The Car

I spent the years 1969-1972 in Penang as a 2-5 year old, and then again 1974-1975 when I went to school. We lived at "Sea Home" overlooking the ocean and Pulau Tikus the first time, and then at Road 3, Vale of Tempe.

I have a car, a Datsun 1600 SSS which was brought back from Penang the first time by our neighbours Ray and Kay Jones. We were very close and Kay became like a second mother to me. I had wanted the car since I was 14 years of age but it had been promised to her sister in law, on the proviso that if they ever sold it, it was to come to me. Unfortunately they did not fulfill their end of the bargain.

One Sunday I happened to be watching some drag races when I mentioned to an enthusiast how I'd always wanted this car. He told me that there was a green 1600 SSS for sale at a local panel shop - I knew the car had had a colour change from white to green. This fellow was unaware how rare they were.

I approached the panel shop and they told me they had sold it to a young guy and that it
was not genuine. I told them it was and later showed them photos from Penang. They couldn't believe they'd let it go. They gave me the address of the person to whom they'd sold it and I subsequently followed him up. He told me he would never part with it. I left my phone number, thinking I would never see the car again because he was rallying it and also drag racing it. Out of the blue, a year and a half later, I received a call asking me if I wanted to buy it.

It was 1989 when I finally acquired the car and I was thrilled. The car is quite rare in Australia.

There is more. In 1992 while living in NSW, I saw another one on the road that was genuine. I tried to get the owner's attention, but was unable to. This left me feeling very disappointed and I thought that I would never see it again, because it had South Australian plates.

Three years later I happened across it again by accident and stopped straight away. I spoke to the owner and told him I had one in restoration, but he didn't believe me. So I gave him my address and asked him to pop around so that I could show him some photos. When he did come he realised that my car was genuine and then he told me that he'd also grown up in Penang! One of the photos I'd shown him was a photo of my car towing a race car with the number 26 on it. He said to me that he was sure he had a slide of the race car at home, and sure enough he did. Included in the slide was both cars parked next to each other in 1970 at a RAAF Butterworth Motorclub meet.

We are now best of friends and are currently restoring both our cars. Both of us will never part with them due to their sentimental value.

I realise now how fortunate I was to spend some of my childhood years in Penang. I have many fond memories, Penang Swimming Club, School and the diverse cultures.

Datsun 1600SSS


Both cars at Butterworth

Scott Thompson
2004