LEGENDS
Peter Elphick P
ETER ELPHICK, LONG-TIME LOGGING PRODUCTION manager with Patchell Industries, and until recently a shareholder in the Rotorua trailer maker, is heading into what promises to be a busy retirement. But though he’s looking forward to the projects he has planned, Peter admits he will also miss the day-to-day contact with people in the transport industry – many of whom have become firm friends. This month’s Southpac Legend is richly deserving of the Legend title, Peter’s ‘can-do’ attitude helping guide many a challenging project through to a successful conclusion. Welding and general fabrication have been the constant themes in Peter’s career, yet he says that wasn’t the path he began after he left school in the mid-1970s. “I actually started an apprenticeship as a coachbuilder with the NZ Railways at the Otahuhu workshops but didn’t enjoy the bookwork and the rules and the formal training. So, I left and went to work with a firm in Tauranga, Polecat Industries, which handled all manner of general engineering – building and repairing trailers, fabricating glasshouses and a lot more.” Not long after, he foreshadowed his future work life with a four-month spell with Patchell’s, before going into business with a partner. That partnership broke up after a time, and he subsequently worked with a contractor, Gary Clark, installing LPG facilities in service stations across the central North Island for Rockgas. He recalls that time fondly: “It was lucrative work and very enjoyable. I was primarily the welder, but I also dug the ditches
60 | Truck & Driver
and installed the tanks and pumps. However, after about two years we’d broken the back of it – this was a time when there was a big shift to LPG, but after we’d finished the installations it became more a matter of routine maintenance, which was then handled by Fuelquip.” In 1986, with the LPG work finished, he returned to Patchell’s. Again, this promised at first sight to be just as brief as the first time, for it was on a short-term contract...but quickly morphed into a permanent position, cemented further in 1994 when he bought a stake in the company. His near 40-year association with Ian Patchell has always been “interesting” says Peter: “It has been a good partnership and I thank him very much. Though Ian has very firm views and expresses them just as firmly, you can always debate an issue with him, and he is always true to his word. “The most important thing about my career is that I worked for the customers in the first instance, not the firm. And if you can keep that in mind, everyone gains in the long run. I’ve been very lucky to have a good rapport with our customers and have really enjoyed working on some cool projects, among them being the trailer designs development and the innovation of the Patchell product. “I’ve been very lucky to meet and work with some of the most outstanding people in the New Zealand transport business. “Among our memorable projects have been the 175-odd wharf trailers for Quality Marshalling, ISO and C3 at Tauranga, and the slipon fifth wheel/log stems bolster subframe for McCarthy Transport
