By ROD MOSS
Edward Neal is astonished to witness the levitating vehicle, resurrected as it were, from amongst the abandoned wrecks.
The absence of ready cash and spare-parts retailers in remote Australia results in abandoned cars soon being stripped of working parts. Dysfunctional cars were gathering number at Whitegate. Some needed only a battery to be recharged, a wheel, a starter motor or carburettor.
Young guys, many pre-driving age, treated them as Dodgem cars, hooning the dirt tracks outside of town, or when charged up, venturing through town risking police apprehension.
Stealing cars is popular and hulks littering roadsides tell tales of risky misadventure, be it skylarking or an aborted attempt to return to a remote community. Expressing anger or settling disputes by smashing windscreens and tyre slashing is commonplace. Frequently cars are incinerated to reduce incriminating evidence.