Brice Rivett recounts how a Suzi Quatro tape, a cigarette and some council roadworks ended with him driving into Mount Gambier’s Blue Lake in 1979

A NIGHT time cruise around the Blue Lake in 1979 with Suzi Quatro playing in the background ended with Brice Rivett’s beloved HR Holden 20m underwater in Mount Gambier’s Blue Lake.

• Another car crashed into Blue Lake last night

A WAYWARD Suzi Quatro cassette, a dropped cigarette and some unexpected council roadworks ended with Brice Rivett and his beloved HR Holden taking the plunge off a cliff and towards the Blue Lake.

Mr Rivett has told The Advertiser about the day he almost ended up in the Blue Lake following a similar incident on Friday night where a 22-year-old man was thrown from his ute after it crashed through a barrier, down a cliff and into Mount Gambier’s iconic Blue Lake.

In 1979, when Mr Rivett was 20 years old, he had taken his Holden out for a “cruise” around the lake.

“It would have been about 9pm and I was listening to Suzi Quatro,” Mr Rivett said.

“I was heading clockwise around the lake, about 200m from the roundabout on the north side when I was reaching over to toy with the old 8-track cassette.

“I must have dropped my cigarette or the tape because I reached down to get it and by the time I looked up I was already in the middle of these council roadworks.

“I can’t be certain but I think I went from bitumen and gravel and then I just slid over the edge where there wasn’t a guard rail.”

Brice Rivett crashed his car into the lake in 1979. He survived after falling out of the sliding car but his HR Holden was not as lucky. Picture supplied

Mr Rivett, 59, was soon sliding down a steep slope towards the Blue Lake.

“All I could see was the bright head lights reflecting off the grass,” Mr Rivett said.

“I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt so I reached across and pushed the passenger side door open and fell out.

“I hit my head and cracked my knee but was otherwise all right.”

Mr Rivett crawled back up the 20-metre slope to the road, where another driver was already waiting after witnessing the Holden go slaloming off the cliff.

The wreckage of Mr Rivett’s car after crashing into the lake.

“I went to the police station and then home to bed,” Mr Rivett said.

“I went to the doctor the next morning but never went to hospital.”

Scuba divers, a tow truck and a long cable were required to the retrieve the car which had sunk more than 20 metres to the bottom of the Blue Lake.

The plucky Holden was in a worse state than Mr Rivett following the crash.

“It was totalled,” Mr Rivett said.

“This seems to happen about every 40 years. There was one in February 1936, again in 1979 and now the one last night.”