Max Keys’ collection of Goulburn photos includes this one, taken at Royal Oak, Kingsdale, at the time owned by the Fenwick family. From left are Doug Fenwick, Ron Worthy, Betty Piggott, Anne Fenwick, Marshall Piggott (driver’s seat), Lois MacDonald, Shirley Fenwick and Harold Blackett. The white edge of the Model T was for safety during the war years’ blackouts. Photos: Max Keys collection.
Max Keys can recall his days as a small boy on a school bus keeping a sharp eye out in Goulburn for flash cars.
Now a retired businessman and taxi driver, Max has a thousand stories about outstanding cars and their owners.
His passion was supercharged in 1968 when a cool young businessman, Doug Fenwick, turned into Finlay Road driving his bright-yellow Holden Monaro, which had a black bolt of lightning painted along the side announcing his speedy dry-cleaning service.
Max was 13. He stood alongside his brothers Scott and Stephen stunned that such a muscle car could be used to collect and deliver dry cleaning.
Educated at Bourke Street Primary and Goulburn High schools, Max joined the navy when he was 15, attended the Naval College in Fremantle, Western Australia, and served on several ships including the aircraft carrier Melbourne.
Turning 21 in 1976, he secured from the navy a business loan to buy a taxi in Goulburn from Bill Sharp. He was still in the navy when ownership of the white Ford XW taxi transferred to his name and it hit a train on a railway crossing on Taralga Road, a notorious place for fatal accidents.
Bill told him: “I’m taking someone back to Kenmore in fog and mist. I look up and here is a big maroon diesel with a yellow stripe nearly on me.
“I veered left to run with the train and it just caught the back guard of the cab. Some of the paint from the diesel engine was left on the guard. The driver, I think it was Dick Smith, agreed let’s not mention this, there will be so much paperwork we will be there for a year.”
On the banks of the Wollondilly River in 1975, Bob Carr with his V8 Ford Galaxie. Bob bought and sold cars and collected more than 100 over the years.
Max left the navy and bought a brand-new blue Falcon XB four-door to use as a taxi as well as his private car.
“I thought I’ll ‘lairy’ that up a little bit, so I ordered bucket seats, T-bar auto and a V8 dual system,” he said. “Ford Australia wrote back saying this doesn’t read like it’s going to be a taxi, could you send down the registration that you really own a taxi? I sent down details; Taxi No. TC 149, which is still in Goulburn as Car 26.
“Because it was all above board, Ford built the taxi for me. That was brand new in 1976, pretty lairy because I was the same age as all the young kids.”
Most of them owned panel vans and liked to show them off in the main road, Auburn Street.
“On Saturday mornings they would lap around Verner, Auburn and Montague streets at Rogers corner,” he said. “There would be so many cars, there would be a line. You could not get your taxi out.”
His best fares were taking people to Thredbo from Goulburn. Having booked accommodation in the snowfields, they had broken down near Goulburn and needed a lift to their holiday destination.
Max Keys when he was a navy signalman sending Morse code with a light when the ship he was aboard, HMAS Stawell, was off the coast of New Zealand’s North Island. Photo: Max Keys collection.
He also had interests in two service stations in Goulburn, but the long hours eventually caused him to look for another job. For a short time he was Geissler Motors’ business manager and a NSW Railways labourer, and later a call-truck driver, delivering instructions including starting times to train drivers.
“Through talking to the drivers and firemen, I thought I might have a go at that, so I ended up doing the firing and driving schools,” he said. “I drove a lot of the goods trains, also passenger trains, the Spirit of Progress and Southern Aurora, mainly Goulburn to Sydney or down to Junee.”
A foundation and life member of Goulburn Historic and Classic Cars, he recounts sharing his passion for cars with Bob Carr, who owned big cars like Galaxies, Thunderbirds and Fairlanes.
Years after Bob and his brother Ian Carr died, a deceased estate auction of belongings included some of Bob’s vehicles.
Max with Canadian-born Australian racing car driver Allan Moffat during a tyre promotion in Goulburn. He also visited Max at his home, following a letter Max sent to him, with poetry he had written making mention of the driving legend.
“As I was walking around, I spotted an old cardboard box with a hessian bag over it,” Max said. “In there were 13 photo albums which I had seen before.
”They had almost 1000 photographs, all recording history through time with Bob’s great interest in cars. These included 120 cars which he owned.”
The family allowed Max to keep the photos, a vast and comprehensive record of a generation of car-loving people in Goulburn.
