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What’s in Your Garage Podcast Episode #8 Bob Aldons Speaks to Mitch Brennan

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What’s in Your Garage Podcast Episode #8 Mitch Brennan

Mitch-Brennan

Bob Aldons: We’re going to talk this morning with a mate of mine who I’ve known for 40 years and his name is Mitch Brennan. Mitch, welcome to What’s In Your Garage.

Mitch Brennan: Morning Bob. Thank you. Good to be here. Nice set-up you’ve got.

Bob Aldons: Yeah mate. It’s just a chat between two friends and we’ve had Wayne Roberts on, I’ve had Steve Trifyllis on who you both know. Or you know both of those. And Frank Barrett we had on a couple weeks ago.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, I know all those guys. It would have been easy chats.

Bob Aldons: Yeah, they were easy chats. That’s what it’s all about. It’s just a chat between mates. So mate, the first question as the entrée to What’s In Your Garage is what have you got in your garage at the moment?

Mitch Brennan: Apart from all the junk?

Bob Aldons: Apart from the junk, and apart from Jess.

Mitch Brennan: The junk, okay. Let’s get into it. I’ve got a few cars. As you know, because of the personal contact, we did have a BMW convertible. But unfortunately somebody ran up the back of Jess while she was texting, and the insurance company decided to call that one a write off.

We’ve stuck with the other cars. One is a Peugeot. Peugeot 406, V6.

Bob Aldons: You’ve had that forever.

Mitch Brennan: It seems like forever.

Bob Aldons: It does.

Mitch Brennan: But it’s one of those European cars that they just don’t let you down. They seem to have longevity on their side. It’s a manual. It’s not worth anything, Bob, the older Peugeots. But you couldn’t replace that car for what you’re getting. It’s got everything in it and it performs so well, so it’s a good backup car for us.

Bob Aldons: Do you know, there’s a theory in the motor industry that you should never own anything that ends in an “o” so that includes Peugeot, Renault, Volvo, Alfa Romeo, or Land Rover’s nickname is called a Disco.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, but the Peugeot ends in a “t”.

Bob Aldons: Yeah, but not the way it sounds, Mitch.

Mitch Brennan: It sounds like that old play. I’m not going to get into it.

Bob Aldons: So apart from those, the Peugeot, there’s a couple of others, isn’t there?

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, Jess and I also have a ’91 Ford Ute. It’s a tray back, one tonner. I don’t need it, I’m not a tradie or anything like that, but we’ve always got a load to go to the dump once in a while. The Ute is one of those cars that everybody will borrow, the son-in-law, the neighbour, the buddy will come and borrow it. It doesn’t bother me to have it. It’s a knock-about car.

It must have done a half a million Ks by now. But it hasn’t let us down. As a matter of fact, we just used it to tow our camper trailer up to the Tablelands and back, about 4,000 Ks.

Bob Aldons: That’s a big journey.

Mitch Brennan: It was a big journey. We spent a week up there, and we took three days to get up and three days to get back. We took it easy, because that was more about fun. I haven’t travelled around Queensland for a long time. We did that, so that was fun.

There’s the other item in our garage, is the camper trailer.

Bob Aldons: Chicks don’t get that Ute’s are so versatile, do they? Most of the time.

Mitch Brennan: I won’t comment on that comment, but they are versatile. They are a car, they are a truck. That’s why we call them utilities.

Bob Aldons: That’s it.

Mitch Brennan: Because they have a universal purpose.

Bob Aldons: And you’ll know that the first utility was made in Australia.

Mitch Brennan: It was. And correct me if I’m wrong, I think it was the Ford T where they cut the back off, and put a tray at the end.

Bob Aldons: Yep. And the lady who is alleged to have fostered the creation of a Ute said she needed a vehicle to take the pigs to market during the week and to go to church on Sundays.

Mitch Brennan: There you go. What a great description, huh?

Bob Aldons: Yep.

Mitch Brennan: That’s good. Yeah it is.

Bob Aldons: Utility.

Mitch Brennan: There’s the Ute.

Bob Aldons: And what else, besides the camper trailer?

Mitch Brennan: We also have a Volkswagen CC. Which I’ve had many cars in my life. I wouldn’t call myself a car person, but I’ve got to say that that’s probably value for money the best car I’ve ever had.

Bob Aldons: And mate, who did you buy that from?

Mitch Brennan: It was a guy up the road, he’s an old mate of mine. I’ve known him for a long time, and I call Bob Aldons.

Bob Aldons: Hey. And how long have you had that now for, Mitchie?

Mitch Brennan: I’ve had that for over five years.

Bob Aldons: Okay.

Mitch Brennan: And people still today get in the car and think it’s a new car.

Bob Aldons: Yep. Great car.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, it is.

Bob Aldons: Great car.

Mitch Brennan: It’s the CC, the Cooper.

Bob Aldons: Yep. So mate, you’ve got a Peugeot, a Falcon Ute, a camper trailer and the Volkswagen CC. Where’s the room for four of those, or do some of them stay outside?

Mitch Brennan: Well, it’s funny you say that. I bought a couch once that didn’t fit in my lounge so I extended the house. So Jess and I are now looking at doing some renovations at the house because we also want to get either something along the lines of a Ford Ranger or an SUV. We haven’t decided exactly which one yet.

But now look, I think over the next 12 months I think the Ford Ute will be moved on as will the Peugeot.

Bob Aldons: So you’ll replace that with a dual cabbie sort of-

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, so we’ve got a combination.

Bob Aldons: … utility type vehicle.

Mitch Brennan: Exactly. Something like a Ute come family car. I have grandkids now, so the Volkswagen has a permanent baby seat in the back.

Bob Aldons: Right.

Mitch Brennan: And it looks funny when I rock up at the football club and here I am a 62 year old gray-haired guy rocking up and they see the baby seat. The eyebrows raise.

Bob Aldons: Well Mick Jagger’s got a child now, and he’s what, 70 something. He must have a baby seat in the back of his car.

Mitch Brennan: Well, the limos that he gets, they do come with baby seats I understand.

Bob Aldons: So Mitch, let’s talk about something other than cars for the moment, because we’ve got another couple of questions coming up about cars. Let’s just do a really quick snapshot of the Mitch Brennan story.

I first met you when you were playing Rugby League for Souths, and you were a guitarist in a band?

Mitch Brennan: Yeah.

Bob Aldons: Were you a singer as well?

Mitch Brennan: I was a guitarist, vocalist in a rock and roll band.

Bob Aldons: I was working at Stafford Roller Skating Rink up in the box, spinning the records.

Mitch Brennan: DJ Bob.

