John Lowe might have been a Ford man when he started his automotive apprenticeship at The Big Garage nearly 53 years ago, but he walks out of work for the last time today a Holden man through and through.
From a young age John was hooked on the idea of pulling things apart and putting them back together.
“When I was a kid we lived in Tasmania for five years. I helped an old farmer, Harold Cook and one day watched him and his son pull the head off an FE Holden. I would have been about eight or nine and I watched them and knew I wanted to do something like that,” he said.
“I thought pulling something apart and then getting it going again was fantastic. It’s all I ever wanted to do.”
John attended Bairnsdale Technical College, which set him on the right path.
“Back then, when you got to year 10 you could do an automotive course, and then if you did alright it could lead to an apprenticeship,” he said.
“I was a Ford man and I always wanted to work at the Ford place, but the teacher, Ray Brewer, he said to me, ‘No, I’m going to put you up at The Big Garage. A Holden dealer. It’s a hard place to work for, and I don’t think anyone else could handle it’.”
John arrived at The Big Garage, located at the time on the corner of Main and Service streets in the centre of town, a fresh faced 16-year-old Lindenow South lad on December 19, 1966.
“John Capp ran the place then, and the service manager was Bevan Bastin,” John said.
“Bevan was the bloke I really got along with. He helped me so much. He was so good and I always wanted to be like him.
“John Capp, he was alright, but he was tough. When I arrived the other apprentices there reckoned I’d have been lucky to last four years.”
He certainly proved them wrong. The Big Garage moved to its current location at the top end of town in 1999, John coming along with it.
“I loved working down there (in Main Street). It was just a really good place to work in,” John said.
“I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s being sentimental because that’s where I started work, but the atmosphere seemed different, I reckon the workshop might have been better, but that’s just my opinion.
“I’ve liked working here too though. I was going to retire at 65, but I like working, like what I do, so I sort of kept going.
“I thought I’d better stop now, otherwise I never will,” he laughed.
John has plans for retirement and they all hinge around cars and engines.
“I’ve got things I want to do, play around with the old cars I’ve got,” he said.
“I’ve always loved going to hot rod shows and swap meets and I’ll keep doing that. The Bendigo Swap Meet, Hot Rod Show in Melbourne and the Rod Run up at Bright. I love it.”
When John started at The Big Garage as a Ford lover he was told they’d “convert him”.
“They certainly did,” he said.
“My first car was a 1956 Ford Customline, the second was a Ford Mainline ute, which belonged to my father.
“After that they’ve all been Holdens. Once they got up to the HQs I started to believe Holdens were better then Fords, and they were,” he said emphatically.
John’s seen some fairly special vehicles come through the workshops in his time at The Big Garage.
“The things I like most are the HQ series, and HG and HT Monaros,” he said.
“I loved it when they came in. The first HQ I drove was an LS Monaro 350, the very first one that came up here. Throughout all the years I really like the HQ Monaro, it’s got a nice shape about it. It came out in about 1971/72. The next car that I liked was a VK Calais in about 1985.”
John currently owns a Monaro, a VK Calais and still has his dad’s old Mainline. His ‘everyday’ cars are a VS Commodore, a TS Astra, a TS Rodeo and a VX SS.
Part of his plans for retirement, which starts at knock off time today, is to build a big shed to house them all.
At nearly 53 years, John is the longest serving employee at The Big Garage, and he says he’s “loved it”.
“It’s been a lot of fun. You have bad days and good days, but you do anywhere,” he said.
“You live with all these people. You spend more time here than you do at home. You spend more time with your workmates and it’s fun. They cheer you up when you’re down. They’re like family.”
John will miss The Big Garage, his workmates and tinkering in the workshop.
They’ll certainly miss him too.
PICTURED: The Big Garage general manager, Darren Robbie (right), congratulates and farewells John Lowe who retires today after nearly 53 years as a mechanic with local car dealership.