Bridgewater Lake grandfather continues to fuel drive for classic cars

Geoffrey Wohlers has had a passion for all things four wheels since he first joined his father Len in the family garage back in the 1950s.

The 74-year-old Bridgewater Lake Retirement Estate resident has spent most of his life admiring, rebuilding and acquiring classic cars and that passion hasn’t cooled.

Last weekend, the grandfather took his beloved yellow 1961 Ford Zephyr Mark II out for a drive with the A40 Car Club of Australia, a group he’s been a member of for more than three decades, including five years as president.

The Zephyr holds a special place in Mr Wohlers heart, not just because of the hundreds of hours he spent rebuilding it from scratch.

The car also takes him back to his youth and the first car he ever bought, a 1961 Zephyr, which served as the inspiration for the rebuild of his current model.

While auto mechanics was never the experienced carpenter’s full-time vocation, it has always been in his blood. He’d often spend his days building houses and nights completing short courses to hone his auto mechanic skills.

Those skills were put to use in the five-car garage he built at his Epping home, which he lived in and raised three daughters in over 33 years.

“It always came quite naturally to me, I felt like I was always out there working on a car of some sort,” Mr Wohlers said. “I’m not a big sports person, not really into reading books but cars always made sense to me.”

While his knowledge and skill for fixing and building cars was natural, the process of rebuilding a car from scratch wasn’t always simple.

“Some parts you have to get from overseas, some parts you can get locally and in some cases you can just repair them yourself,” he said. “The trickiest part is the body work, the mechanical bit is pretty easy.

“There’s a great sense of pride when you’re out driving a car you’ve rebuilt yourself, people stop you in the street and ask for a picture, I really enjoy that.”

Along with the Zephyr, Mr Wohlers owns a 1954 Austin A40 sedan convertible and a 1953 Ford Customline, a car he’s treasured for 47 years. He’s previously owned a 1954 Ford Mainline utility, a 1949 Vauxhall, a 1950 Austin A40 and a 1978 HZ Kingswood, which he bought weeks after it came off the assembly line.

Every Wednesday, he joins fellow car lovers at the A40 Car Club of Australia’s North Sunshine factory, tinkering and maintaining engines in preparation for the monthly drives the group embarks on with wife Maxine.

Bridgewater Lake Retirement Estate will also celebrate its 21^st anniversary in late April.