The fellow in yellow

Alec was born in North Kensington, London, in 1932, and upon leaving school was apprenticed as a carpenter. Alec’s memory is still sharp and he recalls those austere days. “I did two years in the army after I finished my apprenticeship and I had my 21st birthday while I was in the army. When my wife and I got married in 1955 we applied for a house and were told we had ten years to wait for a house. We were living and sleeping in one room, and every time I saw my grandmother she said ‘get out of England, it’s finished.’ What upset her was that her three sisters all went to Canada after the war and she stayed, so she was always regretting not going. She lived in London all through the war as I did.”

And so in 1959 the Corners boarded a ship at Tilbury and sailed for Australia, taking with them Alec’s Vincent Rapide. Therein lies a story that typifies Alec’s cheeky nature.

“I bought a solo Vincent from Conway Motors. I ended up losing my license,