By XAVIER SMERDON
WHEN Don Barnacot was just a child he used to dream about owning a certain car.
Back in his native New Zealand he would walk past a car dealership every day on his way to school and fantasise about one day owning a Humber Sceptre.
Today he not only owns the rarest model of the almost fictional vehicle, but his restored version has now been recognised as the best collectible car in the western suburbs.
Mr Barnacot, from Bacchus Marsh, was the winner of the Werribee and District Collectible Car Club’s Car of the Year award last month.
Fellow car enthusiast and club co-founder, Elio Massari, was given the President’s Award, which recognises the member that has made the biggest contribution over the last year.
It took years of searching for Mr Barnacot to find the exact model of car he was looking for, a 1963 Humber Spectre Mark 1a, which was in less than perfect condition.
“I used to walk past the dealer every day when I was a kid and I thought ‘I wouldn’t mind owning one of them one day’,” Mr Barnacot said.
“It only took me 40 something years to get one.”
He has now restored the car, of which there are only two known to exist in Australia, to its original showroom condition.
Both Mr Massari and Mr Barnacot fell in love with classic cars when they started restoring them, coincidentally when they were both 18-years-old.
“I like the shape and the way they’ve been built. They’re a solid, heavy car,” Mr Massari said as he looked at his 1956 Dodge Kingsway.
But neither of the men could pinpoint a Holy Grail type of car that they were still searching for.
“I like them all as long as they’re rare and unusual,” Mr Barnacot said.
