Barry Solomon was a long-term early member of the Milton Ulladulla Vintage Car Club [MUVCCC].
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He came to the area during the mid-70s after owning a very successful mechanical repair and steering specialist business in the Sydney suburb of Peakhurst.
He was a keen water skier and would visit Lake Conjola on a regular basis - the area attracted him. He along with wife Dot and their children pulled up stumps in Sydney in order to make Ulladulla home.
Wanting to apprentice his son Darren who was keen to become a mechanic, Barry purchased Milton Tyre Service, eventually moving it from its original location and buying the ex-Holden dealership site at the north end of Milton on the Princes Highway.
He built a well-respected and patronised family mechanical repair workshop and tyre sales business.
Barry had a dry sense of humour and when cracking a joke, possible at your expense, he would get a gleam in his eye and subtle smirk on his face - he was quintessentially, in the Australian vernacular - a very genuine and good bloke.
Apart from his enjoyment of water skiing, he had a penchant for older cars and motorcycles - hence his involvement in the MUVCCC, which he supported with advertising and the fettling of members' vehicles.
He had a broad love of all types of motor vehicles, one being a Morris Minor spec'd with a Mini Cooper S engine that Darren had meticulously worked over, porting and polishing the cylinder head and tuning to perfection. He took this spritely little car on a car club trip to Tasmania, boasting how good its performance was using very little fuel compared to the bigger capacity cars at each fuel stop.
Over the years he'd had an MG TC, MGB, a V8 Studebaker Lark, but one that became a favourite was a Traction Avant Citroën Light-15.
Then five years ago to the day of Barry's passing - disaster struck on a spring evening in September 2015 - the Milton Tyre Service burnt to the ground, destroying all the contents and vehicles inside.
The business was then moved to a new location in Ulladulla continuing to this day under Darren's leadership.
Barry has not been well for many years, but had joined some of his old mates from the car club at Neville Story's shed each Thursday morning for a cuppa, to chew-the-fat on all subjects, and to reminisce about how to rekindle the good old days.
Barry being a senior member was appointed as the chairman of this elite group at the Old Farts Club, for which fellow member and old mate Paul Ashby made a wooden gavel, in order for Barry to keep this group of old retired roughnecks in order.
His funeral was on Friday last at the Ulladulla Civic Centre.
Many of the car club members lined their cars up on the grass at the front of the Civic Centre in a display of solidarity and respect for Barry.
They then followed the Milton Ulladulla Funeral's 1927 Chevrolet hearse in a cortège to the crematorium.
The gavel riding on Barry's coffin - Godspeed old mate.