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Imagine packing your family, mates or a date into your car, driving into a massive paddock, stocking up on snacks from the kiosk and watching a movie being played onto a giant billboard.
Even as someone who is old enough to remember the drive-in, it still seems like a pretty whacky concept.
But now, in these socially distant times, hanging out in your car with the rest of your immediate household actually makes a lot of sense.
While the NSW town of Goulburn isn't about to reopen its drive-in, if reader feedback is anything to go by, there are plenty who would welcome it.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Goulburn's Adam Skelly who had every 1970s or '80s kid's dream job - working at the local drive-in.
With customers paying per patron rather than per car, one of Adam's most important tasks was to check the insides of car boots and under suspicious looking blankets across the back seat for stowaways.
He also remembered the streets of Goulburn being gridlocked with queues the night Crocodile Dundee opened, and how he used to help the kiosk lady make and wrap the choc top icecreams.
The Goulburn drive-in also had a playground where kids could roam until the announcement was made that the movie was about to start, with the advice to "please return to your cars".
While drive-ins eventually evolved to have the sound coming through the radio, at Goulburn patrons wound down the window to pick up a speaker from a pole.
In the Wollongong suburb of Shellharbour, drive-in movies will return for the first time in more than three-and-a-half decades for a one-off fundraiser in support of KidzWish foundation.
Patrons will be able to drive onto the tarmac at the Shellharbour airport, and tune in to the audio via the radio to follow all the action on the big screen.
Out at Dubbo, the Westview Drive-in has re-opened with social distancing measures in place.
In the past two years the drive-in has made a comeback after more than three decades out of action, and is becoming a key attraction for the city.
The Westview Drive-in first opened its gates in 1970, with a screening of Clint Eastwood's in "Kelly's Heroes". The drive-in, which could accommodate 550 cars, operated until 1987.
In Canberra, there are plans afoot to open a second drive-in for the winter months. Journalist Steve Evans wrote that it's been "a bit like waiting for a bus"; there's none for ages and then there's two.
Canberra's original Starlight drive-in sign was lovingly restored to its former glamorous glory after blowing down in a windstorm in 2012.
Writing this story has brought a flood of very fond memories from readers about drive-in days.
The drive-in still seems a bit weird, but for pure novelty value alone, there might be some among the younger generations who would enjoy the experience of a night out, or in rather, at the drive-in.
They will need to be extra vigilant about checking those boots though - there will need to be a limit of one stowaway per car to keep COVID safe.
- In case you are interested in filtering your pandemic coverage down to just twice a day, why not sign up for COVID-19 Informed newsletter?
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