Vale Phil Smith RIP Mate

This is without a doubt one of the saddest days of my life.

Last night my best mate of 30 years Phil Smith passed away. Most of you will know Phil from the Gold 65 he recently purchased and is shown on these Forum pages.


Phil had a heart attack in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Christine Phil's wife responded quickly to ring an ambulance he was rushed to Dandenong Hospital, where until yesterday he was recovering and each night he was improving, to the point of even talking about his TBird again and the next job to be done on it, Last night again he seemed to be improving and when we left him at 10pm he was watching the Footy Show and having a laugh, around 11pm he dozed off woke up shortly after with a bad headache, the nurse went to get him some tablets when she returned he was unconcious they put him in an Ambulance to Monash Medical but it was all too late, Phil died during the ambulance trip, It's been described to us that he suffered a massive bleed to the brain and that's what ended his life.

A lot of our Forum members and Vic TOCA members saw and spoke to Phil last Sunday at the TOCA Picnic and will be as shocked as we are that this man who looked a picture of health and was always willing to help others and talk cars till the cows come home is now gone......Without Phil my car would never have seen the light of day again......Some go thru life and never know what it is to have a True Friend, I was blessed I had Phil....RIP Mate.

Phil was 57 years old is survived by Christine and his 3 Children Belinda, Matt & Dean.

Dave Galloway.

A sad day indeed.

Our thoughts to Christine and the family.

RIP Phil ~ you will be missed

Giovanni & Melissa

This is Very Sad news, our thoughts are with the Family. RIP Phil, you will surely be Missed.

Sorry to hear of your pain and sorry to the Family.
Phil's Gold 1965 Thunderbird will be cover photo on my 64 65 66 Thunderbird group on Facebook, a photo that I took only this past Sunday.
Vale Phil........ :-(

I am very sorry to hear about Phil, lt was a pleasure to meet Phil last sunday a real genuine guy , My thoughts are with his family. R.I.P Phil.

Very sad news about Phil...our thoughts and prayers go out to Christine and family.

RIP Phil.

Kevin and Carmen.

So sad to hear the news of Phil's passing, he truely was a nice bloke. Lots of TOCA members have sent their condolences to Christine and family and to you too Dave and your family.
From Michele and I and our family we pass on our sincere condolence and trust that some time soon you'll remember the good times you have all shared.
Such sorrow
Tony and Michele

Sad news indeed , thoughts go out to his family.

What a shock, I thought he would have pulled through. Our sincere condolences to the family and to you Dave for losing a good mate.
Nick & Georgie TOCA members. RIP

So very sad, I read all of this with tears streaming down my cheeks,
Dave I'm so sorry for your loss and his poor family must be devestated.

Makes my problem with the car seem so insignificant.
That's the trouble with this place, you read a post and feel like you know the person, makes it really tuff when something like this happens.

All the very best to you Dave and Phil's family. SuzieQ

Very Sad.
Strength to Phil's family and close friends.

James (jptbird)

Concolences all round.

To think he had pulled through what we all would imagine was the tough part - and then gets taken just like that, gutting...

Just like to pass on our sincere condolences to Dave and Di, Christine and family.
True friends are hard to find, rest in peace Phil. From Daniel and Lee

Sorry to hear about youre friend Dave