19 hours ago
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When Shane Delia was 16, he found his first car in a 40-acre paddock in Melbourne's west that belonged to his uncle.
“It was like a Karate Kid Mr. Miyagi moment; where my uncle pointed out to all these crap cars, and said go on, choose yours,” says Delia.
That’s when he noticed the four-door, Nissan Datsun Pulsar 1981 model.
“He yanked the car out of the mud, it had grass growing through the floor, and the motor was sitting in the back seat. It was the only car that was complete with all the parts for it. Over the next two years we built it from scratch."
Delia is best known for his SBS food shows – the most recent on his Maltese heritage and its cuisine – along with moonlighting on Channel Nine’s Postcards and of course running his venues including Biggie Smalls and Maha. He has recently expanded his culinary empire to open an iteration of Maha in Brisbane.
But long before his foodie career took off, he would spend most weekends and after school with his mechanic grandfather and car buff uncles as they built cars and fixed them in their home garages.
“All I had to do was pay for the tow truck to get the Nissan Datsun Pulsar back to my uncle’s house; and I was lucky I had them to help me,” he says.
“My first car was a piece of sh*t," he says with a laugh. “But it did the job and I had no choice. I needed it as a necessity for work.”
The car was originally gold in exterior; but ended up a shade of pink with glitter.
“I couldn't afford to buy paint so it was a case of my uncle pointing to a dozen half empty paint tins and told me to mix it up to see what colour I’d get,” he explains.
“When you start mixing red, white and blue and a heap of other colours, you end up with pink. To be a smart ass, my uncle dropped in glitter flakes and it looked like a Barbie car. I got called a few names as you can imagine."
The blood, sweat and tears that came with fixing this car to be roadworthy was a huge lesson for Delia.
“You learn how to respect something that's yours when you’ve had a hand in making it, but within two weeks of driving my car, I smashed it into a parked car,” he says.
“Then I smashed it again a few weeks later, and drove it around for another two years with half the car painted in matte black because I couldn't afford to paint again."
He eventually saved enough money to update his car.
“In 1998, I bought a 1972 Holden Kingswood Belmont. I couldn't afford a Monaro at the time as it was out of my reach, but this was the next one I fully rebuild,” says Delia.
“It had vinyl floors and a bench seats. We turned it into a V8, and from a column shift to a floor shift, stripped out the interior and reupholstered it and did all the body work."
The Belmont was a slick white exterior with black interior and a checkered blue inlay.
“We did everything including the fuel lines. I’d go to car swap meets in Ballarat and Bendigo, hunting for pieces. If you're a car guy, that's what it's about. You have to have relationships with people who have got these things stored,” he says.
Delia drove the car until it died; parting ways when he was 25.
“I remember taking it to the Yarra Valley in winter [where he worked at the time] when it was raining. I was coming through the hills - very dangerous and slippery. I didn’t have time to maintain these old cars, and it started leaking a lot and blowing smoke. I was putting more oil in it than petrol,” he says.
Cars still play a huge part in Delia’s life outside the kitchen. In 2015 he purchased a 1973 GTS Monaro in purple; fulfilling a teen dream.
“I grew up in the western suburbs where your car is a big part of your identity, especially in those days,” he says.
“I came from a working-class family who arrived in Australia to make a go. What you were driving represented what you were achieving. The Maltese, Greeks and the Italian community were so proud of their cars and kept them super clean.
"If pull up in my Monaro at a set of lights nowadays people comment on it. It's purple and white – an original car I purchased from a mate who had it in his family his whole life and still feels attached to it.”
Jane Rocca is a Melbourne journalist and author who writes for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Sunday Life Magazine, columnist The Dish at Good Food, Harper’s Bazaar Australia, ABC Arts. She has written four books and hosted a podcast series Some of My Best Work with Mushroom.
