The Radiator Cap
March 2020 Newsletter 1
COMMITTEE MEMBERS 2020 Chairman
Anne Richardson
09 425 6298 / 021 277 9010
ricanne@gmail.com
Secretary
Peter Yarham
09 422 9685
pyarham@xtra.co.nz
Treasurer
Dave Oliver
027 443 8046
ollie.d@gmail.com
Club Captain
Paul Hodder
09 422 4067 / 027 473 4350
4hodders@gmail.com
CC’s Team
Neil Cremer
09 425 4955
neilm @xtra.co.nz
CC’s Team
Frances Ross
09 425 8737
Rep to ExCo
Anne Richardson
09 425 6298 / 021 277 9010
ricanne@gmail.com
Hospitality Convenors
Anne & Dennis McDonald
A: 021 214 2267 D: 021 265 2466
annedenmac@gmail.com
Social Convenor Neil & Lucy Cremer
09 425 4955
neilm @xtra.co.nz
Property Supervisors
09 425 7622 09 425 6139
yorksandlancs@gmail.com doug.hamil@xtra.co.nz
Health & Safety Brian Payne
09 425 9262
banddpayne@xtra.co.nz
Vehicle ID
09 425 9928
gloria-james-lawrie@xtra.co.nz
Motorcycle Rep Dave Oliver
027 443 8046
ollie.d@gmail.com
Librarian
09 425 8737
George Lloyd Doug Hamilton
James Lawrie
Frances Ross
Editor/Reporter Chris Harvey
09 422 2662 / 022 365 0171
chris.harvey@westnet.com.au
Badges
Dave Oliver
027 443 8046
ollie.d@gmail.com
Add. Member
Leon Salt
09 423 8122 / 027 423 8122
brendda@xtra.co.nz
Add. Member
Brendda Salt
09 423 8122
brendda@xtra.co.nz
Branch address PO Box 547, Warkworth 0941 Bank a/c
wellsfordwarkworth@vcc.org.nz
BNZ 02-0480-0047413-000
Visit our website at
VERO agency No. 0300159
www.vcc-wellswark.org.nz
VERO free phone 0800 658 411
The deadline for contribu ons to the Newsle er is the 23rd of the month. The views expressed in this newsle er are not necessarily the views of the Branch. 2
Sat 29 Feb
07:00 Our Swap Meet in the morning and then go to …..
Sat 29 Feb
Waitemata Branch’s Sealed Hill Climb at Pakiri: see CC’s report
Wed 4 Mar
12:00 Midweek picnic at Sullivan’s Bay
Thu 12 Mar
17:30 Club Night BYO BBQ and salad to share
Sat 14 Mar
08:30 Are We There Yet? Rally starts from The Warehouse parking lot
Wed 18 Mar
10:00 Cleaning & Coffee
Thu 19 Mar
19:00 Club Commi ee
Sat 21 Mar
08:30 Warkworth A & P Show
Sat 28 Mar
VCC Na onal Execu ve mee ng in Wellington
Wed 1 Apr
12:00 Midweek picnic at Mar n’s Bay
Thu 9 Apr
17.30 Club Night
Fri 10 Apr
North Island Easter Rally at Horowhenua
Wed 15 Apr
10:00 Cleaning & Coffee
Thu 16 Apr
19:00 Club Commi ee
24-26 Apr
Highland Fling Rally at Taihape held by BOP Branch
Sun 26 Apr
Swap Meets at Whangarei and Hamilton
Sat 9 May
Waitemata’s Open Day at Kaipara Flats airfield: display your vehicle Contact J C Brian Mille 09 425 5887 | 021 158 7065
Wednesday picnics on 4 Mar and 1 Apr. Swap Meets on 29 Feb and 26 Apr Cleaning & Coffee on Wed 18 Mar and 15 Apr
3
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
A
nne is away this month, touring with visi ng family members. It’s been great weather for touring, especially if you can put the top down.
Brendda and I took a run down to Thames for their ‘Wings and Wheels’ show on Anniversary Weekend. It was an entertaining event. A good number of cars on display and several aerial displays by various aircra accompanied by various musical performances, mainly country and rock ‘n roll, on stage. The car of the show was Kevin Morris’ 1934 Chrysler Airflow – quite a stunner.
