So it was no surprise to see a cheery grin from the hardened centenarian when his family arranged for a 1924 Ford Model T to visit him at Radius Fulton Rest Home as part of his 100th birthday celebrations yesterday.
He said it brought back a lot of memories of his childhood when privately-owned cars were not a common sight in rural Southland.
They were very futuristic, he said.
Mr Robertson is a longtime Mosgiel resident with deep Southland roots.
He was born and raised in Colac Bay. His father died when he was 5 and his mother was forced to move the family to Riverton, where she worked to support her four children.
By the time Mr Robertson was 14, he had taken over those duties by following in his father’s footsteps — getting a job delivering groceries on a bicycle around the township.
He later went to work for a grocery store in Invercargill, but his life took a major turn in 1945, when he was drafted into the New Zealand Army near the end of World War 2.
He celebrated his 21st birthday at an army base before being shipped off to Japan to serve with the New Zealand J-Force and British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF).
Soon after his arrival, the young private was made a corporal when officers heard he used to run a grocery store.
His work as part of the world’s first peacekeeping body included several visits to Hiroshima in the aftermath of the atomic bomb, but he declined to talk about that yesterday.
Mr Robertson also recalled having to stand guard for the Japanese Emperor in Tokyo.
While he remembered little about the Emperor himself, he remembered a lot about the car he was waving from.
"It was a beautiful maroon Packard, in fact."
In 2021, Mr Robertson was honoured for his service by the NZ J-Force and BCOF Veterans Association on the 75th anniversary of Japan’s 1946 occupation, in a ceremony attended by then Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy.
After his service, Mr Robertson returned to New Zealand and built a Four Square shop in Mosgiel in 1958.
The shop became the hub of the community for more than two decades.
Mr Robertson and his late wife Helen had a large family, which includes four children, 11 grandchildren, and 17 great grandchildren.
Mr Robertson said he still reflected on "life’s mysteries", and often dreamt of modern motorcars in his sleep.
Asked what his secret to longevity was, he said, "It can’t be boiled down to easy answers or straightforward beliefs".
"You just live day by day, put one foot in front of the other, and keep going."
