The views expressed by the correspondents in this Bulletin are not necessarily those of the Editor or the Auckland Veteran & Vintage Car Club Inc. Any articles of interest, comments, letters to the Editor etc are welcome. All contributions are presented to and approved by the club committee prior to printing. Please forward any submissions to the Bulletin Editor avvcceditor@gmail.com.
Coming Events
All events are held at our clubrooms unless otherwise specified.
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
The clubrooms are open on the second and fourth Thursday evenings of the month from 7:30pm until 10:00pm and EVERY Saturday afternoon from 4:30pm until 6:30pm.
Spares Dept & Library are open during the clubrooms opening hours PLUS Thursday mornings from 9:00am ’til noon.
Chairman’s Report
Out of town events have drawn a good number of our members this month. It is pleasing to hear great reports of these rallies.
We welcome Neil Stott to our committee. Neil is a member of our VIC team.
August 25th is V.C.C. National Fund-Raising Day for Cancer. Please support our Branch by bringing your Club Eligible vehicle (car, motorcycle, commercial) for a public display – 9.00am at Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple, 16 Stancombe Rd, Flat Bush. This is an Open Day at the temple which always draws a large crowd. See advertisement elsewhere in the Bulletin and in the Week Ahead.
Glitz and Glamour was in abundance at the recently held Gatsby Social Evening. After a lesson on the Charleston moves, we were soon in the ‘swing of things’. Striped blazers, cravats, black and white patents, boaters and trilbies took to the floor for the men’s fashion show.
Congratulations to Owen Hayward – men ’s winner. Jane said she could not persuade Owen to wear another shirt. Owen’s reply –“I always win something when I wear this.” Right again Owen. Next it was the ladies turn to “strut their stuff”. Feathers, fox furs, fringes and flounces, sequins, pearls and patents – all went to make a great show. Congratulations to Ladies winner – Debbie Ballantyne. The Spot Prize was won by Alan Price.
It was great to see some new members attend. It has been suggested that we hold more Social Evenings where we bring a plate for supper and enjoy music, dance and chat.
Some suggestions are – Country and Western, Rock n Roll, Irish Night, Barn Dance etc. What do you think? Would you Support these events? Let us know please.
A big thank you to Leo Fowler for manning the bar for us. It was very much appreciated Leo. Also, thanks to Lynda Spicer who did an outstanding job as MC encouraging everyone to participate in the activities.
See you out and about and happy restoring. Shaaran.
Club Captain’s Log
It was great to see a mixture of regulars, those we haven’t seen for some time and newer members out on our club run this month.
A short but scenic run around the Seabird coast to finish at Rangipo Station. Leased but still owned by the McCartie Family, the farm has a very old and significant Pa site.
Most of the group took the challenge of a short walk up the hill, to listen to Rob McCartie explain a little of the history, and admire the magnificent views of the Firth of Thames and Coromandel. In it’s heyday, the inhabitants would have received many hours warning of approaching visitors (friendly or otherwise!)
We lunched in the woolshed, (at one time the Kaiaua Post Office) and Rob explained a little more about the area and his family history.
This month we get behind our National Day with a public display at the Fo Guang Buddhist Temple, this promises to be a great day out, it’s objectives are two fold –first, to raise our profile with the public, and promote our club and the vehicles we cater for while “Driving our History”. Secondly to support a national charity, the NZ Cancer Society. The vast majority of us have been impacted by Cancer and the club have chosen to put our support behind the fundraising efforts around Daffodil Day.
To see the year out we have runs to Mangawhai, our Inaugural Hunua Spring Tour, a run and picnic showcasing vehicles 100 years old, and finally a visit to the Glenbrook Christmas Lights.
There are a number of out of town branch events well worth attending as well in the coming months. Entry Forms are always in the week ahead emails as they become available.
If any of you have knowledge of places or people of interest that could be suitable for club visits please let me know.
To close, a reminder that March 2026 will be here before you know it, so I hope you are planning to be at the next Vero International Festival of Historic Motoring in Nelson. Our family have just booked our accommodation, it is recommended you start thinking about this sooner rather than later. You will also see opposite a note about a meeting for members to travel with the Charabanc. This will be a great way to experience the event if you are not taking your own car or bike.
Looking forward to seeing you out supporting the branch.