We followed this with a three-day tour around the Coromandel Peninsula and a visit to Mopar guru Trevor Gordon at Ka ka which was helpful and informa ve. We also stopped in on Kevin Morris in Waihi to learn that he had sadly run a bearing in the Chrysler on his way home from Thames. A er dropping in at Aegis Oil at the old Turua dairy factory for 20 litres of oil, it was home again, having spread around a few Swap Meet posters on the journey. The Plymouth performed well despite the high temperatures and the long climbs up the various hills around the Coromandel. A couple of weeks ago, we joined Doug and Anne Hamilton in their 1904 Cadillac on the Auckland Veteran Run which this year was based around Waiuku. It was an enjoyable day on great roads with scenery that was new to some of us. See Anne’s report and pictures elsewhere in this newsle er. 4
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT—CONT. The Swap Meet this coming weekend is our major fund-raiser of the year. I’ve received an unprecedented number of phone enquiries this year so hopefully we’ll have a good crowd. We can expect some stall holders to be set up and ready to go well before the official start me so if you are rostered for an early slot please try to arrive in plenty of me. The final version of the Swap Meet roster is included in this newsle er. The format will be the same as for other years with stalls being set up on the northern side of the road so as to make it easier for any Spark staff who may need to access the Satellite Sta on and for the Graham family who may need to come and go. We are grateful to Kelly Graham for con nuing to allow us to use his paddocks for public parking and the car display, and we need to be aware of the heightened fire danger at present – dry grass and hot exhausts as well as those having a smoke. We have fire ex nguishers in the clubroom but they are some distance from the public parking area. All members who are on the roster or who bring a vehicle for display will have free entry. All others are expected to pay the $5 entry or the $10 stallholder fee because this is, a er all, an event to raise funds for our club. Doug and Anne Hamilton have the Are We There Yet? rally in hand, ready for us all on Saturday 14 March. This event has not always had the support it deserves from members. It’s always a good day out and folk can opt to be compe ve or just to tour. Paul will have more on this in his report. If anyone else is planning on heading to Levin at Easter for the Na onal North Island Rally, Tracey and Stephen Winterbo om of the Auckland Branch are planning a backroads tour. At this stage they will be leaving Auckland on Wednesday 8 April and arriving in Levin on Good Friday. Let me know if you are interested in joining them and I’ll provide their contact details. Happy motoring
Leon
5
CLUB CAPTAIN’S REPORT
W
ell…here we are in late February already, and what a hot summer it has turned out to be! Anyone driving on one of our many wonderful gravel roads recently could a est to just how dusty they have been. So, for those a ending the Leigh School Summer Fes val on the 8th of Feb the sight of SNOW on the ground was quite a surprise! They had brought in a couple of truckloads of snow to make a ramp for the kids to slide down on. Being as hot as it was that day, it is no surprise that this was the most popular ac vity! Wednesday 5 February was this month’s mid week picnic. This me it was at the awesome loca on of Brick Bay with 14 members a ending. As to upcoming events: Saturday 29 February is our annual Swap Meet. I am looking forward to seeing what hidden treasures will turn up this year. This starts at 7:00am at the clubroom, so if you are on the roster please check to make sure when you are scheduled and turn up in good me to ensure that things run as smoothly as possible. Also on 29 February, the Waitemata VCC is having their Hill Climb event. It is being held at 1085 Pakiri Rd. Although it is an all-day event, it sounds like the bulk of it will be in the a ernoon, finishing at about 4:00pm. I have been told that members of our club are most welcome to a end. If you are interested in par cipa ng, call Rob Chapman, who is organising the event, on 021-038-3281. Wednesday 4 March is the mid-week picnic, at midday. It will be at Sullivan’s Bay, which is down the end of Mahurangi West Rd. Saturday 14 March we have the annual Are We There Yet? Rally. This year it will be star ng from the carpark in front of The Warehouse at Snell’s Beach. Please gather at 8:30am for briefing and instruc ons before ‘cars away’ at 9:00am. On Saturday 21 March our club has been invited to display our cars at the Warkworth A&P Show. This is always a great, emo onal event for the club. So, polish up those awesome cars and bring them along to the A&P Showgrounds from 8:30am onwards. Badges or membership cards will give you free entry into the grounds. Un l next me…keep up with the sunscreen and put a bit more effort into the rain dances, please. Cheers, Paul
6
J
VETERAN CAR RALLY 8 FEB 2020
ohn Stokes plo ed both the long and the short courses of the rally which was run by the Auckland Veteran & Vintage Car Club. The rally covered a new district for us as it started and finished in Waiuku. The run was well up to the excellent standard we have come to expect from John and the 30 mile short course we did was a delight. Brendda and Leon joined us in our 1904 Cadillac and we trailered down to the start point at the Waiuku Cosmopolitan Club.
