CARS MONTAGUE ROAD

The Cars That Ate Montage Road
Personal memories from Christine Hill, Hill End resident
August, 2022

Bill Pitt lived across the road from us in Ryan Street and initially he was a motor mechanic. He was my Dad’s generation and they knew each other well as they both grew up in Hill End one block apart. Dad was a few years older than Bill but both born 1920s.

As far as I remember he became a racing driver in the 1950s and drove Jaguars for Mrs Geordie Anderson. Geordie was a racing car driver in her own right; she had already made a name for herself racing at Lowood and also in the round-Aust Mobilgas rally in 1957. I think they may have ended up as partners in buying the motor cars that were raced as Geordie gradually dropped out of racing and Bill drove. He was the one who would love to go full pelt down Montague Road. Mind you, it was a big empty road most days then, nothing like now. Most people in the 1950s didn’t own cars and Montague Road did have a lot of businesses but far more spread out with quite a bit of housing as well, most of which (particularly on the river side) is gone now.

‘The Cars That Ate Paris’ is a 1974 Australian horror comedy film, produced by twin brothers Hal and Jim McElroy and directed by Peter Weir, as his first feature film.

Photos: supplied by Christine Hill from her family collection.