REMEMBERING ROLY

oly’s recall was as sharp as his reflexes had been many decades earlier. “My brother Murray was two years older and raced around grass paddocks on the family farm in an old Studebaker.” The farm was in Morrinsville and the brothers' affection for Studebakers never left them. By the time he was 14 or 15, Roly was also joining in the fun, even though “our parents were dead against us racing one another”. But then Murray went into aircraft maintenance and, at 15, Roly left Hamilton Tech to work in a service station in Hillcrest. “I was pumping gas, greasing cars …” But he was soon driving a milk truck and at 17 took over the milk run. After a stint in the army, Roly got into panelbeating. “Cars were cheap and I’d restore them, but it