REMINISCENT of scenes from Happy Days, Maida Vale resident Robert Walton remembers when the tea rooms in Kalamunda was the place to be.
The 73-year-old has fond memories from his youth of being a “street kid” hanging around the area checking out the “showstopper” cars.
Mr Walton said they didn’t have computers and most of their time was spent perusing one car in particular, a Goblin handmade by local panel beater Graeme Farrell in 1959.
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READ NOWAlmost 60 years on, and in the name of nostalgia, Mr Walton and Mr Farrell are now in search for the car that was sold in the ‘60s.
Mr Walton has spent a year searching for the “magnificently beautiful car” or the story behind what happened to it and said it would be very valuable today.
“I don’t expect to find the car but we would like to know the history of it, the last owner and where it went and what happened to it,” he said.
“In Kalamunda, it was like something out of Happy Days, we had the Kookaburra tea rooms and we all hung around that and this car was always a prominent car there, it was a showstopper because there was nothing like it around.
“Graeme and his big group of friends and they’d go out in that car chasing sheilas.”
Mr Farrell, who is now 77 years old and lives on the Gold Coast, said he built the sports car out of a written off 1950 FX Holden and put it together with parts from cars such as an Essex, Vanguard, Vauxhall, Jeep, Morris, MG and Jaguar.
“I have fond memories of travelling to many parts of South-West WA in the Goblin, usually with a convoy of other vehicles and friends,” he said.
“Three special locations come to mind including the Scarborough beach front, parking out the front of the then famous Snake Pit dance venue; return trips to Albany for long weekends; and crossing the Nullarbor to Adelaide.”
In 1964, Mr Farrell sold the Goblin for $650 to put down a deposit on a Ford Prime Mover and semi trailer.
The pair is seeking any information about the car or what happened to it.
Anyone with information can contact Mr Walton by email at rednorthgold@bigpond.com.
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