Bob Aldons: DJ Bob. And Mitch Brennan and his band were down on the floor rocking the skaters as they went around.

Mitch Brennan: Wasn’t that an amazing set up? Stafford Skating Rink, and there we were right in the middle of the rink, and the owner, Mr. Mellon, what was his name?

Bob Aldons: Gordon Mellon.

Mitch Brennan: Gordon Mellon. He was quite innovative. He had the power dropped down from the ceiling so that we could have a band in the middle of the rink for people to skate around. And that was like what, was that ’72? 1971, ’72?

Bob Aldons: ’74-ish.

Mitch Brennan: Oh, it was long before ’74.

Bob Aldons: Was it?

Mitch Brennan: Yeah.

Bob Aldons: Okay.

Mitch Brennan: Because there are timeframes in my life.

Bob Aldons: I finished working there in ’75 I think.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, there are timeframes in my life and it was before ’74.

Bob Aldons: Early 70’s.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. In those days, I remember I used to rock up. I had a Valiant Pacer, or I rode a Norton Commando 750.

Bob Aldons: Whoa.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. And I rocked up on that one day.

Bob Aldons: I could see you sort of being the Fonz. The Fonz of the early 70’s.

Mitch Brennan: The Fonz is one of my heroes.

Bob Aldons: Yep, okay.

Mitch Brennan: He’s up there with the King. Not just Wally, the other king, Elvis.

Bob Aldons: Yep.

Mitch Brennan: Wally’s one of my heroes. I didn’t know too many people that actually rode motorbikes in those days, so I didn’t ride it often because, not that I felt an outcast, but if you rode a bike in those days, people got very judgemental.

Bob Aldons: They thought you were bodgy.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so those were the days.

Bob Aldons: So post the Stafford’s Roller Skating Rink in Souths, tell us what happened with your footie career after that.

Mitch Brennan: Well, I had an opportunity to pursue a music career and also a little bit of film, but football came up and I got selected to play first grade at Brisbane Souths. My manager at the time, who was anti contact sport, he surprised me by saying, “Look, why don’t you go and put a year or two into your football, because you can do that now at this age.” “But you can’t do the football later, but you can do the music later.”

So I thought that was quite philosophical of him to say that, so I took it. And 17 years later, I was still playing football. So that one or two years kind of got stretched out.

Bob Aldons: But you could always come back to the music though.

Mitch Brennan: Exactly. That’s what he said. I tried to come back to it the other day, and I … you can’t. You gotta put some time into it. You gotta keep it up. It’s like anything.

Bob Aldons: So from first grade at Souths, you played with the likes of …

Mitch Brennan: Well, Johnny Grant was one of my centre partners.

Bob Aldons: Who’s now the chairman of the Australian Rugby League.

Mitch Brennan: Well, no. He’s not chairman, he’s the Commissioner.

Bob Aldons: Beg your pardon, Commissioner Australian Rugby League.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. He’s the ARL Commissioner. And doing a great job. And also there was Greg Veivers who went on to become the Australian captain. There were other guys, Bruce Astill, Tony Scott. A lot of old legends of Brisbane Rugby League that I’m not too sure many people would know unless they were from that era.

But it’s amazing the amount of guys that came out of the club at Souths and West End that went on to represent either Queensland or Australia. And captain.

Bob Aldons: Strong club.

Mitch Brennan: And captain the club.

Bob Aldons: So you went from Souths to the Saints.

Mitch Brennan: Souths to Saints. Jack Gibson wanted by to come down and play for South Sydney, so I went down there to train with them. I hadn’t actually signed and it was a great training. I remember that training session. It was a great session. I was so pumped in terms I was young and hungry.

Previously, a guy called Harry Bath coached me at Souths and Brisbane. He was running a pub in Canterbury, down in Sydney, and at the same time coaching the Saints, St. George.

Bob Aldons: Yes. The great Harry Bath.

Mitch Brennan: He had just won the grand final in ’77, and this was at the beginning of ’78. So I called around as a courtesy thing to say hello, so I called around to see him. He said, “Oh, what are you doing in Sydney?” I said, “Oh, I’m about to sign with Souths.” He said, “No, I don’t think so.” Then he ended up signing me with Saints.

Bob Aldons: So was that the first poaching of players? Slipped it right underneath Souths’ eyes.

Mitch Brennan: Oh, I think it went on long before I turned around, but he said he wanted to give me a good deal with the club. The directors baulked at what he was trying to set me up for. They wanted to see me play, so he set up a trial game for me to play in one of their trial games. It was in Grafton. Then the infamous Mickey Lane story.

Bob Aldons: The Mickey Lane story.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. Because we had a bit of an issue with the club. The club at Souths and Brisbane had no money. The president had said to myself, John Grant and Greg Veivers and Wayne Bennett was there at the time, said if we cancel your contracts, will you stay with the club?

we all agreed, yes, we would stay with the club because it was a very passionate thing. We weren’t getting paid a million dollars or anything like that. But I put one proviso in, and that was unless a Sydney team wants me to play in there. Because in those days, that was the-

Bob Aldons: That’s the place to go.

Mitch Brennan: … progression. That was where you went.

Bob Aldons: Yep. That was the place to go before poker machines came to Queensland.

Mitch Brennan: Exactly. So everybody was in agreement to that. But it was disappointing to have a reversal by the club when Saints wanted to sign me and they cancelled all the contracts except for mine. So we had a bit of an issue there, but it got resolved. Saints are a very professional club and they got the right people onto it, and sorted all of that out.

So I had a few years with the Saints, won the Grand Final there, which are just one of those memories that you’ll have forever. It’s a very special occasion. Then I went on to South Sydney, which has always been one of my favourite clubs from being a kid. So I went there and we won the Tooth Cup Final, so that was a nice championship to take away from there.

Bob Aldons: Was that the pre-season comp was it?

Mitch Brennan: No, it was a mid-season. It was a concurrent competition. You remember the old Amco Cup?

Bob Aldons: Was it like the old Amco Cup? Yep.

Mitch Brennan: Then the Tooth Cup. And National Panasonic Cup and the Tooth Cup. I think we won the Tooth Cup. Then from South Sydney I got signed by the USFL, a brand new grid-iron league in America, United States Football League, with a team called the LA Express.

They’d signed a quarterback from college, he was a Heisman Trophy winner, he signed him up for $20 million, and it was like the first time of anybody in America ever got paid that kind of money. Because we’re talking 1982. I didn’t sign again with Souths and I was a free agent. I took off to America, and before the season started, the league collapsed financially.

