Leyland P76 Owners 2006

Country Club

Leylines

Canberra and Districts Leyland P76 Club Newsletter November 2006

Presidential Pearls

Last month was a sad time with the sudden loss of a great ambassador for the P76.
On behalf of the club I extend our greatest sympathy to Gwen and the Livingstone family at this time of sorrow.
Having known Michael Livingstone for over 10 years, I am sure he would have been very pleased with his funeral.
An enormous group of family and friends gathered at his church to bid him farewell.
Many of them were fellow motoring enthusiasts, so this also meant that there were very many great old cars as far as the eye could see.
His coffin left the church in a beautiful ‘60s Fairlane hearse, followed by the Targa Florio and Model A cars that the family rode in. Then what I can only guess, following were almost one hundred historic cars of almost every persuasion. I was a bit disappointed my P76 was back home in the garage still in a state of disassembly, but I know he was also
most approving of the Typhoon and would not have been offended by its presence.
I always knew he was an enthusiast but I had never really stopped to consider just howcar-mad he actually was.
I had been to his house and seen his garage, and that should have given me a clue.
Then there was the ever increasing memorabilia collection in the house, in a room I think was once the dinning room.
But it wasn’t until his funeral, when I listened to his family detail memories of his life, like the oversized toy cars he brought to the hospital for each new child and grandchild, and looking at his coffin adorned with images of P76s and Model A Fords, that I realised how so full of enthusiasm for cars he was.
Yet he still had more that enough time for his family and always time for a chat with a friend.
Goodbye Michael, we will all miss you.
Alex
Leylines November 2006

Editor's Note

The significant happening in the P76 world in the past month was the sad passing of Michael Livingstone, one of the great stalwarts of the P76 movement.
Alex, Damo, Geoff and Christian attended his funeral, and Alex and Damo’s tributes are
included in this month’s Leylines.

Michael Livingstone RIP

Damien Haas

Michael’s much loved cars which made the final drive with him.
It was a shock to hear that Michael Livingstone had died. I knew he had been ill for some time but he seemed so optimistic.
I found out, via email that he had died suddenly and I decided that I would go to his funeral.
I have only met Michael maybe a dozen times over the course of the last three years or so, but he was an engaging, gregarious person who gave a lot to the P76 and the historic car movement broadly.
I emailed the rest of the ACT Club members and was glad to see that Alex and Geoff decided to also attend.
Geoff’s son Christian also came along.
The service was held in Cootamundra at the Sacred Heart church. There was a turnout of over 200 people.
Many from Cootamundra, but also people who had travelled some distance to attend. I recognised ten or twelve folks from the P76 movement in the crowd.
The historic car movement was out in force to farewell Michael.
Michael sure loved his cars. Especially the Model A and the P76.
Painted on his coffin were his woody model A and his aspen green Targa, among others. There was also a small model of his woody Model A which his family had placed on the coffin.
The eulogies from his family and friends all attested to his generosity, good humour, love of family, community spirit and of course his obsession with cars.
Fittingly, he was carried to the cemetery in a late ‘60s black V8 Fairlane hearse and accompanied by a procession of at least 60 historic and vintage cars.
At the front was his family driving his Model A woody, Model A boat tail racer, Model A Tudor, Aspen Green Targa, and the red Capri he had bought for Gwen to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary a few weeks earlier.
Naturally with so many fine examples of automobile present, people’s thoughts turned to cars and there were lots of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ and ‘look at that one’ as the procession of historic cars went to the cemetery behind Michael.
I think Michael would have liked that.
In a eulogy from one of his daughters, she mentioned that after he died on Sunday a family member was checking his email and discovered that Michael had won an eBay auction for a car part after he had died.
I will miss Michael.
I first met him a month after I joined the ACT P76 Club, at the 30th Anniversary Nationals.
I was impressed with his Targa and asked him lots of questions all of which he answered patiently.
I sat on the same table as Gwen and Michael at the Dinner at the Lakeside – to which Michael wore a suit AND supplied the original banner that hung at the P76 launch in the same establishment 30 years earlier.
Despite a healthy sense of humour, he took this car stuff seriously.
Anyone who saw the professionalism of the Easter nationals this year would agree with me.
Gwen told me that she realised very early on she had to love cars as much as Michael did.
I spoke to him less than two weeks ago when we talked about him putting power steering into Gwen’s car.
He said he didn’t have the strength anymore to drive a manual steering car.
He and Gwen had been driving to Canberra weekly for (I think) stem cells to be harvested for his treatment.
Every time we met he would ask me when I was going to fix up my car.
If you could all see how immaculately presented his cars were you would understand why he kept ribbing me about my black P76!
I read an email from James Mentiplay where he talked about Michael raising the standard for the P76, and that is certainly true.
Not only did he raise the quality of restorations and make other people spend more effort, time and care on their restorations, but he raised the standard and proclaimed the benefits of the Leyland P76 to all those who would mock it.
Michael Livingstone’s award winning Aspen Green Targa Florio at Temora in August this year.
I believe it was the last motoring event he attended.
It was truly moving for all that attended.
I think Gwen and his family would feel better after seeing the enormous number of people that cared for Michael and had attended his funeral to pay their last respects.
Farewell Michael.
Last updated
Nov, 2006
This web site may contain Copyright material
If you find any problems with the site, please email the "Country P76 Owners Club"