Victoria’s such a stately old girl

By Marc McGowan
“I’VE been hot rodding since 1973.”
It sounds like one of those car bumper stickers, but in reality it is Alan Clark’s way of highlighting his long association with fourwheeled machines.
The latest of his fourcar restoration efforts is a 1955 Ford Victoria twodoor coupe, and confidence oozes out of him when he gets behind the wheel of it.
“The women dig it,” he said.
“ I drive down to Meadowvale (Retirement Village) and chat them up.”
The vintage model has been virtually completely restored by the Pakenham larrikin, who declined to offer his age, but rather preferred to point out that he is “old enough to know better”. After being involved in a serious truck accident, Mr Clark took a long time to recover, but once he was able, he went hunting for the perfect vehicle and came across the American car.
He spent $18,000 buying his Ford and he has pumped another $38,000 into its restoration.
“It’s tough and it’s unique.
“You would be flat out finding another one,” he said.
“It is the only one in Pakenham.”
It has lefthand drive, a spectacular paint job, a pleated interior and it does not legally require a seat belt as it was made without one in place.
“I drive pretty slowly in it, and people are constantly going nuts behind me, but if they hit me they’ll be up for a lot of money,” Mr Clarke said.
He takes much pride in his restored works of art and he has reason to, with much acclaim awarded to his cars over the years, including winning top pickup in Australia in 1985 with his 1939 Ford Pickup.
Despite his passion for his latest vehicle, he is looking to move it on, so that he can take to his next project.
“I build them, I play with them, I sell them, and then move onto the next one,” Mr Clark says.