Car restoration project a 'salute' to dad

Sara Brimfield : One of our first memories is growing up just with Dad always being in the garage and working on cars and helping him sand down cars when we were little with a bit of wet and dry sandpaper. There's photos of us when we were like four helping him with that. It's always been very part of his life and as a consequence of ours as well.

Lucie Cutting, ABC:. Emma Peel and Sarah Brimfield couldn't help but grow up with petrol and oil running through their veins. Their dad Tony, a self-taught mechanic, had a passion for Italian sports cars and Australian muscle cars. And when it was time for the girls to get a car of their own, he had them covered.

Emma Peel: We'd go around all the wrecking yards of Hobart. Every weekend. Every weekend we'd look in the newspaper, which is what you did back then, and find Fiat's for sale and we'd go and sit in the car while he test drove them. And he bought two and he made our car.

Lucie Cutting, ABC: Do you remember much of that process of restoring this car to the point that he was happy for his two daughters to drive it around safely?

Emma Peel: So we got the two cars in 95, June, and then it was ready in early 96. It took, oh, like you know, just before June 96. So it took around about a year, but that was slogging. He was in the garage after work, solidly every weekend. Until it was dark.

Sara Brimfield: Until it was dark. And he painted it. We chose the colour. My dad is obsessed with white as a colour for cars. He thinks it's very safe. It's cool. It's a cool colour in summer.  

Lucie Cutting, ABC: Years later, the memories of Sara and Emma’s first car, the Fiat 132, hadn’t faded.

Emma Peel: I happened to go on a road trip with a friend of mine and we were sharing stories about our first drivers and the quirks of funny old cars when we were young. And kind of, we had this great long drive talking about that. And I was describing the Fiat. And then when I got back after that, I just Googled it. Googled Fiat 132 and found this listing. And then I sent it to Sarah and just said, lol.

Sara Brimfield: And then I was like, we should go have a look.

Emma Peel: We were like, okay, maybe we should just go have a look. Because I have to be honest, we had to sell our original one just because we didn't have the money. We didn't have the space to fix it. We didn't have the knowledge. Dad was still living in Tasmania. So we didn't have anyone to come and help us. So we just had to get rid of it. And I cried. Sarah cried. And ever since that point, I just repeatedly had dreams that it came back or I had just forgotten I'd parked it somewhere. And then I'd wake up and be really upset that it wasn't real. So yeah, there's like a deep kind, of a deep love of this particular car.

Sara Brimfield: This one came up and as we were sort of, we were joking, joking about it.

Emma Peel: And it had been there for ages, the listing. When we went to see it, we understood why. Yeah. So we had to go and look at it.

Just even just to hear the note.

Sara Brimfield Oh my God, I nearly cried when I heard the note of the engine which is so silly. Car enthusiasts and Fiat enthusiasts would understand. But we were just like, oh, and then we decided that even though it was intensely full of rust and it was a big project that we would go for it. Basically, we've had to ship in panels from Slovenia and deep dive into Facebook to find doors in Italy. So there's a lot of panels representing the international Fiat market on this current vehicle.

Lucie Cutting, ABC: I would love a bit more detail about the first time you laid eyes on it. Sounds like you did get inside.

Emma Peel: Yes, we took it for a drive.

Sara Brimfield: We got there too early. We were sort of sitting further back down the road and we heard it start up. We just knew that it was it. And we both cried and we're like, come on, keep it together. Got to be cool when we meet this guy. We don't want to look like we're desperate to buy this thing. So we wiped back our tears. We need to be able to bargain here. Let's not cry. You let us take it for a ride around the block. And even just getting inside the smell.

Emma Peel: Yeah. You know, the interior, the smell of old cars, the interior, there's really nothing quite like it.

Lucie Cutting, ABC: How much has it cost so far?

Emma Peel: I was speaking to another friend about this and telling him how much we'd spent on it. And he laughed at me and he said, that is the most unsound investment I have ever heard.

Sara Brimfield: So in terms of the Fiat, I did crunch some numbers. And maybe block your ears. So it's cost fabrication and engine. We've bought a new engine, a NOS engine and so forth. 30,000. I reckon we've got another 30 in it. But the thing is, it's just the fabrication is so expensive. Like a week of that is, you know, nearly two grand a pop, really.

Lucie Cutting, ABC: What are the things that make you say to someone else, this is worth doing?

Emma Peel: The sentimentality of it, the memories that we have and new memories we're going to create. That really is, it really is priceless. The other part to this for me is, sure, there's a whole sentimental aspect of wanting to do this. But now that I'm in my mid-40s, I also want to learn new things. I want to engage my brain differently. And one way I want to do that is by learning how to fix my own car, not to have to take it to the mechanic all the time. And to really kind of pick dad's brain about how you do that. Yep. I think I would put it in my top five things that I want to achieve.

Sara Brimfield: And I think also as well as that, part of it for me is I just feel like what greater tribute to say dad and his impact on our life to be like, we want to do this because this car was so important to us. And then getting it done and just being like, you know, this is what you mean to us kind of thing. Like for me, it's kind of like a big tribute to say, you know, thanks for being awesome and like having such an impact on our lives with your love of cars.”