Far North Focus December 2023
Merry Christmas Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
Who’s Who for 2023/2024 Chairman
Keith Lyndsell
keithlyndsell@gmail.com
09 405 5500
Vice Chairman
Tom Deverall
tadmadinparadise@gmail.com
0274735389
Secretary
Naomi Mason
vinomi88@gmail.com
09 408 1376
Treasurer
Robyn Mackay
wmackay116@gmail.com
0211062275
Northern Club Captain
Margaret Deverall
tadmadinparadise@gmail.com
0275442003
Southern Club Captain
Steve Edwards
steveedwards243@gmail.com
09 401 6239
Buildings Officer
Warren Mackay
wmackay116@gmail.com
021 1036 4333
Beaded Wheels Rep
Murray Cormack
m.g.cormack@xtra.co.nz
09 407 7255
Communications Officer
Margaret Ilton
4ed.focus@gmail.com
0221008119
Editor
Margaret Ilton
4ed.focus@gmail.com
09 4068565
Committee: Winston Matthews, Murray Cormack, Robyn Mackay, Naomi Mason, Keith Lyndsell, Tom Deverall, Steve Edwards, Margaret Deverall, Margaret Ilton. The full list of the elected officers is circulated with the minutes of the 2023 Annual General Meeting.
Club Cleaning Roster December
Winston & Glenis
January
C & M Ilton
February
Marg & Marg
March
P O’Dell
April
M & T Deverall
May June
R & W Mackay
July
C & M Ilton
August
D & B Francis
September
N & V Mason
October
Everyone
November
M & T Deverall
Caffeine & Classics 3rd Sunday every month 9.30 to 12 Next date: Sunday 17th December
Taipa Beach Resort Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
During the month and preferably before the main calendar event, please give the clubrooms a thorough check over. This includes cleaning the toilets, hand basins, checking kitchen, table tops, window ledges, sweeping the floors etc. If your cleaning date does not suit you, please swop with someone else. Thanks for supporting the running of the Club.
Window cleaning, washing walls etc. will be done at working bees. Take note of any required maintenance and pass on to: Building Officer - Warren Mackay 021 1036 4333 For any further enquires please contact our Club Captains.
The Far North Branch of the VCC has a policy that pets are not brought to any Club events. We do ask that this policy is respected please.
Calendar of Club Events 2023/2024
June 8th Saturday Monthly meeting 1 pm
December
16th Caffeine & Classics
16th Saturday
29th Molloy Trophy Warren and Robyn MacKay
Monthly meeting @ 10 am
organising
Fun Event
Monthly - 2nd Saturday 1.30 pm
Xmas Potluck Lunch @ Clubrooms approx. 1 pm
Club Meeting @ Aurere Clubrooms
17th Caffeine & Classics
Caffeine & Classics
Monthly - 3rd Sunday
Log hauling at Donnelly’s Crossing
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Club Notices
2024 January 6th Taipa Show and Shine 20th Saturday Picnic 21st Caffeine & Classics February 10th Saturday Northern Captain’s Run Deverall’s organising.
Saturday Monthly Meeting 1 pm 18th Caffeine & Classics March 9th Meeting Saturday 1 pm 17th Caffeine & Classics Southern Captains Run April 13th Saturday Monthly Meeting 1 pm 21st Caffeine & Classics Brian Parker Rally Ron & Beryl organising May 11th Saturday 1 pm AGM with a monthly meeting to follow.
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December Monthly Meeting Please note: This is a change of date and time. Our meeting will take place the same day as our potluck Xmas lunch at the Clubrooms, on the 16th of December. •
Morning tea and meeting at 10 am. • Followed with a fun event • Potluck lunch at 1 pm approx. The club is supplying a ham. Please bring 1 main & 1 dessert dish for our potluck lunch, if manageable. Parts Shed The parts shed will be open to members and the public from 2 pm to 3.30, the day of every monthly meeting. For any ‘needs’ between meetings, please contact Peter Mason. Cleaning Roster Any members willing to join the cleaning roster, please text Margaret at 0221008119. You will be warmly welcomed!
