Car lover's droolathon, part 2

Sorry if I’m puffing and panting right now. I have just been viewing car tail-light collections on the net. Back in the 60s, a psychologist – or whatever he was – made a great target for headline writers by saying the designers of the Ford Falcon, pictured above, had made the tail lights look like breasts to attract buyers. The report delivered my adolescent mates and me into headsplitting hysteria. We made a close inspection or two but still preferred our Man Magazines. The Classie Corner car lover’s droolathon continues, this time focusing on Ford for the sake of balance. Today’s post is from the Redland Times, August 25, 2006.
A DEEP division once ran through Australian society. It was so deep that arguments broke out in pubs and family gatherings.
The division, however, had nothing to do with politics, religion and the usual catalysts for a bit of push and shove with the kid from down the road.
In the 1950s and 60s, splits such as Left versus Right, Protestant versus Catholic and Public School versus Private were pussycats compared with Ford versus Holden.
Spirited interchanges between my dad and my uncle would erupt over the Christmas roast.
We were a Holden family; they were Ford.
Standard analyses aside, a CCFT (Classie Corner Flashback Test) has shown the state of the Ford-Holden debate in 2006.
Internet search engine, Google, gave 5,260,000 Australian references on "Ford" and 2,320,00 on "Holden".
Okay, the totals include different meanings of the two words but a recent edition of our Motor Vehicles Classifieds featured three pre-loved Fords for sale and no Holdens.
This research comes about because our Classifieds manager, Kylie Hogan, is married to a lifelong Ford enthusiast.
Kylie and husband Scott are often seen in the front seat of their Ford Explorer with Lincoln, 6, Mackenzie, 5, and Ford, 15 months, in the back.
Lincoln takes the name of a prestige vehicle. Mackenzie Valentine has the initials, "MVH", for motor vehicle hire.
[Kylie explains the initials this way but my research reveals they make the acronym for a Ford engine].
The glossary will increase after the couple's fourth child is delivered by caesarian in Redland Hospital on September 8.
Kylie says Scott is keen to name a boy, Cleveland, which is a Ford engine.
Mum believes Daytona, the site of the famous US international speedway, may suit a girl.
The spirited debate must be settled before the birth notice appears.
NOW for a little navel-gazing in our Classifieds department where three of the six sales consultants are pregnant:
Sally Smith, already the mother of Jackson, 6, and Cooper, 3, expects the birth of No 3 in September and Miriam Ackroyd is due to become a first-time mum in December.
The non-pregnant consultants - Julie Burton, Sharon Parkinson and Jackie Eggins - wonder who will be next.
"It's getting to the stage where we don't drink the water here," Julie said. "Something must be causing this."
Classie Corner has always said the Classifieds have everything a community needs, from maternity hospital onwards, but never thought it would be taken so seriously.