VCC CLASSIFICATION VETERAN Vehicles constructed prior to 31stDecember1918 VINTAGE Vehicles constructed between 1st January 1919 and 31st December 1931. POST VINTAGE Vehicles constructed between 1st January 1932 and 31st December 1945. POST WAR Vehicles constructed between 1st January 1946 and 31st December 1960 POST 60 Vehicles constructed after 1st January1961 provided that no vehicle is accepted for this class untilJanuary1st of the year that is thirty years after its original year of construction. FACTORY BUILT & HISTORIC RACING VEHICLES: As described in the club By-laws. PERIOD SPECIAL As described in the club By-laws Insurance
KING PIN
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The official Publication of the King Country Branch of the Vintage Car Club of New Zealand Inc
When you insure through Vero the insurance company which supports the Vintage Car Club of New Zealand through the International Rally, you are financial assisting your branch Vero awards discount to the branches on a monthly basis. By ringing Vero on their 0800 658411 and quoting the Branch Number 300138
BRANCH MEETINGS/ VISITS VERO INSURANCE Last SUNDAY of Month Branch Number 30013 at 2 P.M. From: admin@vcc.org.nz [mailto:admin@vcc.org.nz
C/o J. Sinclair 923 Taringamotu Rd. Taumarunui 3994
TRAC Rooms, Bell Road, Taumarunui.
The London Taxi.
September 2022
KING COUNTRY BRANCH
THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB OF NEW ZEALAND. BRANCH OFFICERS 2022 -2023 PHONE NUMBER CHAIRPERSON CAMPBELL WRIGHT 896 6065 VICE- CHAIRPERSON DAVE CADDY 895 9310 SECRETARY JACKI SINCLAIR 027 7791166 TREASURER JULIE GILBERT 896 6942 CLUB CAPTAIN BRIAN GOODWIN 895 4755 KING PIN EDITOR NORMA DOUGHERTY 896 8777 VCCThe CERTIFIER Taranaki Branch Vacant extends an invitation to all LIBRARIAN WAYNE GILBERT 896 6942 CUSTODIANS STEVE MAUNDER 896 6828 ROB WHEELER 895 8633 SOCIAL CONVENERS ALISON STEVENS ? ?896 8379 ROB WHEELER ?? 895 8633
BRANCH POSTAL ADDRESS C/o Secretary Jacki Sinclair C/o J. Sinclair 23 Taringamotu Rd. Taumarunui 3994
CLUBROOMS TRAC Rooms, Bell Road Taumarunui 3920
Coming Events (To share the load of organising our monthly trips/visit etc.Please get in touch with Brian Goodwin Club Captain (895 4755) if you are able to help) Otherwise,you will be allocated a month to organise a trip. June Display at the TRACT OPEN DAY in Bell Road on Saturday the 25th June July Ivan & Alison Stevens Short Run Sunday 31st of July August Sunday 28th Trip & a short meeting. National Day for the Vintage Car Clubs of New Zealand Sunday 21st of August 2022 (Daffodil Rally for Cancer) Not held this year in Taumarunui. September Visit by North Island Club Captain’s Tour Group To Whangamonana etc Dinner at RSA Thursday 22nd September Sunday 25th Trip organised meet at the carpark at 130 p.m. Julie & Wayne, with a meeting to follow. October Journey through Time Rally 29th October November Campbell Wright’s ??? December Christmas Parade No meeting/ or Trip. January (2023) No Meeting(Holidays) February March April May 2023 Annual General Meeting
. Meet at the Carpark opposite the old Post Office at 1.30p.m. Sunday 25th September
We often have car groups staying overnight in town and very few ask us to share a meal and take ime with them. So please, if you can come along to the RSA on Thursday night. The Club Captain’s Tour Group. The Club Captains Tour Group are going to be staying in town at the Motels.They are having a meal at the RSA on Thursday 22 September evening, we have been invited to share a meal etc, with them.We would love it, if your members were able to join us for the meal on Thursday 22 September, I suggest they just order on the night.Dinner is upstairs for those who have paid the big ticket price and several are just eating downstairs, in the old restaurant area. Probably Happy Hour for a few drinks and chat from say 5.30pm. Be good to see a few locals. Cheers, Alastair .