19th Caffeine & Classics
2024 January 20th
Mother’s Day Run Dave & Dorothy Duirs
Saturday Picnic
organising
An email closer to the date will outline the time and place.
Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
Later in January comes our beach picnic, another event which usually gets good support. Wishing you all a happy Christmas and best wishes for 2024 and may you all get vintage gifts! From the Chair…
Keith
We did not have a Branch run in November, as the Northland branch had the Far North Tour in our area. I did not participate, but I hear the event was a success (although there were some comments about the state of the gravel on Fern Flat Road for those who took that route – especially the motorcycle with pillion!). The dinner at Mangonui Cruising Club went down well. At our November meeting it was decided that to avoid trips to Aurere on successive Saturdays, the December meeting would be changed to 16th to coincide with the Christmas lunch and gymkhana. Max (and others) will be pleased to hear that at the last National Management Committee meeting it was announced that Beaded Wheels will now be available in digital form, as well as printed. In the New Year we start with the Hot Rod Club's Show and Shine at the Taipa rugby ground. This usually gets good support from our members since it replaced our Autospectacular. Congratulations to Mike Pooley who has been with the VCC for 35 years. Thanks, Mike for your fantastic input to the Club and for your support for newer members as they joined the branch. Mike will be presented with his 35 yr badge at our gathering on the 16th of December. Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
Remember when this was Christmas time?
Omnium gatherum… Wishing you all the very best your health can be, during this festive season.
Northern Club Captain’s Report Our Christmas potluck dinner is looming. Saturday 16th is the date to remember. There’s an event being organised by Winston. We will begin the day with a monthly meeting at 10 am followed by the ‘event’ and then at about 1 pm, our dinner will be ready. For the potluck meal please bring one main and one dessert, if possible, thanks. No stress, however, as there is sure to be more than enough food. Thanks to Max Allen for billeting a dad and his son who were doing the Northland Club Rally in November. He also took them to their dinner venue and ferried them home again. Max said they’d had quite a grueling ride through the Otangaroa Road and then Fern Flat Road, on their motorbike! For those unable to attend our Christmas event, Tom and I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. And we hope to catch up with you in January, at our club picnic. There will be an email re time and place for this, in mid January. Marg D.
Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not”— Mark Twain
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” Helen Keller
Repco Caffeine & Classics While the weather for the November meet wasn’t as bright as it could have been, it didn’t deter folks from getting there and enjoying time with other enthusiasts.
At the Wheels of Mayhem event last month, a college student, caught the eye and interest of many people with his steam-driven machine, which he has developed and built himself complete with a BBQ, with Dad’s encouragement.
The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
For Sale 1950 MG TD. left hand drive as built for US market. Current rego and wof. Leather interior. Burl dash. 1250cc engine. 73 year old leaks, creaks and endearing characteristics. Non-original colour scheme, pointless distributor, alternator and negative earth conversion. Carbs could use a tickle. $28,000 or nearest offer. Located in mid-north near Kaikohe. Tom Zylla 027 520 6799 tdtom1950@yahoo.com
Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
Pantry Perks… thank you Robyn for sharing this lovely recipe with us.
Ginger Slice Oaty Base 150 grams butter ½ cup sugar
December Saturday 16th 10 am Morning tea & meeting at the Clubrooms. Fun event
¼ cup golden syrup
Potluck Xmas Lunch
1½ cups rolled oats
@ approx. 1 pm
¼ cup SR flour ½ cup coconut 2 tsp ground ginger Ginger Topping 100 grams butter 3 tbs golden syrup 2 cups icing sugar 4 tsp ground ginger 3 tbs chopped crystalised ginger 170˚ fan bake & line a tray, 21x27 cm with baking paper. To make the oaty base heat together butter, sugar, golden syrup until melted. Mix in the oats, flour, coconut, ginger & mix evenly. Press firmly into tray & bake till pale golden – 20 -25 mins. When oaty base is nearly cooked, make the ginger topping by melting together butter & golden syrup until it starts to bubble.
