PETER Jackson has had a long obsession with cars.
He bought his first, a 1956 Peugeot, in his teens from his grandfather.
In his early 20’s, Peter established a paint and panel-beating business in Toongabbie.
When a customer brought in a vintage Chevrolet to be painted, the car had rust. Mr Jackson cut it out and had a go at reproducing and refitting the panels
He then made spares of these parts for any future jobs that might come in.
When the customer spotted the spare parts, he invited Mr Jackson to his Sydney Vintage Chevrolet Club to talk about the items he’d made.
There and then, a new side of his business was born.
Everyone was keen to have him make panels of every kind for their cars.
He decided to “give it a go” and soon making panels was all he was doing.
Soon he needed bigger premises and to employ extra workers to keep up with demand.
People started requesting parts other than metal, so Peter researched rubber and began producing all sorts of rubber parts for cars: door sponge, windscreen rubber and many more parts.
As his business grew, so did the number of employees and he became known Australia-wide for his rubber and metal parts.
Next came a catalogue that’s in the National Library today.
It was about this time that Mr Jackson bought a 1926 Chevrolet, with its original paint and wooden spoke wheels.
The old car, which turned 100 years old not long ago, is his pride and joy.
With his wife, Beverly he still drives the Chevrolet, and it has never let them down, sometimes clocking up to 250 km in a day.
They celebrated this special milestone and invited people to bring their 100-year-old items for a Show and Tell celebration on Saturday, 12 September. Other ‘younger’ cars were also welcomed.
Gloucester CWA provided the tea, coffee and cakes for the event for the 80 car enthusiasts that attended.
Westpac rescue helicopter volunteers collected $370 in donations. Volunteer Dianne Relf told News Of The Area: “Every rescue flight costs $5000”.
The fuel alone for the helicopter costs about five times the price of automobile fuel.
Gloucester Auto Club holds monthly meetings at the Round About Pub at 6.30pm on the third Thursday of the month.
New members are warmly welcome.
On the first Sunday of the month, hail, rain or long weekend notwithstanding, auto club members gather for their Coffee and Cars meeting in the car park next to Campbells’ Engineering.
Big, red and immaculate, with a 5.7litre motor, Peter Jackson shares a 1993 Chevrolet Corvette with his sons.
Son Warren drives the Corvette to the St Ives Coffee and Car meeting where up to 350 car enthusiasts gather.
Gloucester Auto Club outings are also a popular activity.
Next Saturday, 26 September the Gloucester Auto Club has organised the Gloucester Auto Show at Gloucester Showground.
Seventeen trophies will be awarded to winners of various categories including tractors, motorbikes, trucks and cars.
Gates open at 7am to organise the vehicles.
“We hope to make this an annual event as it brings people to Gloucester, which is good for the local community,” Peter Jackson added.
By Marilyn SANDERSON
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