History Notes and the Roy Collins and Sons business

History Notes      by Terry Threlfall

The third instalment from Ron Hiscock - this week he tells us about the cars he serviced at Roy Collins and Sons.

Barraba residents and their cars

Ron Hiscock speaks of very happy times in the 1960s and 1970s servicing cars at Roy Collins’ Garage. He feels he gained himself a reputation of being very thorough; that meant that he had many returning customers who insisted that only he could service their car.

One of his regular customers was Nellie Williams from “Roxton”. Not only did she insist that Ron service her car, but she stayed with her car while it was done. Others were content to hand over the keys, then relax and have a cuppa, or head to the shops, while Ron got the job done. Not Miss Williams; she insisted she stay in the driver’s seat of her much valued Plymouth. She drove onto the hoist guided by Ron; then up she went, staying put up in the air, while Ron inspected and greased and tightened underneath, before lowering her and the Plymouth down to earth. After Ron had finished and the bonnet closed, off she drove, satisfied that she had kept an eye on the whole job.

In contrast, Ron remembers Guy Williams (Nellie’s brother) one day announcing his arrival at the garage with a loud blast on the horn of his Nash. Ron went out; Guy asked him to jump in and they drove back to the property, explaining while they drove that he was too busy to be hanging around town while Ron serviced the Nash. His plan was for Ron to then drive the Nash back to the Garage, service it, and the come and pick him up in the afternoon when completed. No hurry, he said!

Another brother, Gordon Williams, also had a Nash, a pale green Nash, Ron recalls. Those local Nash owners, which included Lou Southwell (bright green Nash), seemed to be in some sort of competition, regularly upgrading to the latest model.  Ron was quite pleased to be chosen to service Lou Southwell’s car – on Christmas Eve, Lou, to show his appreciation for the good job Ron did, would pull up outside Collins’ garage, pick up Ron, drive him the short distance to the Victoria Hotel, with great flourish pull up right outside the bar door, take Ron inside, and shout him a “few” beers loudly proclaiming what a good job Ron did.

The Nash, pictured above, an imported American car, disappeared, merging with Rambler during the 1950s, then later being taken over by Hudson. The Bucknells owned a Hudson – terrible vehicle to work on, Ron said.

For many years, Joey Wong, the Chinese market gardener, delivered his vegetables to the households of Barraba with a horse drawn wagon. Business was good and the horse was getting older. One day Mr Wong pulled up outside Roy Collins garage, saying “I think I’ll get a small truck.” When asked what type of truck he wanted, he replied “Don’t know, but you will have to teach me to drive it!”

There were two wooden benches facing one another just inside the workshop door in Collins’ Garage – designed for customers to wait while their cars were attended to.  In the sixties, Ron told me this area became the local “seat of knowledge” – locals such as Percy Smith, George Rumsby, and others would often gather there, solving the problems of the world – rarely they had a car to be serviced.

Many thanks to Julie Williams and Terry Threlfall for providing the History Notes over the last couple of months – Margaret Currell says she will resume her notes next week.