True love’s a Gem

When Kylie Richards turned 50, she was gifted a time machine of sorts.

Her husband, Nudge, presented her with a 1982 TF Holden Gemini that looked, felt and smelled exactly like the one she drove when she met him at 18, that he’d somehow managed to restore in secret in the months prior.

The task wasn’t easy, with the pair sharing bank accounts and email addresses, and a paper trail spanning the country from as far as Western Australia, where Nudge had found the model.

The restoration included painting the car its original colour, finding the same wheels, the same shade of window tint and the same aerial.

And the cherry on top?

Nudge had remembered the exact air freshener she used in her little green Gem back in the day.

“I was in disbelief,” Kylie said, recalling the moment of the big reveal.

She had to brush up on her manual driving skills that had laid dormant for years and get used to the absence of power steering, but was thrilled to be behind the wheel of a replica of the car she’d always regretted leaving behind when kids came along.

Tearing up town in her Torana

In a twist of fate, Shepparton’s Glenny Young says she’s now become “the little old lady” driving the 1969 Holden Torana LC — her very first car — that she bought from a “little old lady” when she was 18.

Glenny is the 56-year-old vehicle’s second only owner and says the thought of selling it has never crossed her mind.

She bought it for $2600 with just 34,000 miles on the clock, after originally planning to buy a two-door car.

Luckily her brother talked her out of it and it became the family car, transporting all three of her kids around; the first two travelling in baskets in the back seat before changing laws meant she needed an anchor point fitted.

Glenny said the regularly driven Torana (still sporting its original paint) had been reliable mechanically, needing only a reconditioned motor and gearbox in 2024, and rubbers and tyres replaced.

Major project on a Minor vehicle

Graham Tidd’s wife, Glenys, found a dilapidated and almost unrecognisable Morris Minor in a Nathalia chook shed in 2009.

After parting with $300 to take it home, it became a labour of love to restore for Mr Tidd.

The 74-year-old classic had last been registered in 1982.

Mr Tidd, who is a welder and boilermaker by trade and once built race cars, began its restoration in the carport of the couple’s Shepparton unit.

He removed all the nuts and bolts before building it into “a brand new car”.

“If you start a jigsaw puzzle, you never give up until you’ve got it,” Mr Tidd said.

Once he was up to the finishing details, Mrs Tidd picked the colour of the interior’s trim, while he chose the car’s pale blue exterior before also painting it right where it sat.

Restoring a 1928 Indian Scout: A labour of love

When Haydn Tobias retired and returned to his home town, Kyabram, in 2021, he started restoring a 1928 750CC Indian 101 Scout motorcycle.

“It was absolutely knackered,” Haydn said.

“Everything inside the motor was worn out from the bottom up; the front guard was completely bent and twisted.

The Scout, famously used in the ‘wall of death’ stunt at circuses, could be ridden with no hands.

Three and a half years into the estimated five-year restoration, the project was on track with a rebuilt motor and magneto and new cylinders, gearbox and wheels.

Its handlebars, frame, tank and front guard are original, but the latter needed serious panel beating to smooth it out.

Haydn was waiting on clutch work and had planned to send it back to Albury to get it going before starting on the finishing touches, such as painting and pinstriping.

He was hopeful his project would be finished ahead of schedule by the end of this summer.

Johnny has a case of mini car mania

Johnny Randall has owned many full-sized vehicles in his time, including an SL Torana, a Commodore VP wagon and a Nissan Pulsar he inherited from his dad, but these days his ‘garage’ is filled with some 200-plus much smaller collectible classics.

“I started collecting them when I moved in to Ave Maria about seven years ago,” Johnny said.

“I lose count every time I try to count them.”

His favourite among the collection, which is made up of mainly 1:18 scale models, is a 1967 Shelby GT500E, which some will know better as ‘Eleanor’ of Gone in 60 Seconds fame.

Johnny said he mostly favoured the Holdens though, while pointing out the model that started it all: an HQ Monaro.

“Every car show or shop I go to, I get a new model car,” he said in December.

“But I’ve got too many, so now I’m on to buying T-shirts at shows.”

Mustang a memory of much loved mum, wife

Fiona Green’s Ford Mustang was not your regular stock Mustang.

But nor was Fiona ‘regular’, according to her husband, Craig Green; she was also a custom kind.

The late mother-of-two loved her family first and her Fords a close second.

The Mustang was her daily driver.

“No-one was allowed to drive it or touch it. She would park two blocks away to get groceries so no-one would park next to it,” Craig said.

“She was protective of the kids and she was protective of her car.”

After Fiona’s unexpected passing at 51 in February 2025, Craig planned to preserve her pride and joy, and had the paintwork brought back to life, before fitting it with customised registration plates ‘4MYFJ’ (for my Fiona Jane).

Inside remains a purple feather Fiona collected that matches the purple lights programmed to illuminate her car’s interior before she died.

On the dash sits the order of service from her funeral.

Craig now keeps the tribute Mustang garaged most of the time, except for one day a month when he drives it from his Wunghnu home to Cobram Lawn Cemetery and back, to visit Fiona’s resting place.

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Saturday, 15th August 2026

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