“Dripfeed”
NEWSLETTER OF THE BANKS PENINSULA BRANCH OF THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB OF New Zealand (INC)
VOLUME 45, No 9 OCTOBER 2022.
Michael Williams 10 Selwyn Parade Lyttelton Editor: Ph 328 8043, email mimiandmichael@yahoo.co.nz
Club Officers: Secretary: Ron Hasell 942 1105
Chairman: Craig Keenan 322 1006
Branch Address: 27 Showgate Ave, ChCh 8042 E-mail: bankspeninsula@vcc.org.nz
Noggin & Natter: 2nd Thursday of the Month
• Noggin 7.30 pm at the Papanui RSA. Upham Room enter either from 55 Bellvue Ave or the first entrance on the left on Harewood Road (Papanui / Main North Road)
• Thursday 13th of October
• We look forward to seeing you there. Supper is provided.
From the Editor:
I’ve just returned from the outer reaches of civilisation otherwise known as the The SwapMeet at Cutler Park. Those of you with some taste and refinement will have avoided this giant garage sale of unspeakable rubbish, with the occasional car part to be found amongst the dross. Some of our members, who ought to know better, see it as the social highlight of their year, and spend the entire three days there, camping out in motor homes, caravans and other basic shelters.made of pine branches. Major hangovers generally insulate them from the sights and smells. But it is a good chance to catch up with some gossip, and as always, Mike Crehan, Delage owner and serial pie consumer, didn’t disappoint.
Having spent the equivalent of the national debt of a small African nation on the Delage, Mike clearly still had spare funds burning a hole in his very deep pockets, so went and bought a Jensen - Healey, a model not known for thrifty motoring. Described by one review I’ve read as “One of the shoddiest cars ever built”, this British bitsa featured a Lotus engine, Hillman Hunter transmission, and Vauxhall Viva steering assembly. Impressed so far? Park an early J - H on a slope and the contents of the fuel tank would slip past the carbs and into the sump. Many of the things that should have been kept inside the J-H leaked out, while things that should have been kept outside leaked in. Camshafts seized, water pumps failed, door locks fell into doors, not to mention Ye Olde Traditional English Rust.
But Mike is undaunted. His car was sold new by Archibalds, and has a Lotus engine and gearbox via Steel Bros, and with 122,000k on the clock is possibly the highest mileage J H in existence. Expect to see it at the next Monte Carlo, says Mike. I’ll keep you posted.
Displaying the same reckless regard for reality as Liz Truss, Mike has also bought a Mallock Mk 6 replica. It’s been continually raced since birth, with a number of different motors, some of dubious provenance, and might well be seen at Ruapuna at some stage, if it manages to get off the trailer.
Brad Govan was showing me photos of the boat tail body he’s having built for his ex Clive Dodds Sunbeam. The Nelson boatbuilder is using mahogany and red beech, and is making a beautiful job. The mechanicals are mostly finished, and the car should be ready for Irishman next year.
On another site nearby, John Foster was trying to hawk various obscure car handbooks, “for a friend”, so if you are after one for a Morris Minor, a Ford 8, a Viva Magnum, a Standard Vanguard Mk 111, a VX Passat, a Wolsely 1300, a Sunbeam Rapier, a Skoda S100 etc etc, get in touch with John, The most interesting one was an “operating manual” for a Vaz, a box like Russian car from the Soviet era.
Welcome to new members Neil Kay, with a 1965 Mallock U2 Mk 1V, and Leo Noordanus, as a Targa navigator.
Mention of the Topless Tour in a recent edition prompted Keith Hunter to tell me that he and the late John Mills thought of this splendid event back in 1972, when they were both living in Dunedin. It languished for a few years before being re started by Trevor Timms and Wayne Henderson, and has languished again. Perhaps Keith and Wayne could reboot it?
John Hebron has sent photos of the two Amal carbs and impressive new free flow system he has just fitted to his Lagonda Rapier. Making haste slowly perhaps applies to this restoration.
