew up. He bought a house, got married, had a couple of kids and bought a sensible car which was about as interesting as watching grass grow. Well, from where I sat, anyway. Of course, we remained close mates, it's just that we no longer broke mechanical stuff together on weekends.

Hey, it happens. I blame girls, mostly.

Me? I never did do the growing up thing, I guess. Which would explain why I now have a shed overflowing with cars and bikes and mechanical stuff of all descriptions, and I live in a house that constantly threatens to fall off its stumps. Besides which, if I ever felt the need to spend time with kids or a boring car, I could always borrow Old Mate's. Never happened, though, from memory.

Anyways, I got a visit from my pal the other day. He fronted up in the same, dreary old Toyota Hilux ute that he's been flogging around in since about the turn of the century. And when I say dreary, I'm not kidding. It's white (now pretty chalky white) and has one of those canopies to make sure it looks even homelier. And get this; it's not even a four-wheel-drive HiLux that you could at least flog around the high country or along a beach somewhere. Nope, two-wheel drive is all Matey needs.

Thing is, when he turned up in the old barge the other day, I had to get in it to move it out of the way at 13 Struggle Street, so the cockroaches and termites could fight each other properly on the driveway. And when I jumped in, I instinctively peeked at the odometer. Blimey! Before me was the number 493,910. Yep, a couple of school runs shy of half-a-million kilometres.