Bob Aldons: So theoretically, Jarryd Hayne wasn’t the first Rugby League player to go to the US to play grid-iron.

Mitch Brennan: Oh, look, there have been Rugby League players from the 50’s that have played in America. The Dallas Cowboys had a Rugby League player back in the 50’s and 60’s. Ended up on a murder charge, I think. Actually I can’t think of his name.

Bob Aldons: That’s a good history.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. That’s how I found out about him. But it’s not the first time. An American NFL team, it wasn’t NFL back in those days, it was NFC and AFC, They had sent a team out to Australia to play Rugby League and they wore all their American football equipment. This is back in the 50’s.

Bob Aldons: To play Rugby League.

Mitch Brennan: They got annihilated. But they saw what Rugby League was and were so respectful of it. And even today, I’ve gone over and I’ve built up a great relationship with a lot of NFL teams. In particular when Rams were originally in Los Angeles. They’ve gone back there now.

Jack Faulkner was the manager there. Jack and I have built up a great relationship. They had a player there, a linebacker called Jack Youngblood, a lot of people probably know of this guy. He wanted to put on a exhibition game for the Rams, because we took South Sydney over in ’81. We took South Sydney over there and spent some time with them. But we said, no look, it wouldn’t work. Why don’t you guys put a team together, we’ll put a couple of guys in to help you learn the rules and stuff at what to do. So we put it to the players, but they wouldn’t play without their helmets so it didn’t happen.

It was all in jest. It was nothing macho or bravado or anything like that. It’s just what we’re used to. It’s like you look at Rugby League players and some other sports look at the way they play, the collision sport that it is, and the tenacity and the ferocity involved, but you grab a Rugby League player and put him into some other environment and he’s going to be uncomfortable.

Bob Aldons: Sure. Just diverge a little bit, and just ask for your opinion on the brain injury issue that’s still prevalent in the United States with grid-iron players and whether that will ever become an issue here in Australia with Rugby League.

Mitch Brennan: It should, and I think it will. I’m not a tree-hugger or a goody-two-shoes, you know if you want to call it that. I think that things like political correctness has got right out of hand, but if things can be prevented, if things that aren’t reversible, if things can be prevented, then we should be taking measures to do that. There’s no doubt, there is so much evidence to show that boxing is an unhealthy sport, but I love boxing. It is the sport, and that’s what we do.

Bob Aldons: So how does grid-iron clean up their game to an extent where this serious brain injury is minimised?

Mitch Brennan: They’ve got some pretty hard and fast rules. It’s probably, you and I have not discussed this before, and I’m not surprised, but it’s interesting that you raise this and you’ve expressed some interest in it.

It is one of those things, and I don’t want to say, look, it’s a consequence of the sport, it’s what happens. That’s not acceptable in anything. However, there are rules being put in place or have been put in place. The old clipping rule, in American football wasn’t there originally. American football was originally rugby, and it slowly progressed to become what it is today.

In the past, there was, as you know you can block players from tackling a ball carrier. In the earlier days, you could hit people from behind. You can’t do that now. There are different set of rules, it’s slowly and very subtly changing. The more we get to eliminating the things that we don’t want, the finer those improvements will become. Step by step it will happen.

Bob Aldons: So do you like what’s going on in Rugby League in Australia in terms of high tackle concussion rules and so on? Is that a step in the right direction?

Mitch Brennan: I think it is, because I think Rugby League players, as with AFL players, are so vulnerable to serious injury. They’re so vulnerable. They’re open. A lot of it is based on good sportsmanship and trust that the person who’s coming in to tackle you is going to do it legally. As assertive and aggressive as he wants, but he does it legally.

There is still a chance that you could get seriously hurt, but it’s not irreversible. Where you get a head injury or a spine injury or a nerve injury, those things are irreversible. As the rules improve to eliminate that from our game, by all means I support it fully.

I think the game is moving in a great direction. It is the athletes, the power, the speed, the strength, the size. It is still a game where a little man can out perform big men. There’s an old coaching rule in Rugby League that a good big man will always beat a good little man, and while we know physically the laws of physics support that argument, Rugby League lends itself to an exception.

Bob Aldons: And we look at the examples like the Allan Langers and the Ricky Stuarts and say there’s great little guys making good big guys look silly.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. Well, let’s not say they look silly. They’re certainly having their wins over the good big guys. I can always remember Mark Shulman, the halfback for Saints in ’77 Grand Final. Doctors actually told Mark that if he does not stop playing at that level, he will die. And that’s a quote. So he had to give the game up.

He was a tiny man, but so brave, so courageous, and so … the integrity involved. He played fairly, but what a competitor. I can always remember that photo where he’s faced up to a Parramatta player, from Parramatta. It was like a real David and Goliath photo. He’s looking up and he’s giving him a gobful.

Bob Aldons: But that’s what Rugby League engenders in the competition, isn’t it?

Mitch Brennan: It does. I just think the game, or I suppose I’m disappointed the game is not accepted more of a global scale than what it is. I’ll cut straight to the chase. I think the Rugby League administrations are at fault there. I think there is a lot of selfish people that are holding the game back for the wrong reasons.

They think they’re doing the right thing or they don’t want to lose control. I don’t know exactly why. But I have never met an American for instance, that I’ve introduced to the game of Rugby League and has not fallen in love with it. Every NFL business director, manager, player that I’ve shown videos to, they just love the game. They just love it.

Bob Aldons: In fact, I was talking to the now Australian coach Mal Meninga just after his appointment last year. One of his great desires was to broaden Rugby League from Australia as its central point, out into the Pacific Islands and the Fijis and Somoas and so on. The Papua New Guinea team. And get them more competitive so to be able to compete on an international basis.

Mitch Brennan: I think that’s an ambitious and worthy goal. Something to pursue, that’s a great objective. That’s part of a strategy to see a bigger and broader vision that Mel may have. I’ve met in social discussions with Mel since his appointment, but we really don’t do it deliberately, but we don’t really get to talk too much football. We talk more personal matters, I suppose.

But from a visionary point of view, I think that’s a great thing to look at. And that would be a stepping stone to set up a good strategy to meet that vision that Rugby League becomes a global sport.

Bob Aldons: Hey, mate. Let’s fast forward a little bit away from the 70’s and 80’s. But we can’t avoid 1981, 2 and 3. They were your three years playing Origin.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, State of Origin. What a great concept that was, and I’m glad I came into it, that it came onboard before I finished playing. That was coming to the end of my playing career.

