That time my car was on ‘Neighbours’
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- March 3, 2022
I just saw the news that the Aussie soap, Neighbours, is being cancelled after 37 years on air.
It should come as no surprise, that after close to 9,000 episodes, nearly everyone who is anyone in Australia has been on ‘Neighbours’.
Russel Crowe. Guy Pierce. Kylie Minogue. Margot Robbie. Natalie Imbruglia.
And my car.
Specifically, the 1988 Ford Falcon station wagon I bought to drive around Australia.
I’d made a pilgrimage out to Ramsay Street towards the end of my big trip around Australia with my new English wife.
Ramsay Street is arguably the most famous Australian suburban street but that isn’t its real name. It’s Pin Oak Court. And it’s not in Erinsborough. It’s in Vermont South.
We’d barely parked when the street was blocked off and a rare Neighbours ‘action’ scene was shot.
First, a car driven by a ‘crim’ screamed past the Falcon. Then a police car. Then they both executed high speed turns onto Ramsay Street.
I was so proud, I took a photo.
The film crew only needed one take to get the shot.
Once the gear was all packed up we were allowed to walk on to Ramsay Street/Pin Oak Crescent and take photos of the most famous suburban houses in Australia.
My eye was immediately drawn to the a circle of burnt rubber, right in front of Harold Bishop’s house.
Someone had celebrated visiting the most famous suburban street in the country by doing a doughnut on it.
I felt a surge of pride.
It was such an Australian thing to do.
Postscript
At the end of the trip we took the Falcon to Backpacker Carmarket in Kings Cross in Sydney to sell it. This photo was the centrepiece of a poster I’d made and stuck on the window that read “As Seen on Neighbours.”
An hour later and Irish couple asked if the car really had been in Neighbours and bought it for only $200 less than we paid for it.
Result!
