I say care taker, cause owning this car was a privilege and honour. It was a joy to drive and I always felt special when driving it. Even after a long drive and I was extremely tired, I couldn't wait to get back behind the wheel the next day. It has never let us down. Even with a tank of bad fuel, it coughed and spluttered her way home. It is a testament to the original builder, Manny Gauci. I will always give Manny the credit for building this fine rod. I now know how he must have felt seeing me drive away in it all those years ago. It was heart wrenching for Marg me to do it now.

    I will always remember the sound and smell of this car. I say smell, cause it was like a trigger for happiness whenever we got in to go for a cruise or long drive. The attention it attracted by the young, old, male or females was amazing. It has caused a few minor accidents by people trying to get a peak at it as we cruised by.

   So why did I sell it? Well I don't know if anyone else could understand this but this is the truth, As you may have noticed, I am building a 37 Ford Roadster. This has taken me much longer to build than I anticipated, to state the obvious. Rod runs were low on our list as I can't build a car and go on  runs. There were no garage fairies helping me when I was there or not. If you go through the build up pages you will notice many pictures of the 37 and in the background was the 34. I had resorted to just driving it up the driveway when I needed to get it out of harms way. It was covered in dust and looked neglected. My role as care taker was failing. It deserved  the  attention that I gave it before. It deserved to be out on the road and strutting its stuff amongst the street hacks. Showing the public what a car with charisma and character is all about. I felt bad every time I looked up from my pondering chair seeing it in that state. So, I decided it deserved the TLC again, and since I had no time to do it, then I will sell it to someone that will.

   I placed an advertisement in a national rodding magazine and waited. I had numerous calls, many from rodders that wanted another rod. I didn't push the sales pitch to hard as I really wanted the car to go to a new rodder. The problem with new rodders is they may not know what they are looking at, or what expectations they have. The perfect scenario occurred. I received a call from a well respected rodder called Kevin from Victoria, acting as an agent for a friend of his that was new to rodding, and wanted a good reliable rod. Kevin knew his stuff and asked the right questions so I was comfortable in telling him all that I thought needed attention. Kevin was acting on behalf of Mario, who was living out a dream of owning a rod. After many years of obligations now finalised, he was now ready. Sounded just like me 11 years ago.

    Kevin warned me that Mario would pamper the car to the extreme.  Just what I wanted to hear. I sent Kevin as much information and pictures that I could get hold of. I didn't want to be told that I wasn't honest about the condition of the car. It was driven, not trailered so it had some road wear. As you would expect. Still, it was still very presentable and could hold its own with the best.

   So, on Sunday, the 16th of October, 2005, Mario and his partner Janice and Kevin arrived at my door step, dead on 9 a.m as promised. I could see Mario's eyes light up when he spotted the 34. I did manage to give it a wash the day before with my last bit of energy as I was still trying to get over a bout of flu. Still, the old girl looked great. It was pleasing to hear Kevin say that it is in very good condition and I looked after her very well. He was very surprised on how well she rode. No squeaks or rattles and she ran smooth.

   Here are the last pictures I took  before she went back home.;-(

	Here she sat, still looking great after all the years. I had put aside all the original stuff I took of it over the years so Mario can decide if it wants to change it back or not.
Not the way I would have liked to see her go. She got me here on her own steam and I would have liked to se her go back the same way. It was Mario's call. It was now his car, or should I say be has payed for the privilege of being her new care taker.
	Here I am presenting Mario with the keys. I tried to talk him into putting the trailer behind the 34 and trailering the Falcon home instead, but he wouldn't wear it;-). He was a bit to unsure about it I think, or maybe he was afraid of pranging it. I can assure you it is a lot easier to drive now than when I first got her. Braking with my left foot was a quick lesson in Melbourne traffic back in '94.
As they head off around noon, on their way back to Victoria.
	The very last view as she disappears around the bend. I could sense she was feeling rather indignant being trailered around, or maybe she thinks this is part of the pampering she will get from now on. Mario has said he will keep me updated on her next phase of life. I know one thing for sure, Mario is in for a great time.......man I'm feeling sad right now, but happy at the same time knowing the 34 will get the attention she deserves, and was denied by me for the past few years.

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