Continuing the series on members of the Central West Car Club and their fantastic vehicles, many of which have been restored to their former glory.
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This Kingswood holds a lot of sentimentality to Scott and Suzie Mill.
It was Scott’s late mother Ruth’s daily driver and for both Scott and Suzie it holds lots of wonderful memories of both Ruth and her adventures in the car.
It’s a 1976 50th Anniversary HX Holden Kingswood.
As far as Scott’s aware the 50th Anniversary model featured not much more than a two-tone colour scheme and a pair of 50th Anniversary badges.
The GTS rims were a factory option and Scott and Suzie’s son Ricky added a set of GTS flutes to the front guards.
Ricky also did all the bodywork and prepared the HX for a fresh coat of paint in its original Contessa Gold.
Scott and Suzie reminisced about the Kingswood and Scott’s mum Ruth.
She’d bought the car in 1986 from a dealership in Wellington.
For her it was just a car – a means of transport.
It gradually accumulated the bumps and scrapes of daily use, which soon became the signature of it being “Nan’s car”.
Scott laughs when he recalls his mum parking it in the carport at Gunningbland.
The carport roof was the bare minimum of height and every time Ruth would open the boot it would connect with the corrugated iron on the roof.
So much so that when Scott and Suzie brought the car into town in 2015 there was a ripple pattern of dents across the bootlid.
“And then there was the time that Nan got it stuck on the corner of the footpath,” Scott laughed.
Ruth had taken the corner too sharply off Bogan St and ended up with the car perched up on the gutter and going nowhere.
It took a few blokes to push it off before Ruth was going again.
“And Mum was always the backup driver for our motorbike rallies,” Scott said.
“This was before mobile phones and she’d always get lost, so we’d spend half our time waiting for her to turn up.
“In a strange sort of way, Suzie’s starting to follow the same traits – back up driver and getting lost too.”
It’s fond memories like this that keep people attached to their cars.
For Scott and Suzie the HX will always be “Nan’s car” and the thoughts of her driving it will always come back.
Scott and Suzie and their family have long been members of the Central West Car Club.
You can find out more about the club at www.centralwestcarclub.com or follow the club on facebook.