In the Focus for December, we have had photos contributed by many throughout the year. Reports, notices & contributions from Keith, Margaret D, Robyn,Graeme & Margaret & Tom Z. Thank you for your support.
Stir in the icing sugar & ground ginger until evenly mixed then spread on oaty base while still hot.
"Success is not final; failure is not fatal.
When icing is set stud with pieces of crystalised ginger.
It is the courage to continue that counts."
Store in a sealed container for up to a week.
Winston Churchill
Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
thought it would end there, when another bidder entered and the bidders were
Unique: This 100-year-old Silver Ghost Rolls Royce has sold for a world-record price of 5million after a furious bidding war at Bonhams It was originally bought for $1,000 in 1912 (almost $93,000 in today's money) but has now gone under the hammer for $4,705,500, making it the most expensive Rolls-Royce ever sold at auction. Through the roof: The lengthy auction saw two enthusiasts dueling for the pristine car as the bidding went up in increments of 100,000, smashing past the 2 million estimate. The sale took place at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex. Auctioneers had expected it to sell for around 2 million and were astonished when the bidding between two rival collectors topped 4 million. James Knight, from Bonhams Auctioneers, said: There were three bidders, then one of them dropped out at 2.3 million and we Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
dueling. It went up in increments of 50,000, and then 100,000, and then back down to 50,000. It went on and on and was the longest car sale I have ever witnessed. It was pure theatre. Everyone was very respectful but when the price reached a milestone, like 3 million, there was an intake of breath. The bidders were dueling and when the hammer came down there was spontaneous applause. It was fitting because the car is celebrating her centenary.
In great nick: The six-cylinder, 7.3-litre car comes with perfect provenance and is still purring smoothly, doing about 15 miles to the gallon. What it lacks in gadgetry, the Britishmade classic more than compensates for with an extraordinary level of luxury that leaves its modern-day counterparts looking a little unsophisticated. Its gleaming interior fittings are made of silver and ivory, while the door panels are embroidered silk, with brocade tassels attached to silk window shades for privacy.
Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
Traveling in style: The design chosen by its original owner echoed the luxurious ' Pullman ' Railway carriages pioneered by American George Pullman. The passenger footrest hides a full picnic set for four, a China tea service complete with an alcohol-fuelled burner and kettle to heat the water, and a set of 6 decanters- 3 in sterling silver & 3 in leather wrapped glass.
Mark of history: A plaque bearing the vehicle's chassis number of 1907.
Classic designs: One of the car's brake lights. The Rolls- Royce still had its headlights, carriage lights, rear lights and inflatable tires when it went up for sale.
Luxurious: The elegant passenger compartment is complete with 29 beveled glass windows and a stylish steering wheel. The car was commissioned by Rolls Royce connoisseur John M. Stephens, who also bought the first Silver Ghost the luxury car-maker produced in 1906. The body was built by former royal carriage-maker Barker's of Mayfair , which had previously built coaches for King George III and Queen Victoria. The body was built by former royal carriage maker Barker's of Mayfair, which had previously built coaches for King George III and Queen Victoria.
Touch of class: The original owner employed the services of the best coachmaking company, Barker and Co. Ltd, to do the bodywork. Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
The car even had an early speedometer – an important addition given that a 20 mph speed limit was introduced in 1912. Unlike most car enthusiasts of his time, Mr. Stephens, from Croydon, South London, asked the makers not to include a glass division window between the driver and the passengers as he wanted to drive it himself rather than rely on a chauffeur. The car's distinctive cream and green design echoed the luxury time, and it was known as a Double Pullman Limousine. But it was nicknamed the Corgi Silver Ghost in the 1960s after the toy-maker based its Silver Ghost toy car on this model. Mr. Stephens's car is believed to be the only one of its kind to survive with its full interior and bodywork, as many Rolls Royce from the era were converted into ambulances during the First World War.
Photo Share…our 2023 year
Vintage Car Club of New Zealand
Thanks to all Members for making our Club, the special group it is.
Merry Christmas Vintage Car Club of New Zealand