Tracey
100 year Badges
Did you know you can purchase a bumper badge for your car providing it is 100 years old and has a current VIC?
The badge can be purchased from Head Office and is suitable to chrome or nickel plate or just buff up. There is also room to have your vehicle make model and year stamped into it.
Cost is $50 and you need to apply with the correct form. I will put some forms in the clubrooms, or I can send you a soft copy.
Our November club event is for all vehicles but will be an opportunity to celebrate those vehicles 100 years old (or more).
Tracey
Club Captain’s Log
Charabanc to Nelson 2026
A meeting will be held at our clubrooms on Sunday, September 8th at 2.30pm to ascertain initial interest in taking the Charabanc to the Vero International Festival of Historic Motoring event in Nelson, March 2026.
I plan to have some initial costings, for the shared expenses involved, by this meeting and also options as to how it will get there and back.
ALL members are invited to attend this meeting with a view to joining the team to take it south. Do note that preference does go to the existing maintenance group.
You will find some opinion on the viability of this in the March and April Bulletins, which are available on the club website avvcc.org.nz. A final decision will have to be made very soon as to its viability of being part of the event.
John Stokes
The Mid-week Tourer Runs Future
Mid week runs have been a popular part of our calendar for many years and we would like to see them continue. They currently alternate between a South and Western start and are usually the 3rd Wednesday of the month unless it is a month with a calendar event (March and October).
They have been ably co-ordinated by Norm and Pat Dewhurst and Jack Nazer for a good number of years but these volunteers are “retiring” at the end of the year. This time they really ARE retiring.
For these runs to continue, we need a volunteer/s to be the Mid Week Coordinator/s.
SO, HANDS UP? Who would like to give it a go?
As Club Captain I am happy to give guidance and assistance but as I still work full time I’m not in a position to run these. If you think you might be interested in having a go, give me a call for a chat. If you would like to organise a particular month with a run to somewhere, that could work too. Pick up the phone
Thanks Tracey
Join our display… a truly worthwhile event!
Auckland Veteran & Vintage Car Club Inc. in association with Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple present
Daffodil Day Public Display for the Cancer Society
Sunday 25th August, 2024
Vehicles will be on display at the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple
Assemble 9:00am
Bring your vehicle out for display and while there enjoy the Temple grounds, the Tea House and the Art Gallery. supporting the:
Library Notes
This month we received an interesting book from member Andy Wilson, dealing with the English marque Bristol. Very few books were ever written on the subject, perhaps just half-a-dozen, and our library has one other on this marque.
This book Bristol Cars and Engines was written by Leonard Setright, an English motoring journalist and author, who contributed to Car Magazine for more than 30 years and wrote more than 25 books on cars and automotive engineering. He was known to be fascinated with Bristol cars and wrote this book in 1974, after owning a 401, a 405 and a 404 just after he bought his 409.
The company was a British manufacturer of hand-built luxury cars based in Bristol, and although just recently liquidated, had a complicated history under a variety of owners and corporate structures. It was formed from the car division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company after the Second World War. At the end of the war the Bristol Aeroplane company employed 70,000 and management began planning for the time when the wartime demand for Bristol aircraft and aircraft engines would suddenly end. As a result, the car division was created in 1945, but because of internal differences of opinion, it was split off as an independent company - Bristol Cars Limited. The prototypes of the Model 400, the first car, were built in 1946 and exhibited at the January 1947 Geneva Motor Show.
This book covers the period up to the time the original founder George White was forced to sell his share of the Bristol enterprise due to ill health. It clearly reveals Setright’s bias and strong opinions and is worth reading as it provides an insight into a period when more owners worked on their cars and bought them for a love of what they were, what they drove like rather than what they were worth.
The Library Team
Veteran Section Notes
Attendance was well down at the July section meeting, as some regulars were at the Wellsford Winter Woolies event and others had different commitments, we got apologies from the Mercers, David Oliver and Phil Henley. Phil was reassembling the engine on his 1913 Mitchell, so we will be looking forward to hearing about its completion.
As some of you will be aware, Barry Robert's 1909 Rover has been sold to the Wade family of Whitford, who disposed of the car in the early sixties.
We understand that Steve Keys has bought the 1908 twin cylinder Maxwell from the Evans estate, a vehicle that his late father Les owned for a number of years.