Bob Aldons: So Mitchell, we were talking about Origins one, two, three and four. You play in Origins two, three and four. And they’re only one game a year at that time.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, I’m just on reflection I think ’82 was the first year that they had a three game series. I played in the ’81 game in the centres, and then played fullback and centre in the ’82 series, and in the ’83 series I played on the wing. Then we were lucky enough to go on tour to the UK, the State of Origin. We did a tour.

I remember on that tour, we got off the plane and Arthur was the coach, Arthur Beetson, and Wally talked Arthur into letting him coach the team before the first game against Hull. Wally went and gave us a few hills to run after our flight. By the time we got to the game, we were so leg sore and leg weary that we got beat in that first game. And in all fairness, hats off to Hull. It was Hull or Hull KR, whichever one it was. But they won fair and square, but there’s no doubt in my mind if you had five more minutes on the clock, we would have certainly had taken over.

Then we had another couple of games and we sort of got back to our winning standard, and certainly dominated. It was a fantastic tour and a fantastic promotion for State of Origin in the UK. Yeah, it was good stuff.

Bob Aldons: Mitch, we know Ron McAuliffe is credited as being the father of Origin. What’s your take on why it happened and how it happened and so on?

Mitch Brennan: Oh, I think it’s really clear. I can remember even as a kid, you go out and watch the interstate series because you know all the guys were in the sky blue were just Rugby League footballers. They were big, they were fast, they were fit. But the amazing thing was that probably eight or ten out of that team originally started playing here in Queensland. They went down to New South Wales.

Bob Aldons: They went there because of the poker machine revenue paying their playing fees and contracts, wasn’t it?

Mitch Brennan: Well, I think they were a lot more professional down there anyway, for starters. But they also had the resource that was being driven and sought from the poker machine environment, yeah.

That’s a whole new argument, the poker machines and so forth. But certainly the finance attracted the better people, and the better people created a more professional environment.

Bob Aldons: And Origin just changed everything. It just changed the perception of Rugby League in Queensland, and gave us a competitive edge.

Mitch Brennan: It did. I can still remember Tommy Raudonikis and I was trying to think who the other guy was that he was with, but the way Tommy tells the story, on that first game, when Arthur came out on the field leading the team, they said the look in his eye, it already set the fear in place. He just had that look, you know. He had the ability to do that. Arthur was just, he was-

Bob Aldons: Man mountain.

Mitch Brennan: What a great example of Rugby League. That guy. His competitiveness, his dominance on the football field, and then off the football field a real gentleman. Someone you could really trust.

Bob Aldons: The legends of Rugby League have come on since the great Arthur Beetson retired from footie and then unfortunately passed away. The Wally Lewises and the Allan Langers and the Johnathon Thurstons and the Cameron Smiths and so on. Rugby League’s really produced some great sportsmen for Queensland.

Mitch Brennan: Rugby League certainly has. We often hear of the negative stories, the odd, I don’t want to say black sheep, but the odd person that makes a mistake. They’ve erred on the way. And we hear about that a lot. But gee, I wish the media would get round and tell stories about the lot of good, a lot of good that happens in the community that is sourced and driven by Rugby League players or representatives.

Bob Aldons: But good stories don’t sell newspapers or online stories, Mitch. Isn’t that what it is?

Mitch Brennan: Well, it should be because-

Bob Aldons: Of course it should.

Mitch Brennan: … it should be leadership driven, from good, better, best. Attitude. That’s kind of like what we used to do in State of Origin. But just quickly going back you mentioned about what’s happened today since State of Origin, and also the profession atmosphere that the game is in now. You look back and you think about players like Arthur Beetson, and probably even more recently, like Rod Reddy, those sort of guys. What sort of players could they have been if they were in this current environment?

Bob Aldons: Amazing.

Mitch Brennan: What could they have achieved if that’s what they achieved back then? It’s just in some ways excites me a lot.

Bob Aldons: Yep. Hey Mitch, we’re coming to the end of the time. In fact, this is probably a record for What’s In Your Garage timelines, but there’s two more questions that I need to ask you about.

First one is of all the cars that you’ve owned since the Valiant Pacer, right up today to the Volkswagen CC, what was your favourite car?

Hard one, I know. But you’ll just have to wrack your brain.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, it is a hard one. It’s all subjective.

Bob Aldons: And mate, you can’t mention the orange Volvo.

Mitch Brennan: No, no. That was some favourite times, but the car wasn’t my favourite.

You know what? For about $500 I picked up a car called a Renault Floride which was a convertible. It had a Renault-

Bob Aldons: A Floride.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah.

Bob Aldons: Like in teeth.

Mitch Brennan: Like the teeth, yeah. I’m pretty sure that translates to … Somebody did tell me, I can’t remember now, my French is not that good.

Bob Aldons: Not sort of Renault cavity or something like that?

Mitch Brennan: No, no, no. The Renault Floride was a rear engine car. The front was a boot. It had a long boot like an e-type Jag. But it was this convertible, and it was a hardtop convertible, so you remove the hardtop. I tell you what, I had a couple of dogs, a couple of German shepherds, and I would throw them in the car first thing in the morning. I was living at West End, throw them in the car, and they would sit in the back. In those days you didn’t have to restrain the dog. And they’d be looking over the back barking at everything. I’d race down the coast, go for a swim, and then race back home. It was just a fun car to have. It was a fun car. For functionality, purpose, and efficiency, I got to admit, and I’ve had some lovely cars. I’ve had the pleasure of having some lovely cars, some of the best cars around, but the current car, my Volkswagen coupe, would be the best car I’ve had. If it wasn’t, I probably still wouldn’t have it.

Bob Aldons: There you go. And the last question for this episode of What’s In Your Garage, Mitch, if money was absolutely no object, if you had more money than the king of Saudi Arabia, what car would you go out and buy today?

Mitch Brennan: Again, it’s very subjective. It would depend on where you live, but living here in Queensland-

Bob Aldons: Where you are right now.

Mitch Brennan: Right now? I love the convertibles, so I would probably have a look at a convertible, and if money’s no object-

Bob Aldons: Money’s no object.

Mitch Brennan: I don’t know if the 2-door Bentely convertible coupe would fit my persona, but what a beautiful car. Maybe the Mustang convertible.

Bob Aldons: Mustang convertible.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. Every time, not every time, but most times when I’m in the US, I always hire a car when I’m there, but most times I hire a Mustang convertible. I just enjoy driving that around.

Bob Aldons: Very good. Hey mate, thanks very much for spending some time with me and What’s In Your Garage. We’re just sitting around on some oil tins having a chat, and it’s been an absolutely pleasure to get you down today.

Mitch Brennan: It was good fun. Good reminiscing. Thanks, Bob.

