Have you checked the boot for sheep, the back seat for crates of beer and can you see past the fluffy dice from the mirror? Neville Mennell has heard it all when it comes to his 1989 Ford Falcon E series that he’s preparing for the Transport World Southern Lights Rally.
‘The big red car’ as he calls it, is the result of an evening of a few beers and bad decisions where he ended up buying a V8 rally car – something he always wanted.
Originally built in Gore by Gus Osborne it has done a number of local events with Neville having given it a complete rebuild in preparation for the big Southern Lights adventure.
“The car is having the effect I hoped it would have by getting people interested and out there,” he said.
With a career that started in the early 1990’s aboard a Datsun Sunny, his first event was alongside co-driver Garry Cowan.
“My memory of that was going so hard through a fence we went all the way across the paddock and through the next fence.”
Neville has been asked to take it easy on the Southland scenery for his Southern Lights escapade.
What’s his why? “Pebbly Hills at night – I’m going to enjoy the night stage. It’s just another challenge and a great leveller. You’ll find someone does really well in the night stages compared to during the day. Rallies are meant to be hard and night stages make them harder.”
Most of all Neville is looking forward to the roar of his V8 through the forest.
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Photo by Graeme Fraser