Denis Lowe displayed a very rare Peak Petrol Garage petrol intake cover. For those unfamiliar with the brand, Peak was marketed in Taranaki for some years and it was made from Taranaki crude oil. The intake cover had Mount Egmont cast into it.
Grant Stott brought along a Duplex double spare tyre mounting, an aftermarket device quite suitable for beaded edge tyres. The club spares has one for sale if you are interested, use Google for more general information about these.
That’s it for this month… John Stokes
Vintage Section Notes
It is noted that Norm & Pat Dewhurst and Jack Nazer are retiring from their roles as coordinators of the mid-week runs at the end of the year. We owe them a huge vote of thanks for providing these runs for our branch, today it has become one of the most popular events in the monthly calendar. Well done. These are very big boots to fill. Much of the job can be shared, to make a lighter load. What is needed are suggestions for destinations, plotters of routes and most importantly, someone with an overview to avoid clashes and co-ordinate with committee. If you can help in any way please get in touch with our Club Captain, Tracey Winterbottom or myself.
On with our meeting! Norm and Pat’s Austin 7 has now gone to grandson Ryan Winterbottom, and Ryan and his dad will be working on it, to make a reliable steed for Ryan. Stephen and Tracey are having a bad run at the moment with the Sunbeam and both Talbots off the road. At least the Austin 7 should be less challenging.
Richard Green was having the Rolls motor fully reconditioned in the South Island. Unfortunately, the guy stripped the motor down and then told Richard he couldn’t do the job, so Richard had to drive down and pick up 8 boxes of bits – not all of which even came from his motor. A nightmare puzzle with extra decoy bits thrown in! Fortunately, RR cast numbers onto everything and Richard has a most comprehensive Rolls Royce manual with all the numbers and photos as well. The bearings are now being re-metaled and line bored in Glenbrook and I expect Richard will be involved in the re assembly. For those who haven’t been following the story, this has all come about because the car went underwater in the floods.
Chris Wood is keeping his immaculate Austin 20 – sanity prevails. He told us of the very successful history of a car the same model as his being raced at Brookland in the early 1920s lapping at just under 100 mph. The body somewhat lightened I guess, but the motor not modified.
John Morrison has finished his new shed and is now moving some cars in. He has an extensive matchbox toy collection and is also installing a slot car track. He has promised to invite us all along when everything is set up.
Peter Wood is restoring a 1930 Buick Marquette. (The only side-valve Buick ever made.) All the timberwork is finished and the panels are on and he is now working on the hubcaps. The originals were thin pressed aluminium and have not stood the test of time, so Peter has had 6 new ones cast in a high-grade aluminium and is now turning and polishing them. A very time consuming and fiddly job, but the finished product is exquisite.
Barry Robert’s very rare 1909 Rover 12hp has found a new home. It has gone back to the farm where the remains were found and the motor was driving the milking plant. Barry Birchall, John Stokes and I delivered the car and John gave us an account of it being started for the first time at it’s new home.
Penny & Murray
Motorcycle Section Notes
By the time Lynda and Martin arrived at the clubrooms our guest speaker, Peter “Honda” Cooper, had two scooters inside - a Yamaha mini bike and a Honda Squash scooter.
Due to the inclement weather we only had 4 bikes parked out the back, however, there were still 46 people in attendance.
Martin told a joke to kick off the meeting then asked for any new members or visitors, we had speaker Peter Cooper’s partner Rae Waterhouse and Bill Hunt visiting. Bill owns a number of Triumphs, both modern and classic.
REPORTS
Martin told us about our last club night speaker, a presentation on Dry Ice Detailing for vehicles. Martin then reminded us that at our recent branch AGM these motorcycle members were voted onto the committee for the next 12 months, Martin & Lynda Spicer, Ian Hubbard, Jodi Tomlin, Jeremy Lambert and Rory King. Martin then briefly told us about the July bike run to member Trevor Hackett’s KZ Marine company, see a full report later in the Bulletin.
Martin organised a visit to member Chris North’s property to view his motorcycle and spare parts collection that will be coming up for auction in August at Chris’ farm, look out for more info soon.