Bob Aldons: Cheers, mate.

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What’s in Your Garage Podcast Episode #8 Mitch Brennan

Mitch-Brennan

Bob Aldons: We’re going to talk this morning with a mate of mine who I’ve known for 40 years and his name is Mitch Brennan. Mitch, welcome to What’s In Your Garage.

Mitch Brennan: Morning Bob. Thank you. Good to be here. Nice set-up you’ve got.

Bob Aldons: Yeah mate. It’s just a chat between two friends and we’ve had Wayne Roberts on, I’ve had Steve Trifyllis on who you both know. Or you know both of those. And Frank Barrett we had on a couple weeks ago.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, I know all those guys. It would have been easy chats.

Bob Aldons: Yeah, they were easy chats. That’s what it’s all about. It’s just a chat between mates. So mate, the first question as the entrée to What’s In Your Garage is what have you got in your garage at the moment?

Mitch Brennan: Apart from all the junk?

Bob Aldons: Apart from the junk, and apart from Jess.

Mitch Brennan: The junk, okay. Let’s get into it. I’ve got a few cars. As you know, because of the personal contact, we did have a BMW convertible. But unfortunately somebody ran up the back of Jess while she was texting, and the insurance company decided to call that one a write off.

We’ve stuck with the other cars. One is a Peugeot. Peugeot 406, V6.

Bob Aldons: You’ve had that forever.

Mitch Brennan: It seems like forever.

Bob Aldons: It does.

Mitch Brennan: But it’s one of those European cars that they just don’t let you down. They seem to have longevity on their side. It’s a manual. It’s not worth anything, Bob, the older Peugeots. But you couldn’t replace that car for what you’re getting. It’s got everything in it and it performs so well, so it’s a good backup car for us.

Bob Aldons: Do you know, there’s a theory in the motor industry that you should never own anything that ends in an “o” so that includes Peugeot, Renault, Volvo, Alfa Romeo, or Land Rover’s nickname is called a Disco.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, but the Peugeot ends in a “t”.

Bob Aldons: Yeah, but not the way it sounds, Mitch.

Mitch Brennan: It sounds like that old play. I’m not going to get into it.

Bob Aldons: So apart from those, the Peugeot, there’s a couple of others, isn’t there?

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, Jess and I also have a ’91 Ford Ute. It’s a tray back, one tonner. I don’t need it, I’m not a tradie or anything like that, but we’ve always got a load to go to the dump once in a while. The Ute is one of those cars that everybody will borrow, the son-in-law, the neighbour, the buddy will come and borrow it. It doesn’t bother me to have it. It’s a knock-about car.

It must have done a half a million Ks by now. But it hasn’t let us down. As a matter of fact, we just used it to tow our camper trailer up to the Tablelands and back, about 4,000 Ks.

Bob Aldons: That’s a big journey.

Mitch Brennan: It was a big journey. We spent a week up there, and we took three days to get up and three days to get back. We took it easy, because that was more about fun. I haven’t travelled around Queensland for a long time. We did that, so that was fun.

There’s the other item in our garage, is the camper trailer.

Bob Aldons: Chicks don’t get that Ute’s are so versatile, do they? Most of the time.

Mitch Brennan: I won’t comment on that comment, but they are versatile. They are a car, they are a truck. That’s why we call them utilities.

Bob Aldons: That’s it.

Mitch Brennan: Because they have a universal purpose.

Bob Aldons: And you’ll know that the first utility was made in Australia.

Mitch Brennan: It was. And correct me if I’m wrong, I think it was the Ford T where they cut the back off, and put a tray at the end.

Bob Aldons: Yep. And the lady who is alleged to have fostered the creation of a Ute said she needed a vehicle to take the pigs to market during the week and to go to church on Sundays.

Mitch Brennan: There you go. What a great description, huh?

Bob Aldons: Yep.

Mitch Brennan: That’s good. Yeah it is.

Bob Aldons: Utility.

Mitch Brennan: There’s the Ute.

Bob Aldons: And what else, besides the camper trailer?

Mitch Brennan: We also have a Volkswagen CC. Which I’ve had many cars in my life. I wouldn’t call myself a car person, but I’ve got to say that that’s probably value for money the best car I’ve ever had.

Bob Aldons: And mate, who did you buy that from?

Mitch Brennan: It was a guy up the road, he’s an old mate of mine. I’ve known him for a long time, and I call Bob Aldons.

Bob Aldons: Hey. And how long have you had that now for, Mitchie?

Mitch Brennan: I’ve had that for over five years.

Bob Aldons: Okay.

Mitch Brennan: And people still today get in the car and think it’s a new car.

Bob Aldons: Yep. Great car.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, it is.

Bob Aldons: Great car.

Mitch Brennan: It’s the CC, the Cooper.

Bob Aldons: Yep. So mate, you’ve got a Peugeot, a Falcon Ute, a camper trailer and the Volkswagen CC. Where’s the room for four of those, or do some of them stay outside?

Mitch Brennan: Well, it’s funny you say that. I bought a couch once that didn’t fit in my lounge so I extended the house. So Jess and I are now looking at doing some renovations at the house because we also want to get either something along the lines of a Ford Ranger or an SUV. We haven’t decided exactly which one yet.

But now look, I think over the next 12 months I think the Ford Ute will be moved on as will the Peugeot.

Bob Aldons: So you’ll replace that with a dual cabbie sort of-

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, so we’ve got a combination.

Bob Aldons: … utility type vehicle.

Mitch Brennan: Exactly. Something like a Ute come family car. I have grandkids now, so the Volkswagen has a permanent baby seat in the back.

Bob Aldons: Right.

Mitch Brennan: And it looks funny when I rock up at the football club and here I am a 62 year old gray-haired guy rocking up and they see the baby seat. The eyebrows raise.

Bob Aldons: Well Mick Jagger’s got a child now, and he’s what, 70 something. He must have a baby seat in the back of his car.

Mitch Brennan: Well, the limos that he gets, they do come with baby seats I understand.

Bob Aldons: So Mitch, let’s talk about something other than cars for the moment, because we’ve got another couple of questions coming up about cars. Let’s just do a really quick snapshot of the Mitch Brennan story.

I first met you when you were playing Rugby League for Souths, and you were a guitarist in a band?

Mitch Brennan: Yeah.

Bob Aldons: Were you a singer as well?

Mitch Brennan: I was a guitarist, vocalist in a rock and roll band.

Bob Aldons: I was working at Stafford Roller Skating Rink up in the box, spinning the records.

Mitch Brennan: DJ Bob.

