By Tom Cowie
Northcote Plaza, to borrow from Winston Churchill, is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
New visitors to this unashamedly retro shopping centre in the gentrifying inner northern suburbs have many questions: Why does it feel like I’ve walked into the 1990s? Why are there two Coles supermarkets? Why are there so many pigeons?
A lonely Ford in the car park at Northcote Plaza.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Now, a new puzzle has emerged that has regulars scratching their heads. Who is turning the plaza into a car graveyard?
Littered throughout the centre’s car parks bordering All Nations Park are at least a dozen cars, trucks, vans and taxis – even a bus – that have clearly been abandoned.
Most of the vehicles have no number plates, some have weeds growing around the tyres. A few are covered in graffiti or otherwise damaged by vandals.
Oddly enough, the favoured location for dumping is a row of spaces along a tall fence that backs onto the Northcote police station.
The cars have become a regular topic of conversation on two local Facebook groups, the Northcote Hysterical Society and the Northcote Plaza Appreciation Society.
One theory is that the plaza is acting as a pseudo-impound lot for the police.
A police spokesperson said that was not the case and the vehicles have nothing to do with them.
The property is owned by Northcote Plaza management, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Another guess is that the cars are being stored there by one car-hoarding local, who even goes so far as to move them around if they’ve been there too long.
An old Mercedes-Benz covered in rust.Credit: Chris Hopkins
The car park at the Croxton Park Hotel in nearby Thornbury is another place where dumped cars and boats are found, said one theorist.
“They don’t seem to be very motivated to do anything about it,” says David Wadelton, the administrator of the Northcote Hysterical Society. “So it’s just one of those charms of the plaza that just seems to go on and on.”
Darebin council said it was aware of the issue and officers were investigating.
Soon after The Age sent questions to the council, notices were stuck to some of the windscreens informing the owners that the vehicles would be towed away.
A truck, van and BMW sit in the the car graveyard.Credit: Chris Hopkins
But there is one car that is unlikely to be sent to the scrapyard.
The most famous unmoving car is a 1986 midnight blue Ford Fairlane that sits in the Northcote Central underground car park, which neighbours the plaza.
The car has been there for at least a decade, locals say, and has no number plates or door locks. The dust accumulating on its exterior has become a kind of community noticeboard for written messages.
Theories have abounded about its presence. One is that a tow truck can’t fit down there to pull it out. Another is that there is some kind of criminal evidence in the boot.
Abandoned cars at Northcote Plaza. Behind them is the Northcote police station.Credit: Chris Hopkins
However, the answer is more simple than that.
The Age recently revealed the story of Coburg’s “abandoned” Ford Laser, which turned out to be an unlikely memorial for the owner’s late father.
The management of Northcote Plaza said that the Ford Fairlane also belonged to a patron whose father passed away more than 15 years ago.
“They asked both the previous and new owners for it to remain in the car park for nostalgic purposes,” management said.
The owner wants to remain anonymous, they said. As one mystery is solved, another is created.
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