The Hub

Restoration of the Year Rally Dave Inwood did his usual great job of penning out this run, and started it off perfectly by having us meet at Don Crawford’s business in Belfast (Crawford’s Mouldings) for morning tea. Don had his Model A there with fresh Irishman’s dirt on it, and a Model A pickup part way through construction of a new rear deck. Thanks for your hospitality Don. Around a dozen cars took part in the run, including both cars that would later be presented for judging at the finish at Cutler Park – the Model T Ford Tourer belonging to the Perrin family, and the FB Holden belonging to Heather Harris - more about them later.

The run took us out through Brooklands, Kaiapoi, Tuahiwi and then through the outskirts of Rangiora and towards Cust. We then headed back through Ohoka and Mandeville, with a quick squirt down the northern bypass to blow out the cobwebs properly, before turning off Johns Road in Harewood and heading back to the clubrooms.

The run was probably around 40 miles long, and even I went down some roads I’d never been down before, including a very short section of unsealed track just to make it interesting (and to ensure the two new restorations were appropriately christened).

Everyone seemed to enjoy it – even Vance and Janine in the Model T, who did the whole route with the hood down and surprisingly arrived at Cutler Park no more than about 10 minutes behind everyone else.

At the clubrooms around 20 other cars joined us with people keen to see what turned up for judging. By then it was actually warm enough to sit around outside in front of the Barn for lunch while the cars were judged by Don Bennetts and Mark Drury.

Although disappointing only to have two cars entered for judging, it has to be said that the quality of both was absolutely outstanding. Each of course won their respective class trophy (PWV and Vintage), but it has to be said that they were worthy winners, both having been treated to full ground-up nut-and-bolt restorations that produced 100% authentic cars, with no original detail being overlooked.

The 1958 FB Holden belonged to Heather Harris – the daughter of the late Bud Grosse and sister of Joe – both well known and 24