At the age of 95, Norman Finch from Dubbo is still fit and active. And with a passion for cars and a history as a mechanic he's still got his wits about him too.
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In the process of compiling a story about John Hutty's HT Holden, John came across Norm and discovered that he actually did the pre-delivery inspection on it more than 50 years ago. So this is as much a story about Norm as it is about John's car.
Norm was born in 1927 in Dubbo and was raised there and lived there all his life.
Like many of his generation he left school early and at the age of 13 was working on a dairy farm for Fred Star.
"It was hard work and early starts," Norm said.
"And I tried all I could to get out of there," he laughed.
"I then started working on 'Barbigal' station, a 15,000 acre farm where I did a bit of everything, including chauffer to the boss who I remember didn't drive".
There was no trade then and it was here that Norm learned his mechanic skills which led him on to 20 years working at the state garage, Bloomfield Bros in Dubbo.
"I still remember the first car I worked on was a 1928 Chev," Norm said.
"We did farm machinery and tractors, Diamond T, Federal and Commer trucks and cars like Studebaker, Nash, Vanguard, Hillmans, Humber, Singer and Renault, and eventually Holden.
"In 1967 John Pronk employed me at his new Holden Dealership near Furney flour mills in Brisbane Street, which soon became Newell Motors on the corner of Darling and Bultje streets," Norm said.
It was at Newell Motors that Norm would have pre-delivered John's HT sedan - tensioning nuts and bolts, greasing bearings and checking fluids before delivering to the new owners.
"Radios and heaters were an option then so if you were lucky we'd be fitting those to the cars," Norm said.
"I used to put an 'N' on top of the voltage regulator so I would know if I had pre-delivered the vehicle when it was new."
John's car is a 1970 HT with an original 74,000 miles on the clock.
"After its first 20 years of service it got parked under a tree on a property at Geurie," John said.
That's where he found it after about 10 years and with a bit of tinkering he drove it onto a trailer and took it home.
"I've owned it ever since and for now I'm happy to keep it as it is - a survivor," he said.
Norm reckons he's owned and restored about 20 cars over his lifetime - all Holdens, and he's still got it!
He couldn't help himself, grabbing the steering wheel on John's HT and testing the play in it.
"That's a good one," he said.
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