So when, as a six year-old, he would constantly see the Peterson family’s 1926 Dodge Business Coupe ambling down the road they both lived on, he paid attention.
It awoke an obsession-like interest in cars, and that car in particular, in Mr Carnie.
So much so that he tracked it down when he was in his 20s and bought it.
His intention was to do it up, but life and work always got in the way.
But now, 56 years later, the restoration of what Mr Carnie affectionately refers to as ‘The Berrigan Dodge’ is complete.
“My only regret is that I am too old to enjoy it now,” Mr Carnie said.
“I kept saying I would do it up one day, but by the time I started working on it in earnest, I unfortunately broke my back.”
Local restoration professional Chris Heagney has been working on Mr Carnie’s car for him since that injury, and the final unveiling took place on Friday.
“It’s just terrific,” Mr Carnie said.
“As far as we know, this is the only Dodge with this particular body in Australia. But I have to check that again.
“There are others that are similar, but they have different windows and wood frames, while this one is all steel.
“Chris is a master at what he does.”
Mr Carnie said because of his injury and his age, he does not believe he will keep the Dodge.
He said that while his son David - who helped him work on the car along the way - also loves the Dodge and is itching for a ride in it, he cannot keep it.
It will likely be sold to another enthusiast.
The car originally belonged to Arol and Hellen Peterson, both school teachers from Berrigan, who made the trip to Sydney specifically to buy it.
All black inside and outside at the time, it was known around Berrigan as ‘the hearse’.
“The dealer drove it to the outskirts of Sydney, and the Petersons started for home,” Mr Carnie tells of its history.
“The journey took four or five days, travelling at 20 to 25 miles an hour.
“My connection with the vehicle was that Hellen taught me through primary school.
“Arol taught at the Green Swamp School and drove the 16 miles every day, but the speedo only shows 37,000 miles.
“They lived up the road from me when I was about six, so I would see it every day.
“Cars were a scarce commodity then.”
Mr Carnie was just seven when he bought his first motorbike to ‘do up’.
By age 15, he’d also purchased a few Morris cars to tinker with and drive.
“My nickname at the time was mechanical Ken,” he laughed.
“I always had an idea I might like to own the Dodge one day, but it went on the back burner after I got married and started working.
“I had not long got myself a T-model Ford truck and found myself wondering where it had gone.
“After some research, I discovered it was on a farm out near Finley.”
Mr Carnie had been looking for the Dodge for about two years, and he finally tracked it down in 1968.
Having previously heard it might have been completely dismantled by someone wishing to turn it into a hotrod, Mr Carnie was pleased to find the Dodge had not been completely stripped down.
“All the parts were stored with it, but it was missing the radiator, horn and front axle. I found the axle on a trailer on another farm, which I was able to recover, plus some extra wheels.
“Lex Kirkby gave me a radiator and a steering wheel - as some visitors to my shed stole the original steering wheel - and so all that was missing was the horn and the enthusiasm to restore the vehicle.
“But now, after 56 years of stop-starts, it is finally finished thanks to Chris (Heagney).”
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