Holden cars were just a part of life growing up in Australia - in particular from the 1950s to the 1970s - and they were a big part of Peter Cane's formative years.
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The president of the Bendigo Sandhurst Holden Club owns three fully restored 1954-55 FJ Holdens which will be on display at the club's All Holden/GM Day at the Bendigo Showgrounds on Sunday, March 24.
More than 250 classic cars will grace the showcase of a brand synonymous with Australian motoring history.
Mr Cane has shared the extraordinary story of how he brought the wreck of one car back to life in this video:
For him, the appeal of the Holden is simple.
"I love their shape and their curves - they're beautiful," Mr Cane said.
"Everybody loved the Holden when they first came out. They were affordable transport compared to the American and British cars.
"They were economical and a lot of people could maintain them themselves. They were simple."
Labour of love to restore three Holden classics
Mr Cane has restored three FJs - a panel van, a ute and a sedan - all from varying degrees of disrepair.
He bought the panel van off ebay in 2013 and had it on the road by May 2017.
The ute he uncovered from the Swan Hill tip in 2009.
"That was in worse shape than the panel van," Mr Cane said, but surprisingly it only took him two-and-a-half years to get it on the road in December 2011.
The sedan he bought in 1982.
"I was really looking for an FJ panel van when I saw the sedan under a peppercorn tree in Specimen Hill Road," Mr Cane said.
After the owner checked in to see that "the kids don't want it", he offered the car to Mr Cane for the price of what the family needed to afford a new dishwasher - $120.
Mr Cane's then girlfriend - and now wife Glenys - lived on a dairy farm at Rochester so he bought the sedan to work on it with his father-in-law to fill in his weekends on the farm.
The first car Mr Cane owned was an FX which he paid $45 for at the age of 16.
He really wanted an FJ panel van because his classmates owned one but was unable to find one. So he settled on the FX.
"My twin brother Robert and I worked on it," Mr Cane said.
"We put on extractors, carbies, 13-inch wheels and then the old man wanted it gone so it went."
FJs showcased in magazines and promotional events
Mr Cane's current collection of FJ Holdens are so rare they have featured prominently in magazines, photo shoots and promotional events.
"My ute was used at the Deni Ute Muster in 2015 for the launch of the LS3 ute which set the record time at the Nurburgring circuit in Germany," Mr cane said.
"They wanted a ute from each decade so there were seven utes lined up for the launch."
He drove the panel van to the Holden Nationals in Murray Bridge in December 2018 before he loaned it to the National Holden Motor Museum in Echuca in February 2019.
"Holden sold 7000 panel vans between 1954 and 1956 but there's only about 70 to 100 left," Mr Cane said.
Trustees of a Australian motoring history
The first Australian-made Holden car was launched in 1948 and vehicle manufacturing operations ended in 2017.
In February 2020, Holden's American parent company General Motors announced the Holden brand would be retired by 2021, meaning no new Holdens have been built since.
But while there's people like Mr Cane around, the Holden car will live on long after he is gone.
"We are just the trustees," he said. "They are on loan to us. We're just looking after them for now."
Sunday's All Holden/GM Day will also feature a car parts swap meet.
Gates at the Bendigo Showgrounds open at 8am.