From the Situations Vacant Column
Beaded Wheels are looking for another person to come on the committee in 2023 to assist with Proof reading and other tasks involved in magazine production. Duties include a meeting each month (except December) with duration of about three hours. In between meetings there is proof reading to be done and sometimes other tasks to do. The monthly meetings are currently held in Christchurch on a Tuesday morning so Ideally the candidates should live close to Christchurch and will be able to attend the meetings. The ideal candidate may have some knowledge of cars, some (very) basic knowledge of Microsoft Word, the ability to receive and send emails and be able to print out proof reading material. If you want to have a go, please phone Kevin Clarkson on 021 02706525 to have a chat and see if this is something you would like to do.
Foreign Correspondent Basil McCoy has sent me more clippings from the Ulster VCC bulletin, concerning the Brit Cyclecar which Gavin Bain tricked Lesley Murrray into buying and taking back to Northern Ireland. The car came to NZ after WW1 and ended up in Dunedin, where after one terrifying drive it was taken apart and stored in a shed for the next forty years. Bob Oakley bought it, re assembled it and drove it on the occasional Veteran run. To quote Bob, “The motor is a V-twin, aircooled, precision engineered unit of 997cc and this is the only good part of it. In all other respects it is a truly dreadful device, the worst of British. It’s lethal in the wet, almost brakeless, but fortunately almost immobile as the friction drive slips and the magneto is drowned. The suspension has no roll resistance and the chassis has the dynamics of a supermarket trolley on a side slope.” Rule Britannia?
Before.....
After (2021 version)
Basil has a fatal weakness for Austin 7s and recently wrote about his attendance at the Ulster Pre War Austin Club. I suppose the pre war bit means Austins. Eighty of the little pests puttered along for a weekend of general jollity and breakdowns. Basil claims there are 62 Austin 7 clubs in the UK, with ten in London and a further 21 A7 clubs around the world, even in Jamaica, Sri Lanka and NZ.
Talk of Austin 7s and the worst of British leads inevitably to the recent elevation of branch member Phil Mauger to the august role of mayor, following in the distinguished footsteps of Garry Moore. What unites these two is Austin 7 ownership, so the inescapable conclusion that must be drawn is that political success at a local body level in Christchurch is closely tied to Austin 7s. Garry’s car hasn’t been seen for a while thankfully, and is the more normal one motor model, whereas the Get Stuff Done Mauger model is the less common twin engine model. GSD Mauger had the Bi Motore at Hadstock this year, and was heard to offer one of the marshalls a substantial rates rebate if a few extra points could be added to his score. So when you see Phil in his trusty digger, bearing down on an innocent cycle lane, give him a list of stuff you want done and stand back........
Obituary
Russell Yates, a well known branch member died recently, after a five year battle with pancreatic cancer. When diagnosed, he was told there was statistically a very small part of a percent of surviving for five years, so Russell decided to become a statistic, and through determination, research and just being Russell, survived for 5 years and 8 days. It was hard to ignore Russell at a motoring event, as you generally heard him before you saw him, and he was never shy about stating his very firm opinions on a wide variety of issues. He was a very talented driver, and competed with great success in various categories of motor sport. At a branch level, he competed in a lhd MGB, that although “more or less standard”, did remarkably well for such an agricultural machine. He was involved in the first Targa event, and with children Dallis and Alise in the MGB,, won or was placed in every subsequent Targa Rally. He was extremely knowledgeable about safety regulations and was a great help to the branch in that area. Russell owned and raced a wide range of vehicles, but his first love was Land Rovers, and at his After Match, as he wanted his funeral to be called, his ashes were in a toolbox on the bonnet of the first Land Rover that he and Brenda restored, sharing centre stage with the six speakers who shared their memories of different aspects of his very full life. The branch extends its sympathy to Brenda, Dallis, Alise and grandson Oscar.
