Devil’s Drive
DD2996 is the only license plate of the many cars I’ve owned I remember. A 1966 station wagon I’d bought from my father who was the second owner, he had purchased the car from a doctor who was glad to be rid of it. Dad spent a considerable amount of time on a complete rebuild even though it was only ten years old. Along with the car my father also received a large police file, this was a car with a history as hard as the miles it’d covered.
In the early 1960’s George W and his gang pulled off a sizeable bank robbery and although subsequently arrested, George stayed tight lipped about the whereabouts of the money. Back in the day this was big news in New Zealand. It became the subject of much speculation in 1966 as the currency was to be changed from pounds to dollars the following year. Sure enough George broke out of prison one night and the manhunt was on.
The doctor who owned the then brand new DD2996 was attending an emergency late on a Sunday night near the prison, it was the last he would see of the car for some time. George and co. were soon heading south in the new station wagon and it didn’t take the police long to link the escapees with the stolen car, soon every cop in the country was looking for it.
Around the same time my family was on holiday in the centre of New Zealand’s North Island. Staying in a cabin by one of the lakes in the district we went for many walks in the area. It was on one of these excursions that my mother spotted a car up a driveway covered in branches. Returning to our cabin she convinced my father to ring the police. After a short standoff George and his accomplices were recaptured and returned to prison.
Remarkably the same doctor later became a customer at my father’s garage and it was this same car my mother had spotted that became our family/work transport. What no one realized was the trouble to come. In the time it was owned by my father, myself, then it’s fourth and final owner, it was repeatedly stolen, crashed into, broken into, and vandalised! It was rebuilt 6 times in 20 years. Hardly had the paint dried from one rebuild when it was back in the shop again. Just in the 5 years I owned the car it was crashed into three times, broken into four, and stolen once.
Eventually I sold DD2996 to a workmate for a very fair price. Within weeks it was stolen. The thieves tore the rear axle off when they crashed into a traffic island. So it was off to the shop for what became it’s last rebuild. Whilst this was happening the new owner went on holiday to Australia and returned to a gleaming rebuilt car parked outside his family home. As he sat on the front verandah recounting what he’d experienced on his first overseas trip a large truck and trailer ground it’s way up the hill in front of the house. Reaching the top the truck paused before turning onto the main road. Releasing the brakes and entering the intersection the driver was stunned to see the trailer, with a large digger on board, separate from the tractor unit and roll back down the hill. Picking up speed as it went down the hill the trailer only came to a halt when it collided with the back of the newly rebuilt car. As the new owner and his family watched in disbelief the digger broke it’s chains, toppled over, and completely crushed DD2996! The resultant wreck was a write off, nothing was worthy of salvage.
It’s 30 years now since the final chapter in that cars troubled life. Soon it will be 50 years since George broke out of jail. After serving his time he lived out his years in a small coastal town, his death a short notice in the daily paper. The money was never recovered
