By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
HE was a street kid who set up a tent behind the Dandenong Lunar Drive-in – where he watched Mad Max on the big screen every night for five months – now a Reverend he’s just finished building his very own Interceptor.
Reverend Peter Roberts, of the Cranbourne Scots Presbyterian Church, was kicked out of an abusive family home in Doveton at 15 years of age.
“I set my tent up in the middle of the prickle bushes so no-one could see me – I watched Mad Max every night I was there,” Rev Roberts said.
Due to the popularity of the Australian film, the Lunar Drive-in played the first Mad Max movie every night for a year – leaving the clean lines of the famous Interceptor etched in a young Rev Robert’s mind.
“You could say I know the film off by heart,” he said.
“As a person with nothing, no education, out on the streets, I was looking at this car thinking, wow, that’s amazing – and now I have my own 40 years later.
“When you’ve got nothing and you’re scared and alone, the movie was inspiring to keep me going – it’s not the greatest film but it’s been something that’s always stuck with me.”
A self-confessed bikie and rev-head, Rev Roberts owned Onsite Car Detailing in Dandenong where he did panel beating, mechanical and car detailing for 15 years prior to getting his degree in theology.
Without the money or the time to build his old friend it took Mad Max Four to push Rev Roberts to start his lifelong dream.
“I was on a job seven years ago at a movie studio and heard they were going to make another Mad Max film, I knew that Mad Max was going to become popular again and thought I’m going to do it,” he said.
“It’s been one of those itches that I’ve been scratching for a long time and now it’s gone.
“It took me six years to find all the parts to start the build and one year to actually build it.”
But the father of five has more dreams for his new black beauty – to make a difference in an area he knows all too well, drug abuse.
“One of the reasons I’ve built the car is because as a reverend people look at me in the robes and see such a big distance, they think I’m so far away from them but in reality I’m not,” he said.
“I’m an ex-street kid and biker and I’ve probably done a lot worse than what most people have done and the car helps to break down that barrier and start a conversation.”
Having stolen, torched buildings and cars and affiliated with outlaw motorcycle gangs Rev Roberts, 53, said God had helped him to become a better man and hoped that his colourful past would help others open up to him.
“My best friend became a heroin addict and hung himself in prison six years ago and lots of my friends have been drug addicts in and out of jail,” Rev Roberts said.
“I know that Casey is suffering a drug crisis and I know first-hand what drugs do to people.”
Having worked directly with drug addicts and alcoholics in his early days with the church Rev Roberts said one thing always stood out to him.
“Drug addicts would tell me that they’ve lost their natural happiness – things that made them happy before drugs don’t anymore and they need the substance to get it back,” he said.
“Young people who are playing with drugs need to understand that the first time you take a drug you are going to lose something and you will never be the same again,” he said.
To book the famous Interceptor as well as Rev Roberts for your next fund-raising event contact the Cranbourne Scots Presbyterian Church.
The car will be available to view at the Drouin Presbyterian Church’s Men’s Breakfast on Saturday 21 November.
