IT6152, a 1978 Toyota Corolla stationwagon affectionately known as 'The Beast', sadly failed its last ever warrant of fitness in April 1996. After a long and happy life, it had finally succumbed to the relentless attacks of rust. Never to transport passengers across the city again, it sat sadly in the back yard, waiting for the end. This page tells The Beast's story.
This page is still under contruction; '(insert here)' means that more text needs to be inserted at this point.
The Beast was bought new by (insert here), as a company car, and assigned to Norman Wansbrough, my father, in (insert here). It served many years in this capacity.
When my father (insert here), he bought The Beast (not yet known as such) from the company, and for many further years it did service as the Wansbrough family's primary chariot: it made multiple trips to visit relatives in Wellington, it even ventured to Christchurch on one occasion, and it ferried children to and from parties, school, work, music lessons and so on.
Much later, in (insert here), my father began to perceive that The Beast was beginning to tire. It was, sadly, time to move on. And so he bought a new white Toyota stationwagon to replace it. But what to do with The Beast? There was no way he could dispose of such a trustworthy friend (although he had tried once, halfheartedly and without success). The solution was obvious: at first, I only borrowed The Beast, pretty much all the time, to go to parties and so on. But after a while, The Beast was officially given to me as my car (albeit still registered under my father's name).
This happy state of affairs continued for some (insert here) years: I had wheels, which enabled me to keep up my hectic social life; and my friends and acquaintances had someone who was happy to transport them.
And The Beast was happy too. Nothing pleased The Beast so much as to carry six, seven, eight, even nine people from A to B, and then from B back to A1, A2, A3, ..., A8; and then back home. Many was the time this happened---often more than once on a weekend. One famous night, after the inaugural Baptist Tabernacle ball, The Beast carried nine people, all in ball dress, across the bridge to Takapuna. One person was dropped off, and the remaining eight made the trip to Mt Victoria and then back again! Not a skirt was crushed or dirtied...
Other stories remain to be told: one of the most important is that of the red nose. As you may be aware, in New Zealand there is an annual Red Nose Day to raise money for child health research, on which everyone wears plastic red noses ($2) or badges saying 'I'm too chicken to wear a Red Nose' ($3). Cars too can wear red noses on their radiator grilles, or on their aerials. The Beast, of course, acquired a red nose on the grille. But this was not distinct enough. So a bFM Private Function sticker was obtained, cut radially in from the corners, and applied to the nose. Voila! the bFM Private Function Red Nose, the one-and-only in Auckland or anywhere in the world!
The 'SMILE!' sticker was a much earlier innovation, a standard feature on Wansbrough cars for some time, and cut by myself on Roland CAMM-1 gear at Roland DG, where I work. This friendly attitude accurately reflects The Beast's personality.
And the name? Well, it was actually a fairly recent development: possibly as late as late 1995. It just developed---an affectionate appellation, no malice.
If you have any more stories that I have omitted from the above, I would love to add them (of course, this only applies to those who are familiar with The Beast in Real Life(tm)...). Please mail me at kwan001@cs.auckland.ac.nz.
The photo gallery contains a large collection of images of The Beast and the associated farewell party. You may enter the gallery foyer.
This page was entirely created by me, Keith Wansbrough. Photo credits for images go to Norman Wansbrough, Keith Wansbrough, Bethanna Jackson, Joshua Lawrence. The 'Farewell to The Beast' flyers were designed and drawn by Andrew Currie. And of course the verses of the 'Ode to the Beast' were all written by their respective writers.
You may now go to my home page.
--KW 8-)
Last updated 22 May, 1996.
Keith Wansbrough <kwan001@cs.auckland.ac.nz>