Holden | Hello from the Five Star Vagabond

Boys must have toys

August 7, 2019 by David Herd

Boys must have toys

Boys must have toys, it’s ingrained in our DNA. I have searched through my photos to find nearly all of the cars & boats I have had the pleasure of owning throughout my life.

They don’t come much prettier than my yellow canary shown above, I owned this beautiful Mercedes 350SL for 17 years from 1990 till 2007.

Here’s what you do with a beautiful carYou fill it up with pretty girls of course. 🙂

When you own a beautiful Mercedes….

Naturally you need a Porsche to keep it company. 🙂

When you drove a Porsche on the Gold Coast……..

Good things seemed to happen.

My first Mercedes 350 SL

I purchased this classic in 1980, it was the ultimate chick magnet. 🙂

When you have a Mercedes & a Porsche…..

Naturally you need a boat. 🙂 This is a 22′ Fraser with a 200 HP Yamaha.

Next you need a crash test dummy

This keeps the birds away when the covers are off. 🙂

My previous boat.

19 foot long with a 150 HP Suzuki.

Life is hard, then you die.

Joking of course, life is wonderful, when you die you can take a rest. 🙂

26 foot Williams bay cruiser

This was my boat when I lived in Newport in Sydney in the 80s.

Also at Newport

A little runabout to get me around Pittwater & Scotland Island. Do you like the name?

Here is my Bertram 25

A terrific flybridge cruiser with twin 165 HP Mercury inboards. It was moored outside my Drummoyne apartment in the early 80s & spent most of the time visiting Doyles at Watsons Bay.

When you own a boat…..

Good things seem to happen. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Loading the team on board

Off to Doyles again.

Gluttony at it’s very best. 🙂

So many memories of long lazy lunches at Doyles.

A typical Sunday at Doyles

Huge crowd at Doyles & the Watson’s Bay hotel next door.

Back to the cars

Early 80s I drove a Ford Marquis for a while.

You gotta love a Benz. 🙂

This was my Mercedes 280 E in 1989.

My beautiful Jaguar XJ 6.

It came with 2 petrol tanks & 2 gorgeous girls.

My first car

Sorry about the photo quality most of my photos were damaged when my home in Melbourne was firebombed in September 1977. But that’s another story, it & others are on THIS LINK.

Next car was an iconic FJ Holden.

My girlfriend Beth washing my FJ Holden outside my home at 58 Kihilla Rd Auburn.

I was lucky to survive some of the things I did in this car. Looking back, I was a typical teenager in the 60s who knew no fear.

Then came the Volkswagen

I can remember floating it on the flooded highway at Ballina in the floods. I just pushed it 50 metres to the dry road.

When you owned a VW in the 60s……

Good things happened, for example “Veronica Crocker”.

EH Holden station wagon.

This was my next car after arriving home in 1965 after 18 months in England & Europe, including a 4 month stint as an officer on the La Maria.

A 1970 MGB, my first new car.

It set me back just under $3000, worth every cent. Purchased in Melbourne, relocated to Sydney for 2 years then moved to Adelaide in 1972.

A 1971 E Type Jaguar

Forget the photo quality the car was magnificent. I remember driving from Adelaide to Melbourne in the middle of the night in 5 hours 45 minutes.

When you drove an E type good things happened.

Meet Jan Seagars & my Doberman Ziggy, this was Lexton Grove Windsor in 1974. Three thoroughbreds together.

My two sports cars

One was a little faster than the other, but I loved them both. Madison was guarding the fleet.

The work horse

My Commodore station wagon initially was my 2nd car, in 2003 I took 3 Japanese students on a road trip which started in Surfers Paradise & went through Broken Hill NSW to Coober Pedy in South Australia. The next leg took us to Uluru aka Ayers Rock.

Boys must have toys

You may think this Lexus is a little out of character, I owned it for 3 years prior to moving to Thailand in 2011. Without a doubt it was the best value out of all the vehicles I ever owned. Paid $7,500 in 2008 & sold it for $7,000, it was as smooth as silk.