Martin then told us about his recent visit to Avspecs at Ardmore, to see how the progress on number five Mosquito is going. When chatting to our friend Derek, he told Martin that one of the previous Mosquito buyers in America has asked them if they would think about restoring a plane from his collection, which turns out to be a WW2 Flying Fortress (wow!). I guess if they decide to go ahead they will need a much larger hanger.
COMING UP
Saturday 3rd August - a motorcycle run to visit High Performance Coatings, they are located at Unit B, 62 Mahia Road, Manurewa. Please get there at 1.pm. If possible we might also have a visit to see Jim Lawson and his recently restored ‘better than new’ Vincent Comet.
August motorcycle meeting – speaker will be Andy Gourlay.
GENERAL BUSINESS
Peter Alderdice updated us on the planning for next year’s National Motorcycle Rally, he now has 27 members in our group that are going. Peter said he has now booked the last bit of accommodation for our after rally tour home via the East Cape.
Motorcycle Section Notes continued
GUEST SPEAKER
Now, just to clear up, why the name - Peter “Honda” Cooper? In our section, we have long time member Peter Cooper, who used to ride his beloved Scott Squirrel meaning he was known as Peter “Scott” Cooper. When our speaker - Peter Cooperjoined our branch he rode a Jawa and became Peter “Jawa” Cooper. A few years back Peter’s interest in small bikes took hold and he became Peter “Honda” Cooper. The irony is that Peter “Honda” Cooper’s real middle name is Scott! But the names have and will continue to work well for us.
Peter told us a little bit about his life story. His first bike was a 1942 Harley WL that was “choppered”. He also loved big American cars as well as his friends E type Jag. He took this car up to 160 mph on the back straight at Riverside International Raceway. The fastest he’d driven on the road was a mere 135 mph in his friends highly modified 1967 Corvette, it was only in 3rd gear when he had to back off as he had caught up with traffic on the Southbound 405 Freeway.
He did a lot of street racing, at right a photo of his friends Corvette taken on Mulholland Drive where Peter got busted for street racing in 1971.
Peter had a go at circuit racing on a Ducati at the Ontario Speedway, he came 3rd from last, and in Peter’ s words scared the crap out of himself.
He still loves circuit and Drag racing.
Peter emigrated here in 1981. His love of motor sport led him to be involved with the Classic Motorcycle Racing Register, as a marshal and race starter. He is also involved with the Drags at Meremere as a commentator.
Peter’s early bikes, here in NZ, were CZs and Jawas and later he was attracted to Vespas, smaller scooters and very small motorcycles. His collection down in Waihi has now stopped at 36 as he doesn't have any room for more. Peter had brought along two of his collection to show us, one was a 1982 50cc Honda Squash and the other was a 1980 Yamaha MJ50 Towny that is shaft drive, both are regularly used in rallies.
Peter told us about some of the many charitable runs that he and partner Rae have taken part in, here in New Zealand, his longest ride on a 50cc was 910 kms.
Motorcycle Section Notes
continued
He then told us about the ‘Cross Egypt Challenge’ that took 8 days and ran over 2400 kms. Competitors came from around the world, they all rode 150cc Taiwanese scooters. Starting in Alexandria, this ride then visited the Black and White Deserts, Luxor and the Red Sea Coast, before finishing in Cairo.
Peter has also been a motoring writer for ’Classic Car’ magazine.
Lastly, Peter talked about being involved with the ‘Distinguished Gentleman's Ride’ since its beginnings.
Martin thanked Peter & Rae for coming all the way from Waihi to talk to us.
Martin and Jack Clark.
July Club Night Review
A small group turned out for our July club night to hear Rory Taylor talk to us about Car Track. Car Track is a global company specialising in Data tracking for Commercial Fleet Management.
They have recently moved into domestic car tracking under the brand Car Watch. Car theft in NZ is on a very steep increase, no longer just the petty opportunist thief but highly organised crime rings are working to order. For a very reasonable cost (circa $250) Car Watch will install 2 tracking units in your car, one connects to the battery and the second is a battery back up.
They are concealed and not at all visible or obvious to potential car thieves. There is then a small ongoing monthly charge for data of $15.
As soon as your car is stolen, it is very simple to track the location, alert authorities and best of all recover the car before it can be stripped down.
