“Enough bagging of Datsun 120Y!” declares Rod Lander of Stanwell Park. “I bought a 120Y van second-hand, drove it for yonks (with the occasional service, never repair), then gave it to a friend who drove it from Wollongong to Darwin via Queensland and back without any problems.” Jonathan Lumley of Cameron Park says “my first car was a ’74 120Y and I loved it. Four-door sedan, orange with a black vinyl roof. I felt like king of the road.”
Stewart Copper of Maroubra is “Not happy with all the put-downs of the old 180B”, either. “It was our first decent car (1975), and we loved it. Good mpg, and it used to get along. Very light. I always suspected that the panels were made from old IXL peach tins and, in the event of a bingle, designed to collapse immediately before impact. Nevertheless, we were happy to wear the risk. Great holiday memories in the 180B.”
“Does one pronounce the last ‘r’ in reservoir (C8)?” asks Andrew Taubman of Queens Park. “Dammed if you do, damned if you don’t.”
Margaret Page of Cowra is guessing that “Mary Watson’s ‘pitiful, pitiful, pitiful’ golf critic ‘birdie’ (C8) may be very closely related to my ‘horrible, horrible, horrible’ gardening critic wattlebird.”
“At Hurstville Golf Course, a lot of the holes have resident kookaburras that must communicate with each other,” reckons Agostino Chiarella of Summer Hill. “Whichever hole I’m on, as soon as I set up to hit a drive, the resident kookaburra of that hole starts laughing … it knows.”
“I’m not sure if this helps Antoinette Farrow in her search for a better way of describing in-laws (C8),” writes Gary Bryson of Lewisham. “But my brother in Glasgow refers to all of them as ‘the hingers on’.”
“May I suggest the generic term ‘fringe relos’?” offers Stewart Martin of Mangerton. “A gentle collective downgrade.”
The search for a victory song for the Port Macquarie Sharks (C8) has commenced, with Port local Don Bain wondering if anyone knows “if there are lyrics to the Theme From Jaws?” while Judy Archer of Nelson Bay thinks she has it down pat and promises to “give you my best shot, Sharks: Hit Me With Your Pet Shark.” Les Shearman of Darlington wonders if “the Pointer Sisters might help?” But for crowd participation, Granny says you just can’t go past Hall & Oates’ Maneater.
Column8@smh.com.au
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