A last week I was reminiscing about Kaiteriteri and a family friend, Brian Wasley, who had passed away and I mentioned another person that had a big influence in my life growing up and that I have the utmost respect for. Well as often is the case when we loose some special in our lives, it gets you thinking. Why is it we always leave telling people we care about, how we feel and what they mean to us after they leave us? We often don’t have the courage to tell them in the present and wish we had told them how we felt before that enevitable time comes. I was lucky when I lost my mum last year that when she passed away there was little left to say, and I felt that we both had said everything there was left to say. Well Nev its you time my friend, not time to snuff it, or say goodbye, but time to share a few stories on how you have been a big part of my life.
Ever since I have been a little tike I have known Neville…or Nev as I know him.
My parents have been friends for years, my Mum met Nev’s wife Daphne (Daph) at Lincoln college in the canteen. They used to work there serving food to the Uni students on the weekends. This kicked off a life time friendship with my parents. They lived around the corner from us, so we spent many a night swimming in their pool, having dinners or BBQ’s, hanging out with their two girls and they quickly became our families closest friends.
When I was about 18 years old I owned my one and only Ford…a Gold 1981 Ford Cortina Mark 5 station wagon…a Boat anchor! See I’m a passionate Holden fan, you can read about my passion for them in my previous posts or check out my own creation.
Those that know me well, know I have a certain distaste for Ford motor vehicles, well unless it’s an old school Ford like Elenor or an AC Cobra!
The Boat was a hand me down from my parents that cost me $2k, It was gold, long, 2litre engined manual and seemed real powerful back in the day, but it was U G L Y!
One day driving it I noticed the sweet smell of coolant in the cabin and then the temperature gauge quickly started heading into the red! Upon checking the radiator…there it was, oil in the coolant! Yip it was terminal, a blown head gasket the suspected culprit. Then came the telephone call to Neville our faithful family friend. See Nev is a mechanic, and there is not much he does not know about cars. I asked him for some advice and very soon he was talking to me about helping me rebuild it in the family garage?! Like I knew some stuff about cars and always wanted to build a car from scratch…but not a boat anchor!?!
I had seen Neville rebuild cars for years and when I was very young he used to show every time I visited his Jag that he was rebuilding and the progress he was making. I have fond memories of my Dad and Neville playing around racing each other on one of our drives to Kaiteriteri. We had a Light Blue Valiant with column shift and Nev had his Maroon V8 Jag. The sound of these cars always gave me goosebumps and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. I loved the sound of when they started up…so probably where my love of V8’s came from.
Nev didn’t hesitate to help and spent weeks patiently showing this 18 year old kid how to rebuild my engine from the ground up. After working all day at his day job, he’d come round most nights and show me how to strip down the motor and teach me how to rebuild it from scratch. I’ll never forget the moment that we fired it up in the driveway for the first time. Theres something so exciting about building something with your hands. Getting dirty and covered in oil and grease essentially putting together a block of metal and few nuts and bolts together and call it an engine. Throw in a dash of fuel, some air, add a spark and bang literally bang she fired up straight away. I couldn’t believe I had rebuilt my first engine. I was hooked!
It ran pretty good for a few days, then suddenly one night it stopped and I had to push it with a mate to a local garage then walk 4 hours home with my tail between my legs. What had gone wrong?! The Next day I called up Neville and he came straight out and had it running In a few minutes. Turns out the points had moved a few millimetres and I hadn’t tightened the bolt in the distributor correctly, and it wasn’t getting the spark it needed to fire up. This is the kind of guy Neville is he’s a genuine nice guy, and always willing to help even if is at his own expense.
Nev randomly to this day rings me out of the blue just to say hello. To see how me and my family are, and always adds in a Joke for good measure. Nev is the quinetesstial Dad joker! He has a book of jokes in his repertoire beyond anyone I know. The type that you go “oooohhhh“ at, or just shake your head as they are mildly inappropriate. I wish I had the memory he does to remember all of his jokes, he literally could write a book with the amount of jokes I have heard him tell. Its like this endless supply.
Nev always has a project on the go, I have watched him build countless motorhomes and buses, some of them having full on showers, bathrooms, kitchens and living rooms in them. He spends hours turning buses into a liveable homes. They are amazing when you see them, he’s one of those very clever men with old school talent. He just gets stuck in and makes stuff out of seemingly nothing. I have always looked up to him in how he does this stuff. Some of it has definitely rubbed off on me and is one of the reasons I got so interested in rebuilding my own car. I cant wait to finish Stacey and take her for a drive down to Lake Tekapo to show him. I’d be super proud to let him take it for a drive. Theres something cool about sharing your ride with someone special in your life, I know you’ll get a kick out of it Nev, so I can’t wait…its nearly done.
One last thing id like to say about Neville is how much he has meant to me through out the years. Most recently when my Mum passed away he picked up the phone to see how I was. He’s been a big part of my life since I was like 3 years old, so it meant the world to me that he called.
Doesn’t matter how old I get if im ever in Tekapo or passing thru I always make the effort to call in and say Hi and catch up…apart from one time where Nev spotted me flying thru Tekapo in a hurry to get back to Christchurch, but low and behold he picked up the phone and called me. “Was that you I just spotted in Tekapo?!” ha ha “Yip”. There are only so many genuine good people in this world, and Nev your one of them.
So thanx Nev you're a bloody good man and just wanted you to know how much of a top bloke you are. I hope I can grow up to be half the man you are and give back as much as you do. You mean a lot to a lot of people but especially wanted you to know how much you mean to me and my family. You’ve been a great sounding board, mentor and friend.
Hope you’re well and enjoying your retirement in Tekapo ;-)
Love ya Nev
Thanks for that Scott looking forward to meeting Stacey. Would be honoured to take her for a spin. Definitely had some fun when you kids were young. I am working on some new dad jokes for you
I know the feeling is totally mutual there Scotty 😘 You guys are def family 😘