Bob Aldons: DJ Bob. And Mitch Brennan and his band were down on the floor rocking the skaters as they went around.

Mitch Brennan: Wasn’t that an amazing set up? Stafford Skating Rink, and there we were right in the middle of the rink, and the owner, Mr. Mellon, what was his name?

Bob Aldons: Gordon Mellon.

Mitch Brennan: Gordon Mellon. He was quite innovative. He had the power dropped down from the ceiling so that we could have a band in the middle of the rink for people to skate around. And that was like what, was that ’72? 1971, ’72?

Bob Aldons: ’74-ish.

Mitch Brennan: Oh, it was long before ’74.

Bob Aldons: Was it?

Mitch Brennan: Yeah.

Bob Aldons: Okay.

Mitch Brennan: Because there are timeframes in my life.

Bob Aldons: I finished working there in ’75 I think.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, there are timeframes in my life and it was before ’74.

Bob Aldons: Early 70’s.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. In those days, I remember I used to rock up. I had a Valiant Pacer, or I rode a Norton Commando 750.

Bob Aldons: Whoa.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. And I rocked up on that one day.

Bob Aldons: I could see you sort of being the Fonz. The Fonz of the early 70’s.

Mitch Brennan: The Fonz is one of my heroes.

Bob Aldons: Yep, okay.

Mitch Brennan: He’s up there with the King. Not just Wally, the other king, Elvis.

Bob Aldons: Yep.

Mitch Brennan: Wally’s one of my heroes. I didn’t know too many people that actually rode motorbikes in those days, so I didn’t ride it often because, not that I felt an outcast, but if you rode a bike in those days, people got very judgemental.

Bob Aldons: They thought you were bodgy.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so those were the days.

Bob Aldons: So post the Stafford’s Roller Skating Rink in Souths, tell us what happened with your footie career after that.

Mitch Brennan: Well, I had an opportunity to pursue a music career and also a little bit of film, but football came up and I got selected to play first grade at Brisbane Souths. My manager at the time, who was anti contact sport, he surprised me by saying, “Look, why don’t you go and put a year or two into your football, because you can do that now at this age.” “But you can’t do the football later, but you can do the music later.”

So I thought that was quite philosophical of him to say that, so I took it. And 17 years later, I was still playing football. So that one or two years kind of got stretched out.

Bob Aldons: But you could always come back to the music though.

Mitch Brennan: Exactly. That’s what he said. I tried to come back to it the other day, and I … you can’t. You gotta put some time into it. You gotta keep it up. It’s like anything.

Bob Aldons: So from first grade at Souths, you played with the likes of …

Mitch Brennan: Well, Johnny Grant was one of my centre partners.

Bob Aldons: Who’s now the chairman of the Australian Rugby League.

Mitch Brennan: Well, no. He’s not chairman, he’s the Commissioner.

Bob Aldons: Beg your pardon, Commissioner Australian Rugby League.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. He’s the ARL Commissioner. And doing a great job. And also there was Greg Veivers who went on to become the Australian captain. There were other guys, Bruce Astill, Tony Scott. A lot of old legends of Brisbane Rugby League that I’m not too sure many people would know unless they were from that era.

But it’s amazing the amount of guys that came out of the club at Souths and West End that went on to represent either Queensland or Australia. And captain.

Bob Aldons: Strong club.

Mitch Brennan: And captain the club.

Bob Aldons: So you went from Souths to the Saints.

Mitch Brennan: Souths to Saints. Jack Gibson wanted by to come down and play for South Sydney, so I went down there to train with them. I hadn’t actually signed and it was a great training. I remember that training session. It was a great session. I was so pumped in terms I was young and hungry.

Previously, a guy called Harry Bath coached me at Souths and Brisbane. He was running a pub in Canterbury, down in Sydney, and at the same time coaching the Saints, St. George.

Bob Aldons: Yes. The great Harry Bath.

Mitch Brennan: He had just won the grand final in ’77, and this was at the beginning of ’78. So I called around as a courtesy thing to say hello, so I called around to see him. He said, “Oh, what are you doing in Sydney?” I said, “Oh, I’m about to sign with Souths.” He said, “No, I don’t think so.” Then he ended up signing me with Saints.

Bob Aldons: So was that the first poaching of players? Slipped it right underneath Souths’ eyes.

Mitch Brennan: Oh, I think it went on long before I turned around, but he said he wanted to give me a good deal with the club. The directors baulked at what he was trying to set me up for. They wanted to see me play, so he set up a trial game for me to play in one of their trial games. It was in Grafton. Then the infamous Mickey Lane story.

Bob Aldons: The Mickey Lane story.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. Because we had a bit of an issue with the club. The club at Souths and Brisbane had no money. The president had said to myself, John Grant and Greg Veivers and Wayne Bennett was there at the time, said if we cancel your contracts, will you stay with the club?

we all agreed, yes, we would stay with the club because it was a very passionate thing. We weren’t getting paid a million dollars or anything like that. But I put one proviso in, and that was unless a Sydney team wants me to play in there. Because in those days, that was the-

Bob Aldons: That’s the place to go.

Mitch Brennan: … progression. That was where you went.

Bob Aldons: Yep. That was the place to go before poker machines came to Queensland.

Mitch Brennan: Exactly. So everybody was in agreement to that. But it was disappointing to have a reversal by the club when Saints wanted to sign me and they cancelled all the contracts except for mine. So we had a bit of an issue there, but it got resolved. Saints are a very professional club and they got the right people onto it, and sorted all of that out.

So I had a few years with the Saints, won the Grand Final there, which are just one of those memories that you’ll have forever. It’s a very special occasion. Then I went on to South Sydney, which has always been one of my favourite clubs from being a kid. So I went there and we won the Tooth Cup Final, so that was a nice championship to take away from there.

Bob Aldons: Was that the pre-season comp was it?

Mitch Brennan: No, it was a mid-season. It was a concurrent competition. You remember the old Amco Cup?

Bob Aldons: Was it like the old Amco Cup? Yep.

Mitch Brennan: Then the Tooth Cup. And National Panasonic Cup and the Tooth Cup. I think we won the Tooth Cup. Then from South Sydney I got signed by the USFL, a brand new grid-iron league in America, United States Football League, with a team called the LA Express.

They’d signed a quarterback from college, he was a Heisman Trophy winner, he signed him up for $20 million, and it was like the first time of anybody in America ever got paid that kind of money. Because we’re talking 1982. I didn’t sign again with Souths and I was a free agent. I took off to America, and before the season started, the league collapsed financially.

Bob Aldons: So theoretically, Jarryd Hayne wasn’t the first Rugby League player to go to the US to play grid-iron.

