As detailed on the Home Page, my 1st car was a 1974 HQ Statesman DeVille, in Covert Green metallic.

I purchased it from Saba Motors (no longer exists), 520 Princes Highway, Noble Park, Victoria late 1981 when I was a second year Apprentice at the Army Apprentices School, Balcombe, Victoria, for a grand total of $3,890. It had a 308ci motor coupled to a Trimatic Automatic Transmission, with Brocade material upholstery, but unfortunately no factory Air-conditioning (Aircon came later in the form of an after market under dash unit).

Over the years that I owned it, I made many modifications to the car including the aforementioned Aircon, but I also fitted Globe Bathurst Mags (not knowing at the time that they were Ford Mags!!), lowered Front Coil Springs, rear Air Shocks, Edelbrock Intake Manifold, Extractors/Twin System exhaust, mild Cam and new Lifters, Pioneer Component Stereo System, Wooden Sports Steering Wheel (a birthday present from my lovely girlfriend), new Boot Carpet (also a present from my lovely girlfriend), Halogen Headlights, Hella 100W x 2 Spotlights, and the obligatory Chrome Air Cleaner. Eventually I also had the Engine refreshed with 40 thou oversized Pistons/Rings.

I also swapped out the internally regulated standard 55A Alternator with a High Current internally regulated 120A Alternator (to accommodate the Stereo and Spotlights). The Distributor was re-mapped (adjusted the Advance Curve) to accommodate the change in Cam, and flirted with a 650cfm Holley Carburetor with Vacuum Secondaries. But I soon swapped back the Rochester Quadrajet when performance decreased. I didn’t know it at the time, but the standard Rochester Carby was the equivalent of 750cfm. Plus it had mechanical secondaries which delivered instant fuel, unlike the Holley that had to wait for the Vacuum Secondaries to kick in. And no matter what springs I fitted to reduce the delay, it just wasn’t the same. I also re-jetted the Holley, but it just didn’t compare to the Quadrajet.

Writing about the Holley Carby just reminded me of an incident that happened in the 3rd year of my Apprenticeship. Back in the early 80’s, there used to be illegal street racing down the main street of Dandenong on a Saturday night. A bunch of us decided to go and take a look and drove there from Balcombe to Dandenong and parked up in the main street to watch the action. It just so happened that the Police decided that this particular Saturday night was the night to crack down on it. They blocked off all entries and exits and systematically went over each car attending. Presumably to see if any cars were illegally modified, that drivers were licensed etc. When they got to me, they wanted to look inside the Boot. Sitting inside the Boot was the Holley Carby I had recently removed. The Police immediately thought that it might be stolen goods, but I managed to convince them that it wasn’t. After that, the Police told me to “get out of town”, to which I replied, “but I live here”. I didn’t actually live there, my Dad did. But I did go there on weekends, so it wasn’t completely untrue 😉 They then told me to “Just get on your way”, which I duly did.

In the mid 80’s whilst I was posted to 106 Field Workshop at Cooper’s Plains, Qld, I had the car resprayed in Cyan Blue. I did the Body and Prep work myself before taking it to be professionally painted at a local Paint & Panel workshop. I have no recollection of the name of the Shop. All I remember is that it was in or near Coopers Plains.

In 1987, I took the car to Willowbank Raceway where they had 1/4 mile drag races. I managed to get to the semi-finals which was a hoot.

A sad part of the history of the car (well it was for me), was when I had to have a failed Engine Mount replaced. I took it to a Service Station just around the corner from where I lived where a full time mechanic operated from. I left the car with him for the day, got a lift to work from a friend, but on returning that afternoon, the car was still up on the hoist. I wandered over to it and noticed green coolant on the floor underneath it. That’s when the mechanic came over and gave me the bad news. In the process of changing out the Engine mount, a block of wood that was supporting the Engine slipped, and somehow the side of the Engine Block contacted something and smashed a hole in the water jacket. There was a gaping hole in the side of the block. It was covered by his insurance, but meant that it needed a new Block, and I was going to be without the car for weeks. But the worst part for me was that the car now no longer had the original Engine. On the plus side, I got a rebuilt Engine out of it.

I owned this car for 18 years. It was my pride and joy. But then life changed (as it always does), priorities changed, and I ended up selling it for a paltry $500 to a guy who parted it out. And as everyone who has sold a car like this, I have regretted it every day since. Are there things that I did that I regret (apart from selling it)? Most definitely. For example, not keeping the original Wheels and Trims, the original Steering Wheel, the original Scissor Jack, the original Intake Manifold, the original Exhaust Manifold, the original Sealed Beam Headlights, the original AM Radio. All of these things are highly sought after these days. Whilst we all modified the crap out of cars back then, these days many of us strive for an original as possible car, and getting these parts is getting more difficult.

Amazingly, for a car that I loved so much, I have precious few photos of it. Back in the day we were more interested in living life than documenting it I guess. And unfortunately the quality of the photos that were taken way back then are pretty poor too 🙁

With regards to the Pioneer Component Stereo I installed, I thought some may find it interesting to see what was considered high end and pretty schmick at the time. So here are some photos of that too. I had the smaller slimline 50W (25W + 25W) Amplifier mounted under the front passenger seat which served the front Kick Panel Speakers, and the larger 120W (60W + 60W) Amplifier mounted in the boot which served the rear Parcel Shelf Speakers. The Tuner was installed into the Dashboard, and the Tape Deck and Graphic Equalizer were fitted under the Dashboard with the use of brackets. I was devastated when someone broke into the car and stole it during the night when it was parked at my Dad’s flat in Dandenong. That prompted me to install a Car Alarm, but that was too little too late.