The company is in the last details of an agreement with both an insurance company and the FOMC, it is envisaged that a portion of the monthly data fee will be passed onto the Federation of Motoring Clubs providing you are a member of a club belonging to the FOMC. So a win win.
A very informative talk and Rory enjoyed sitting with us over supper to hear more about our club. Details on the units and Rory’s contact details are available on the club noticeboard.
Tracey
August Club Night (Rescheduled July Speaker)
Our Speaker will be: LARRY PAUL on the Daring Project.
After almost 160-years, an ill-fated unique vessel has returned to its final resting place of Mangawhai, welcomed by a lone piper in an emotional dawn ceremony.
The Daring is a 17m schooner built from Kauri by a Nova Scotian boat builder in Mangawhai in 1863. She was used to transport goods along the coast before there were roads or rail. But, eight months later, she stranded at Waikato Heads and was reported a wreck, over the years she was covered by sand, until being rediscovered.
See you there - Thursday, August 22nd - 7:30pm
What a day! dismal, rain, foggy, everything to turn people off. But not so, we had a smaller but enthusiastic group assemble at Westgate for a short run. As it was short, and to allow members to miss the morning rush hour it was a later start that did catch one or two.
There were several lookout points high up in the Waitakeres but nobody stopped to view the all white vistas. Carrying on through the thick fog we entered a No Exit narrow road which wound it’s way through dense bush, then into an even narrower private road which eventually finished in a 20 acre lifestyle block of pasture and native trees owned by the son of John Courtney, our host. John has built a barn there to house his collection of cars, motorcycles, and automobilia. In an upstairs loft his wife has her collection of Victorian ware, plus heaps of other non automotive stuff.
Their son Brad is slowly putting together an old-time street to replicate a pioneering settlement, and the farm has an assortment of animals including Scottish Highland cattle. These were hiding in the mist, very appropriate considering their origin.
Amongst our group were a number of ladies including Kay Hosking, Nicola Birchall, Pat Dewhurst, Penny Firth, Kathy Cooke, Eleanor Kerr and Eileen Roberts. During lunch I thought they exemplified that line from an old vaudeville song, “Never mind the weather, just as long as we’re together” (minus the inebriation that featured in the song.)
There were no newcomers this time and the weather on the day meant more moderns than usual. Another great day.
Thankyou, Jack, John, and Brad.
The current “Midweek Team” are retiring at the end of this year. That doesn’t mean the midweek runs are finishing, they can continue as long as they are wanted, and there is a wealth of ideas and volunteers in the group to carry on. Already this year Murray Firth and Colin Shoebridge have put their hands up to “do” a run, and there are many others who have done so in the past. Thankyou all.
What is really needed is someone to be a “ co-ordinator”, or leader, to tie all the individual offers together in a cohesive programme. Having said that, there doesn’t have to be a midweek run every month. It’s dependent on how many members volunteer and the overall Club programme.
Have a think about it and have a talk with us if you think you can take on this task. Mid
Mid-week Tourers
Coming up:
Wednesday 21st August - Starting from the BP Service Centre, Southern Motorway, Drury. 10-00 am for a 10-30 am departure. Colin Shoebridge is taking us to a collection. More details in the Week Ahead. Note: As it is Daffodil Day this month there will be a bucket out so remember some cash.
Wednesday 18th September - Starts from The Warehouse carpark, Old Westgate.
October:
NO Mid-week run, we ask you to support the revamped Hunua Spring Tour.
Wednesday 20th November - Starts from The Warehouse carpark, Old Westgate. 10-00 am for a 10-30 am departure. Murray and Penny Firth are organising this, finishing at a secret garden property. More details to come.
July Motorcycle Run Review
After giving the Triumph a quick polish it was time to head up to the Jolly Farmer in Drury for the beginning of our July run. Waiting there was Don Green on his Norton Commando, Michael Watts with his very nice maroon Ariel SQ4, Graham Waters with his Norton Commando and Terry & Sid Doherty, along with a friend from Kawakawa Bay, who were in a car. We left at 10.30am and headed out into the country, winding our way through to Papakura, up the back roads to Redoubt Rd, then down through Flat Bush, over to Pakuranga, across the Tamaki River into Mt Wellington where we finished our run at KZ Marine Group, owned by member Trevor Hackett and his sons. Waiting there for us were a number of our members that had come from all over Auckland.
