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Published on 06 January 2022

I got to know the Hume pretty well during the late '60s and early '70s and it really was the highway from hell. I was running in a new Austin 1800 Ute which was to be a press car and going south to Melbourne. No overtaking lanes at all, and I was at the top of a hill when an oncoming '58 Chev tried passing a truck at the top of the next hill. He was about half-way past when he got into the potholes and broken bitumen. This threw the Chev back into the side of the truck with a shower of chrome strips and doorhandles flying all over the place. Not once did he hit the truck but about three times. We all came to a shuddering halt without any more damage, but the two drivers were pretty shaken up. It was lucky the truck was able to hold his course. These pics are typical of the papers used to run in those days - a Vanguard having a very nasty head on with a Flxible Pioneer bus. All sorts of things could be implied by this accident including speed, but I reckon the highway might have had something to do with it.