Future Events.
Peninsula Hillclimbs, 16th of October.
Contact Ron for details.
Wigram Revival Meeting, Ruapuna, 29th&30th of October.
Contact Ron for entry forms.
Hawkswood Sprint, 6th of November.
Peninsula Run, 20th of November.
New Years Day Picnic, Little River Domain.
Pomeroy Trophy, 21st of January. Probably, not definite.
National Veteran Rally, 24th – 26th of February 2023.
To be held at Tuakau, Franklin, 56 km south of Auckland. Enquiries: barrybirchall@xtra.co.nz
National Motorcycle Rally, 3rd – 6th of February 2023.
WWW.SPORTY.CO.NZ/NATIONALMOTORCYCLERALLY. or the Rally Coordinator; glenys@apprenticeships.net 021 388649.
The Opening Run.
The fortunate few set off from Belfast for a leisurely meander through Ohoka, Ashley, Amberley, then through the Waipara Gorge and onto Pyramid Valley, which is full of wonderful scenery and perfect roads for fast vintage motoring. Brian Smith was running in his Morris 8 Sports after a major meltdown towards the end of last year, so his motoring was by no means fast, and it is to be hoped that the blue haze from the exhaust pipe after the downhill bits is simply part of the running in process.
After a couple of hours of very pleasant motoring we arrived at “FoxDown” the Scargill valley farm of Andy and Kath Fox. We were drawn to “Foxdown”, not just for Andy’s scintillating company, but to see his impressive car collection and museum of farming and general memorabilia that was started by his grandfather. It’s well known that farmers never throw anything away, and the Fox family decided to structure the collection into a very diverse array of things from the past, much of it connected to the district. Given that the Fox family have been there since 1877, the collection is impressive.
Although there are some wonderful cars in the collection, Andy’s non collection daily driver tastes tend towards Holdens, and he has unfortunately passed this distressing lapse of taste onto two of his three sons. So it was with some joy that I saw eldest son George loading his early Commodore wagon onto a trailer, ready for it’s new home as a chicken coop, garden ornament, woodshed etc.
Andy has wide tastes, with a fondness for Studebakers, and regularly drives his 1939 Studebaker President, a V8 two door model that is in very original unrestored condition, plus a fully restored 1930 Studebaker Dictator. Other interesting vehicles include a 1956 Buick Century convertible, a 1924 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, a 1927 Cadillac V8, a 1939 fully restored 4 door Cord, a 1966 E Type, a 1971 Corvette, a 1967 Mustang, a Model A, a 1913 Cadillac, and probably a few I’ve forgotten, let alone the dates I’ve got wrong. Andy drives all his cars regularly, so they are all very well maintained.
It was good to see Gavin and John Bain, in Gavin’s recently acquired 1934 three and a half litre Derby Bentley Roadster,with Gurney Nutting coachwork It’s done only 42,000 miles and was originally commissioned for the Countess of Warwick. It really is a lovely car to behold with beautiful proportions, and Gavin says it’s so much tighter than his Derby saloon of the same year, which has done about 200,000 miles. Phil Jelfs had his “proper” 1921 Sunbeam out, and Peter Croft was in his 12/50 Ducksback Alvis. To complete the roll call, the Michael Pidgeon Bugatti type 35 was as wonderful as ever, and sounded superb as it roared up the farm road, with the exhaust sound of “rending calico” echoing off the hills. Many thanks to Andy and Kath for their hospitality.
Past Events.
Just to prove that The Banks Peninsula Branch attracts all ages, even children, to its exciting events, can be seen above.
The rumour that the child is a total stranger dragged off the street for a photo opportunity is denied strenuously.
The flaxen haired little fellow is, in fact, Mattis Kaiser, son of Gregor, with whom he is sitting, and he proved to be a very capable navigator, getting father and Triumph 2000 to Foxdown faultlessly
Photography by Michael Pidgeon
