[dropcap]A[/dropcap]t the age of 17 , Pa Edward learnt how to drive with his uncle’s De Dion Bouton, a car manufactured by a French Automobile and rail car maker, which operated from 1883 to 1932. Edward passed his driving test and obtained his first ever driving license at the age of 20. That was 1925, a period in history, when automobiles were just getting fashionable. Henry Ford was just mass producing his Edward’s first driving license
Model T.
As at the time of putting this story together, Edward has driven for over 80 years. Yet he has been involved in an accident only once. He has also committed driving offence only once, receiving a ticket for over-speeding.
The very first job he engaged in was driving. The first automobile he owned was a Dodge, which he converted to a truck and used for transporting fossilized gum of native kauri trees from Snells Beach in the North to the city of Auckland, today’s most populous urban area in New Zealand.
In his driving career, Mr. Edwards, a workaholic, made enough money with which he set up haulage business. He bought new trucks and employed a couple of drivers to transport butter, groceries and gas. Unfortunately, his business was badly affected by gas-rationing policies of the first world war and so closed down.
Born 1905 in Ngataki, a community on the Aupouri Penisula in Northland, New Zealand, Mr Edwards grew up in England. He is married to Lesley, who stopped driving 1985. Though Edward is not the world’s oldest driver yet, he is still the oldest driving license holder in his country of birth, New Zealand.