Trevor and son Rick welcomed us to the factory. We were then given a tour of the machine shop by works manager Greg East, he is very passionate about his work at KZ Marine. Greg showed us their computerised machinery that is state of the art, we watched some of the magic that these machines produce.
Greg showed us a block of titanium that is held in place in a vice inside the machinery by a depth of 3mm. These machines can be loaded up at going home time with 8 items of the same or 8 different parts, and then left to work through the night. For me and any other engineers there watching, it left us thinking of our early days of working on lathes and milling machines, this is light years away, with the finish and speed the work is done.
As their website says: “KZ Marine Group is a proudly New Zealand based company with a global focus. We have built ourselves a reputation as an industry leader with specialist rigging systems, in-boom furling mainsail designs, innovative free flying furlers and custom hardware. Commissioned by mast manufacturers, yacht riggers, sail makers, and elite race teams alike, we have a reputation for delivering on expectation, with honesty, and integrity. Focused on delivering high strength low weight innovations, we have a true commitment to service. We build up to a standard not down to a price, always under selling and over delivering. We take pride in delivering systems that complement the sailing style and setup of every individual boat.”
Trevor told us that his company uses more titanium in NZ than anyone else. We spent over an hour in the machine shop, we thanked Greg for explaining the workings of the factory to us. Trevor then took us into the other factory where all the carbon fibre work is done. He told us the history about carbon fibre, and showed us the moulds they use for making the many items they sell to the world. Some of these are ladders that are unrolled and hung down the sides of super yachts, and large balloon fenders that are used on mega super yachts to prevent damage when the 10 ton tenders come along side.
Trevor showed us a bowl light mast that they make for super yachts, they’ re very large, around 800mm diameter and 6 metres long, the outside is stainless steel, and then on the inside are carbon fibre tubes that telescope out with all the necessary lights when the lights are needed at night time. KZ Marine are the only people making this item. But the item that they are most known for are the sail furlers, which are in use all over the world. All Americas Cup teams use them, plus mega sailing yachts. Trevor spent over an hour showing us around, we then retired to the lunchroom for tea/coffee and biscuits.
While we were there Trevor told us that it was Vincent club member, Jim Lawson's 94th birthday, so we all sang happy birthday to him.
For those that don't know, Jim is a Vincent man and Tiger moth flyer since the early 1950’s, Jim was the person that was commissioned by Auckland Airport to go to the UK and strip down Jean Batten’s Percival Gull airplane, box it up and put it into a cargo plane and be brought back here. Then Jim reassembled it and test flew it around Auckland, he then organised the fitting of it, up into ceiling of the air-side retail shop area at the airport.
We all thanked Trevor for showing us his great Kiwi business.
Martin Spicer
NZ Welder Repair Services Ltd.
Unit 4/5 Portage Road, New Lynn, Auckland
For personal service call Rod Rugg (Member)
Stick, MIG, TIG and Plasma cutters. All welding machine types and consumables for sale.
“Over 30 years experience”
Repairs to machines, new sales and used. Hire options available. For home or work. Large or small. We deal with only good machines not rubbish.
Phone: 09 8261425, e-mail: rod.rugg@nzwrs.com
Postal address: P.O. Box 19272, Avondale, Auckland 1746
Keep up with the plans here:
March 15 to 21, 2026
What’s in the News?
The VIFHM Team have organised accommodation deals and have sent a newsletter to all registered members detailing the properties.
Register for the newsletter and get the info in your Inbox as it comes to hand. You can follow the Website
Link above to register and you can keep up with the latest info on their Facebook Page.
Join the Charabanc Crew in time for Nelson 2026
We want to build on our team, impart knowledge and keep Angelique out in the public view.
If you are interested please contact a Committee Member or John Stokes - Email: jcstokes96a@xtra.co.nz
Vehicle Identity Cards (VIC)
Did you know that you must have one of these for your vehicle to enter any National Rally? The VIC is the club’s formal system for identifying and verifying the authenticity of your vehicle and officially it’s vehicle class.
There is paperwork to be filled out and photos to be provided and then one of our VIC signatories will check things over before sending to Head Office. The process is run by volunteers, and is a serious one (our system is recognised by LTSA).
Please allow 3 months from lodging the forms to receiving your card.
