Every Brunswick East resident has had the experience — walking down Nicholson Street after a trip to the Coles, minding your business, when you absentmindedly look up and see him. You do a double take, not quite believing your eyes. The mischievous grin, the huge buck teeth, the full and juicy cheeks. Your heart rate increases, you start to sweat. You feel an intense mix of arousal, danger and shame. All because you’ve just seen the Sexy Dumptruck Rat that adorns Glenlyon Motors.
glenlyon motors got a lot to answer for…. why tf this rat so caked up???? double caked up on NICHOLSON???? i wanna see him shake that ass 😵💫 pic.twitter.com/18QeUILc2a
— bridget (Divina fan club. DM to join) (@BridgetDeane5) July 15, 2021
He was a bastion of culture and a beacon of hope to everyone in Brunswick East, and on Friday afternoon I learned he’d been removed and painted over, replaced with a plain black wall.
rip east brunswick’s rose 💔🥀🙏😭
goodbye sexy anal rat 😭💦 pic.twitter.com/xRLvevl8yf— cremaster & margarita (@goat_wang) August 5, 2022
Logically, the existence of the rat never made sense. What did a sexy rat have to do with a mechanic? Why did they draw him so sexy? And what was his secret to having all that confidence?
Regardless, he quickly became a fixture, perhaps even a father figure, in my life.
Throughout the many Melbourne lockdowns I’d go on my daily walks, depressed out of my mind, and see him smiling irreverently while pointing to his caked up behind as if to say “Fuck you and your life. All that matters is my huge ass!”. And I’d shake my head, smile to myself and think “He’s right. Everything will be okay.”
On days I was feeling insecure I would look to him for inspiration, his sharp finger pointed towards his fat ass in a radical display of body positivity.
— dj big chafe (@born2brag420) August 5, 2022
On a community level, his shameless display of vulgarity and cheekiness stood in defiant opposition to the corporations and luxury developments he looked over.
I’ve never been good at handling grief, so I started searching for answers. I called the mechanic several times but the phone just rang and rang with no answer.
Now all that’s left is a black wall, a phone ringing out, and a community in mourning.
It’s hard to put into words how much this sexy rat meant to me. He taught me it was okay to be weird, to flaunt what you‘ve got, and to never take life too seriously.
He embodied the spirit of Brunswick East and he brought our community together.
Sexy Dumptruck Rat, we love you and we miss you. And just like Princess Di, you will live on forever in our hearts.
Sam McGowan is a writer and filmmaker from Naarm. You can find his Timothée Chalamet thirst tweets at
@samxmcgowan.
