Blair Boyer remembers growing up in country Victoria and being handed a dusty copy of former Labor premier Don Dunstan’s biography by his dad when he was 15.

What he read inside the book continues to inspire him as South Australia’s current Education, Training & Skills Minister and newly minted Police Minister.

“Even then, it struck me that he did things which I’m sure for many political leaders at the time must have seemed impossible, so absolutely an inspiration to me,” he said.

So, when the chance came up to drive Dunstan’s 1974 Datsun 260Z Sports Coupe in this Sunday’s RAA Bay to Birdwood, he jumped at it.

Ahead of this weekend’s rally, InDaily met with Boyer at Parliament House, with the minister rocking up in a lifelike replica of the famous pink shorts Dunstan famously wore to parliament in November, 1972.

The self-described vintage car buff said he is humbled at the opportunity to take Dunstan’s wheels for a spin.

“I thought, because a bit of work was going to be put into getting Dunstan’s Datsun running again – this is the first time it’s running in 25 years – I thought it’d be a good chance to get it out,” Boyer told InDaily.

It’s a far cry from the family’s leased Ford Everest “which I almost never get to drive” and a “2010 Toyota Corolla hatchback which is regarded as ‘Dad’s car’.”

Boyer also chose the silver car for its important symbolism, with Dunstan having led the charge to decriminalise homosexuality in South Australia 50 years ago.

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It’s not the first time Boyer – whose education portfolio covers the National Motor Museum – has taken part in the historic motor rally, having previously driven a Dodge Phoenix, a 1927 Chrysler, and last year, a Ford Anglia.

Boyer will depart from the RAA Bay to Birdwood’s starting point at Barratt Reserve in West Beach at 10am, driving all the way to the Finish Festival at the National Motor Museum in Birdwood.

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“I’m told it’s running very well, which is good, because the first year in the 1927 Chrysler, we got up the hill a kilometre away from the finish line, and we didn’t make it. So, I’m hoping we get all the way there this year,” he said.

Ticket holders can see the motors up close at the Finish Festival, where there are also various competitions, including the Concours d’Elegance, Preservation and EV categories.

Boyer tells InDaily that the RAA Bay to Birdwood is one of his favourite times of the year, because historic motors that are usually locked away in garages hit the roads for all to see.

“The idea is that the things we own and sit in the museum get out on the road, and people who line the road all the way from where we start to Birdwood actually get to see the vehicles being driven,” says Boyer.

“The best bit, I think, is being able to drive along Anzac Highway and elsewhere, and there are just thousands of people who have been sitting there all day waiting for a glimpse of the car.

“Last year, I heard so many people yell out, ‘That’s the Harry Potter car’, and some who actually knew the car before Harry Potter saying, ‘Oh, that’s an Anglia’, and all the buffs who were spotting cars and naming the year and the model, I think it’s very special as well.”

Boyer will be joined in the car by his parliamentary colleague, Olivia Savvas MP, with the route passing through her electorate of Newland.

Bruce Field, who is a historic vehicle mechanic for the National Motor Museum, said that when Dunstan’s Datsun was first donated to the museum’s collection in the early 2000s, it was in quite a poor state.

“The car came from its second owner, who’d been in a bit of an accident with it, so he donated it to the museum in its crashed state,” said Field.

Field tells InDaily that a mechanic at the National Motor Museum used a panel beater to repair the damaged sections of the car, which also received a new lick of paint.

However, due to monetary and time constraints, the Datsun, driven by Dunstan between 1974 and 1998, was only restored cosmetically and entered into the museum’s collection.

But with various Dunstan anniversaries in 2025, Field was tasked with carrying out a painstaking rejuvenation and preservation of the car’s mechanics over six months.

This included stripping down the mechanics, unseizing components around the engine, lots of cleaning, making sure the brakes were safe to use while driving, and going through all the car systems to make sure everything worked.

“It’s been very time-consuming because we try and retain as many of the original components as we can, instead of the normal retail situation, where you replace anything that doesn’t work or is broken,” said Field.

Field describes it as interesting and humbling to work on historic vehicles such as Dunstan’s Datsun.

“It’s really interesting being involved in the history of not only South Australia, but Australia,” he said.

“Some of the vehicles we’ve got in here are very rare, and even though the vehicle itself might be relatively mundane, the story behind the vehicle makes it interesting, and if something was to happen to that vehicle, you’re losing part of history.”

Although Boyer never met Dunstan in person, he counts the former premier as one of his heroes, telling InDaily that there are many lessons to be learnt from the former premier’s time running South Australia.

He is inspired by the courage Dunstan showed as he charted a progressive path forward for the state, as well as “being bold enough to say this has to change”.

“I think Dunstan showed that he did things that people might have gone, ‘This is crazy’, and people backed it and loved it 50 years ago, and still talk about it today,” he said.

“Also, a lesson that some of those things he achieved we can’t take for granted, because there are things happening around the world where people would be seeking to roll back some of the change that Dunstan brought into the state.”