Mitch Brennan: Oh, look, there have been Rugby League players from the 50’s that have played in America. The Dallas Cowboys had a Rugby League player back in the 50’s and 60’s. Ended up on a murder charge, I think. Actually I can’t think of his name.

Bob Aldons: That’s a good history.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. That’s how I found out about him. But it’s not the first time. An American NFL team, it wasn’t NFL back in those days, it was NFC and AFC, They had sent a team out to Australia to play Rugby League and they wore all their American football equipment. This is back in the 50’s.

Bob Aldons: To play Rugby League.

Mitch Brennan: They got annihilated. But they saw what Rugby League was and were so respectful of it. And even today, I’ve gone over and I’ve built up a great relationship with a lot of NFL teams. In particular when Rams were originally in Los Angeles. They’ve gone back there now.

Jack Faulkner was the manager there. Jack and I have built up a great relationship. They had a player there, a linebacker called Jack Youngblood, a lot of people probably know of this guy. He wanted to put on a exhibition game for the Rams, because we took South Sydney over in ’81. We took South Sydney over there and spent some time with them. But we said, no look, it wouldn’t work. Why don’t you guys put a team together, we’ll put a couple of guys in to help you learn the rules and stuff at what to do. So we put it to the players, but they wouldn’t play without their helmets so it didn’t happen.

It was all in jest. It was nothing macho or bravado or anything like that. It’s just what we’re used to. It’s like you look at Rugby League players and some other sports look at the way they play, the collision sport that it is, and the tenacity and the ferocity involved, but you grab a Rugby League player and put him into some other environment and he’s going to be uncomfortable.

Bob Aldons: Sure. Just diverge a little bit, and just ask for your opinion on the brain injury issue that’s still prevalent in the United States with grid-iron players and whether that will ever become an issue here in Australia with Rugby League.

Mitch Brennan: It should, and I think it will. I’m not a tree-hugger or a goody-two-shoes, you know if you want to call it that. I think that things like political correctness has got right out of hand, but if things can be prevented, if things that aren’t reversible, if things can be prevented, then we should be taking measures to do that. There’s no doubt, there is so much evidence to show that boxing is an unhealthy sport, but I love boxing. It is the sport, and that’s what we do.

Bob Aldons: So how does grid-iron clean up their game to an extent where this serious brain injury is minimised?

Mitch Brennan: They’ve got some pretty hard and fast rules. It’s probably, you and I have not discussed this before, and I’m not surprised, but it’s interesting that you raise this and you’ve expressed some interest in it.

It is one of those things, and I don’t want to say, look, it’s a consequence of the sport, it’s what happens. That’s not acceptable in anything. However, there are rules being put in place or have been put in place. The old clipping rule, in American football wasn’t there originally. American football was originally rugby, and it slowly progressed to become what it is today.

In the past, there was, as you know you can block players from tackling a ball carrier. In the earlier days, you could hit people from behind. You can’t do that now. There are different set of rules, it’s slowly and very subtly changing. The more we get to eliminating the things that we don’t want, the finer those improvements will become. Step by step it will happen.

Bob Aldons: So do you like what’s going on in Rugby League in Australia in terms of high tackle concussion rules and so on? Is that a step in the right direction?

Mitch Brennan: I think it is, because I think Rugby League players, as with AFL players, are so vulnerable to serious injury. They’re so vulnerable. They’re open. A lot of it is based on good sportsmanship and trust that the person who’s coming in to tackle you is going to do it legally. As assertive and aggressive as he wants, but he does it legally.

There is still a chance that you could get seriously hurt, but it’s not irreversible. Where you get a head injury or a spine injury or a nerve injury, those things are irreversible. As the rules improve to eliminate that from our game, by all means I support it fully.

I think the game is moving in a great direction. It is the athletes, the power, the speed, the strength, the size. It is still a game where a little man can out perform big men. There’s an old coaching rule in Rugby League that a good big man will always beat a good little man, and while we know physically the laws of physics support that argument, Rugby League lends itself to an exception.

Bob Aldons: And we look at the examples like the Allan Langers and the Ricky Stuarts and say there’s great little guys making good big guys look silly.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. Well, let’s not say they look silly. They’re certainly having their wins over the good big guys. I can always remember Mark Shulman, the halfback for Saints in ’77 Grand Final. Doctors actually told Mark that if he does not stop playing at that level, he will die. And that’s a quote. So he had to give the game up.

He was a tiny man, but so brave, so courageous, and so … the integrity involved. He played fairly, but what a competitor. I can always remember that photo where he’s faced up to a Parramatta player, from Parramatta. It was like a real David and Goliath photo. He’s looking up and he’s giving him a gobful.

Bob Aldons: But that’s what Rugby League engenders in the competition, isn’t it?

Mitch Brennan: It does. I just think the game, or I suppose I’m disappointed the game is not accepted more of a global scale than what it is. I’ll cut straight to the chase. I think the Rugby League administrations are at fault there. I think there is a lot of selfish people that are holding the game back for the wrong reasons.

They think they’re doing the right thing or they don’t want to lose control. I don’t know exactly why. But I have never met an American for instance, that I’ve introduced to the game of Rugby League and has not fallen in love with it. Every NFL business director, manager, player that I’ve shown videos to, they just love the game. They just love it.

Bob Aldons: In fact, I was talking to the now Australian coach Mal Meninga just after his appointment last year. One of his great desires was to broaden Rugby League from Australia as its central point, out into the Pacific Islands and the Fijis and Somoas and so on. The Papua New Guinea team. And get them more competitive so to be able to compete on an international basis.

Mitch Brennan: I think that’s an ambitious and worthy goal. Something to pursue, that’s a great objective. That’s part of a strategy to see a bigger and broader vision that Mel may have. I’ve met in social discussions with Mel since his appointment, but we really don’t do it deliberately, but we don’t really get to talk too much football. We talk more personal matters, I suppose.

But from a visionary point of view, I think that’s a great thing to look at. And that would be a stepping stone to set up a good strategy to meet that vision that Rugby League becomes a global sport.

Bob Aldons: Hey, mate. Let’s fast forward a little bit away from the 70’s and 80’s. But we can’t avoid 1981, 2 and 3. They were your three years playing Origin.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, State of Origin. What a great concept that was, and I’m glad I came into it, that it came onboard before I finished playing. That was coming to the end of my playing career.

Bob Aldons: So Mitchell, we were talking about Origins one, two, three and four. You play in Origins two, three and four. And they’re only one game a year at that time.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, I’m just on reflection I think ’82 was the first year that they had a three game series. I played in the ’81 game in the centres, and then played fullback and centre in the ’82 series, and in the ’83 series I played on the wing. Then we were lucky enough to go on tour to the UK, the State of Origin. We did a tour.

