Motoring enthusiast Johnny Dennis persuaded his father to part with a 1983 Ford Falcon XE wagon which has since increased in value.
Mr Dennis said he bought the car after moving back to Gore and that he had always wanted an older car, but had not been able to afford one.
‘‘The guy who first owned it in Dunedin had it as a weekend cruiser and that’s basically what I wanted, an old-school cruiser,’’ he said.
However, his father bought the car, so he had to convince him to sell it tohim.
‘‘So when Dad bought it I was really gutted. I was like ‘that’s the car I wanted’ and it took three or four months for Dad and I to decide on a price.’’
‘‘At the time Dad was trying to make money out of it, out of me, and I was like ‘no, you can’t rip your son off’, and so I bought it off Dad for the exact same price he paid the first owner, and ever since Dad sold it to me the car’s gone up in value.’’
Mr Dennis said he was only the third owner of the car.
‘‘It’s pretty cool and pretty special because most cars have heaps of owners.’’
He wanted an older car to cruise around in and also to have an investment so if he looked after it, it would be worth something later on.
‘‘It gets out probably five to six times a year and I take it on camping trips, to music festivals and [on] weekend cruises.’’
Mr Dennis had made some upgrades to the car, such as giving it 8-inch Trident mag wheels, custom springs and a good sound system.
The Falcon has a 3.3-litre engine and the original Australian-assembled four-speed transmission.
He said the car had been an economical classic car, but in the future he hoped to get an older model Falcon.
‘‘I’m part of the Aussie car club and that was probably one of my intentions too, and I’ve been a part of that for about five years.’’
- by Ashleigh Martin