London Taxi Drivers All London taxi drivers whether mushers(owners) or journey men (renters)spend unpaid years on mopeds memorising London’s streetscape to gain the knowledge They must then pass an exam to prove they’re capable of taking passengers anywhere within a statutory 6 mile radius of Charing Cross Station. Which is supposed to include south of the river at night-time.
A Trip to a “Far Corner of our District” ’ Meet at the Carpark opposite the old Post Office at 1.30p.m. Please bring your own afternoon tea /coffee etc,and a chair, for a picnic afternoon tea.(There are no coffee shops, in this part of the countryside.) Where were we going ?????? Sunday 28th August People who went Brian & Cheryl Goodwin, Dave Caddy,Jacki Sinclair & Norma Dougherty, Julie & Wayne Gilbert .We left Taumarunui and headed south passing through Owhango, then at the. base of the Raurimu hill, we turned right onto the Kaitiekie Road and then travelled up the metal road and over the hill. Then through the valley to the Kaitieke School. We noticed the damage done to the pine trees, which had been blown over in a number of places due to the rough weather lately. Also the damage to the road surface by the recent heavy rains, At the school we turned right on to the tarsealed road and stopped at the Horseshoe horse for afternoon tea (no coffee bars in this part of NZ) The Horse shoe horse was built to symbolise the work of the horse (ploughing ,farming carrying in goods and material,transporting children to school etc) in the pioneer years.After our afternoon tea break we had a short meetingin themlate afternoonn sunshine at the non- moveable picnic tables and seats before heading back to Taumarunui and home on the tarseal road. Brian Goodwin a new member of our branch led this trip. A Great trip Brian P.S Did anyone take some good photos of the horse mine were deadful.
THE LTI TX4 “London Taxi” As this book was been written, a sad state of a fares was reached in the long history of the Hackney Carriage or, as billions know it the London Taxi. Upstart Chinese carmaker Geely took majority control of struggling Manganese Bronze the company that makes the LTI TX4. No sooner had they got threir hands on this venerable British icon than they shifted manufacture to Shanghai. A handful of employees would remain in Coventry to assemble cabs from imported parts. Nothing it appears,is sacred in the car business . Then again, perhaps its a measure of the TX4’s unique built –for- purpose character that Geely can see the potential for the taxi in markets, Manganese Bronze has never really cracked. With the recession knobbing cabbies purchasing power, it only managed to shift 1,724 taxis in 209, and a paltry were exported. We the public, may love the up right TX4-as familiar a London symbol as St Paul’s Cathedral. Yet taxi drivers, traditionally the nation’s biggest grumblers, increasingly prefer the comfort, easy maintenance and better build quality of modified Mercedes- Benz Vito minibuses.The TX4 itself is a direct descendant of the Austin FX4, and so has a stout, truck-like separate chassis and a bought-in engine,a 2.5litre VM Motori diesel yoked to a Cherokee automatic trasmission
In the lineage,the biggest change came in 1997,when the TX1 cab updated the vehicle’s styling, suspension (now coil springs instead of the old-fashion cart springs) safety,and comfort and accessibility.All TXs have a 25ft turning circle,to meet strict rules overseen by the Mayor of London so they can cope with the narrow streets.With Chinese ownership and Mercedes rivalry, the comforting sight of the traditional London taxi preferably with its orange light signifying it’s for hire, may not survive unchanged forever. The Austin FX4 & LTI Fairway In November1958 Austin set out to provide taxi drivers with a modern,easy-to –drive taxi: the FX4 It now had fours doors, as the previous, antiquated FX3 came with three plus an open platform next to the driver on which luggage could be carried. Automatic trasnsmission was standard, although a maual gear box returned in 1961 after howls of protest from traditionalist drivers. It more suited the rackety 2.2-litre diesel engine (slammed in 1958 by the Noise Abatement Society,no less).It still adhered to rules, laid down in 1834 that defined Hackney Carriages so there was enough rear headroom to accommodate a top-hatted gent. Sub-contractor Carbodies took over from Austin entirely in 1982 In1989 it was renamed the Fairway and acquired a 2.7litre Nissan diesel engine.It soldiered on until 1997 lodged in time-wrap,with those rearhinged ‘suicide’ passenger doors, but well up to pounding London mean streets.