I remember on that tour, we got off the plane and Arthur was the coach, Arthur Beetson, and Wally talked Arthur into letting him coach the team before the first game against Hull. Wally went and gave us a few hills to run after our flight. By the time we got to the game, we were so leg sore and leg weary that we got beat in that first game. And in all fairness, hats off to Hull. It was Hull or Hull KR, whichever one it was. But they won fair and square, but there’s no doubt in my mind if you had five more minutes on the clock, we would have certainly had taken over.

Then we had another couple of games and we sort of got back to our winning standard, and certainly dominated. It was a fantastic tour and a fantastic promotion for State of Origin in the UK. Yeah, it was good stuff.

Bob Aldons: Mitch, we know Ron McAuliffe is credited as being the father of Origin. What’s your take on why it happened and how it happened and so on?

Mitch Brennan: Oh, I think it’s really clear. I can remember even as a kid, you go out and watch the interstate series because you know all the guys were in the sky blue were just Rugby League footballers. They were big, they were fast, they were fit. But the amazing thing was that probably eight or ten out of that team originally started playing here in Queensland. They went down to New South Wales.

Bob Aldons: They went there because of the poker machine revenue paying their playing fees and contracts, wasn’t it?

Mitch Brennan: Well, I think they were a lot more professional down there anyway, for starters. But they also had the resource that was being driven and sought from the poker machine environment, yeah.

That’s a whole new argument, the poker machines and so forth. But certainly the finance attracted the better people, and the better people created a more professional environment.

Bob Aldons: And Origin just changed everything. It just changed the perception of Rugby League in Queensland, and gave us a competitive edge.

Mitch Brennan: It did. I can still remember Tommy Raudonikis and I was trying to think who the other guy was that he was with, but the way Tommy tells the story, on that first game, when Arthur came out on the field leading the team, they said the look in his eye, it already set the fear in place. He just had that look, you know. He had the ability to do that. Arthur was just, he was-

Bob Aldons: Man mountain.

Mitch Brennan: What a great example of Rugby League. That guy. His competitiveness, his dominance on the football field, and then off the football field a real gentleman. Someone you could really trust.

Bob Aldons: The legends of Rugby League have come on since the great Arthur Beetson retired from footie and then unfortunately passed away. The Wally Lewises and the Allan Langers and the Johnathon Thurstons and the Cameron Smiths and so on. Rugby League’s really produced some great sportsmen for Queensland.

Mitch Brennan: Rugby League certainly has. We often hear of the negative stories, the odd, I don’t want to say black sheep, but the odd person that makes a mistake. They’ve erred on the way. And we hear about that a lot. But gee, I wish the media would get round and tell stories about the lot of good, a lot of good that happens in the community that is sourced and driven by Rugby League players or representatives.

Bob Aldons: But good stories don’t sell newspapers or online stories, Mitch. Isn’t that what it is?

Mitch Brennan: Well, it should be because-

Bob Aldons: Of course it should.

Mitch Brennan: … it should be leadership driven, from good, better, best. Attitude. That’s kind of like what we used to do in State of Origin. But just quickly going back you mentioned about what’s happened today since State of Origin, and also the profession atmosphere that the game is in now. You look back and you think about players like Arthur Beetson, and probably even more recently, like Rod Reddy, those sort of guys. What sort of players could they have been if they were in this current environment?

Bob Aldons: Amazing.

Mitch Brennan: What could they have achieved if that’s what they achieved back then? It’s just in some ways excites me a lot.

Bob Aldons: Yep. Hey Mitch, we’re coming to the end of the time. In fact, this is probably a record for What’s In Your Garage timelines, but there’s two more questions that I need to ask you about.

First one is of all the cars that you’ve owned since the Valiant Pacer, right up today to the Volkswagen CC, what was your favourite car?

Hard one, I know. But you’ll just have to wrack your brain.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah, it is a hard one. It’s all subjective.

Bob Aldons: And mate, you can’t mention the orange Volvo.

Mitch Brennan: No, no. That was some favourite times, but the car wasn’t my favourite.

You know what? For about $500 I picked up a car called a Renault Floride which was a convertible. It had a Renault-

Bob Aldons: A Floride.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah.

Bob Aldons: Like in teeth.

Mitch Brennan: Like the teeth, yeah. I’m pretty sure that translates to … Somebody did tell me, I can’t remember now, my French is not that good.

Bob Aldons: Not sort of Renault cavity or something like that?

Mitch Brennan: No, no, no. The Renault Floride was a rear engine car. The front was a boot. It had a long boot like an e-type Jag. But it was this convertible, and it was a hardtop convertible, so you remove the hardtop. I tell you what, I had a couple of dogs, a couple of German shepherds, and I would throw them in the car first thing in the morning. I was living at West End, throw them in the car, and they would sit in the back. In those days you didn’t have to restrain the dog. And they’d be looking over the back barking at everything. I’d race down the coast, go for a swim, and then race back home. It was just a fun car to have. It was a fun car. For functionality, purpose, and efficiency, I got to admit, and I’ve had some lovely cars. I’ve had the pleasure of having some lovely cars, some of the best cars around, but the current car, my Volkswagen coupe, would be the best car I’ve had. If it wasn’t, I probably still wouldn’t have it.

Bob Aldons: There you go. And the last question for this episode of What’s In Your Garage, Mitch, if money was absolutely no object, if you had more money than the king of Saudi Arabia, what car would you go out and buy today?

Mitch Brennan: Again, it’s very subjective. It would depend on where you live, but living here in Queensland-

Bob Aldons: Where you are right now.

Mitch Brennan: Right now? I love the convertibles, so I would probably have a look at a convertible, and if money’s no object-

Bob Aldons: Money’s no object.

Mitch Brennan: I don’t know if the 2-door Bentely convertible coupe would fit my persona, but what a beautiful car. Maybe the Mustang convertible.

Bob Aldons: Mustang convertible.

Mitch Brennan: Yeah. Every time, not every time, but most times when I’m in the US, I always hire a car when I’m there, but most times I hire a Mustang convertible. I just enjoy driving that around.

Bob Aldons: Very good. Hey mate, thanks very much for spending some time with me and What’s In Your Garage. We’re just sitting around on some oil tins having a chat, and it’s been an absolutely pleasure to get you down today.

Mitch Brennan: It was good fun. Good reminiscing. Thanks, Bob.

Bob Aldons: Cheers, mate.

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