Noel was a WW ll veteran in the late autumn of an august driving career, since being demobbed, when I was a young fellow, new to driving. Apart from teaching me heaps, he kept me amused with tales of the early days of interstate transport.
Road transport was a threat to the state owned railway monopolies. As a consequence state police and when formed, state transport departments sweated on trucks for the most trivial of transgressions and tried to ensure trucks weren’t dodging the penny per ton per mile road tax.
Federal government, known then as the Commonwealth, operated vehicles including Post Master General and Defense Force, were issued with easily distinguishable “Z plates”, a white numberplate preceded with a red Z then five numbers. Commonwealth law supersedes state law, so state departments had no jurisdiction over Commonwealth vehicles.
Army disposal were selling anything from teaspoons to tanks, including trucks and uniforms. Ex-army trucks were cheap and the only way the pioneer drivers could afford to get into this new road transport caper. Noel got himself an ex-army Chev and went into business wearing army shirts. With stolen Z plates he was impervious to state scrutiny. 
For many years, trucks were only equipped with a single mirror, on the driver’s side, colloquially referred to as powder puff mirrors, due to their 2" circular size. The first time Noel saw a truck with a powder puff mirror on each side, he thought the driver was a mug lair who thought he was flasher than a rat with a gold tooth.
When Noel saw the first vehicle fitted with blinkers he thought that was pretty lairy, but won’t catch on.
RIP Old Mate, thanks for the memories and lessons.