There were some 20 cars on the two runs, with a number of familiar faces. It took a lot of huffing and puffing to get the Cadillac going but she finally coughed into life a er a push start. A er that hiccup though, she didn't miss a beat and even with the four of us on board we managed to cruise over the finish line without further trouble. The roads were all tar sealed with enough of a shoulder in most places to allow modern vehicles to pass. Lots of support round the rural area by locals waving and cheering. Unfortunately the beau ful weather turned a bit black and gloomy and we even had a light shower which thankfully didn't last long as none of us had taken raincoats. The countryside was very brown and the eleva on at mes gave us great views over the Waiuku/Glenbrook area. There is an Agriculture Museum at the start/finish point with a great collec on of farm machinery, which brought back a lot of memories for many of us. Lunch was at the Club and everyone enjoyed the fish, chips and salad followed by chocolate meringues and brownies. Prize winners were decided by ‘whoever's turn it happened to be on the day.’ Anne Hamilton
7
CLUB CAR OF THE MONTH
T
JIM & MARILYN’S 1973 TRIUMPH TR6
o say that a work colleague ‘talked me into restoring a classic car’ probably overlooks the fact that I had held a suppressed desire to tackle a restora on of ‘something’ for a good number of years. When my colleague went on to men on that among many successful restora ons he had tackled in his life (including a Sunbeam Tiger and a Jensen Interceptor) there had been a Triumph TR6, I didn’t spend too much longer thinking about what I should restore. In fact I had come very close to purchasing a TR6 in 1975 when I emigrated to NZ from the UK. However, as a mature student having just finished a degree, I wasn’t exactly flush with cash at the me and so passed on the opportunity. Some 40 years later, and with re rement beckoning, it seemed the natural achievement of a hitherto unfulfilled dream that I should finally get my TR6.
As I couldn’t recall seeing many TRs ever offered for sale in NZ, and assuming they were like hen’s teeth, I turned my gaze offshore for a likely project car. I had heard from a reliable source that good cars were to be had from the southern states of the USA where dry, warm condi ons were conducive to the wellbeing of a body design normally reduced to the status of lace curtains by the vagaries of northern hemisphere winters and the dreaded salted roads. In what seemed a posi ve act of fate, a promising car turned up almost immediately on my search of the Internet. A ‘ red’ but complete 1973 TR6 was being offered for sale by a Texan who had purchased it as a restora on project but had then received instruc ons from his wife that, if he didn’t finish off the other two projects parked in the garage, he was likely to find himself staring at a decree nisi. Thus it was in 2010, a er receiving a good number of photographs and reassurances on the general status of the car, that I commi ed myself to a journey which would see not only my own marriage of 40 + years taken to the limits but also a carefully and prudently established re rement fund reduced to small change, and me to playing a Kazoo at the local shopping mall to make ends meet. 8
JIM & MARILYN’S 1973 TRIUMPH TR6—CONT. The car as described was complete, with a few extras thrown in for good measure, however some aspects of the ‘ red’ part had been lost in transla on and I’ve never really mastered Texan as a second language. For example: ‘New floor on driver’s side’ I had taken to mean: ‘Old floor removed, and new floor panel suitably installed’. As it turned out I was confronted with a flat mild steel sheet tack welded over the original floor (complete with rust holes) crea ng a sandwich containing a builder’s bog filling. ‘Sound chassis’ had failed to men on a poorly repaired cross member, access to which had been via a hole cut in the floor and subsequently patched with duct tape and an aluminium sheet which was one grade up from cooking foil in terms of thickness. When you add to this the replacement of both the gear box (heavily pi ed teeth) and the engine (block and head both unusable) and a whole ra of other smaller but expensive and essen al parts, the need for my daily Kazoo concerts becomes increasingly apparent.
Furthermore, I’ve certainly ques oned the value of some parts of the importa on process. For example, the MAF steam cleaning (which had to be done twice) was presumably intended to prevent unwanted flora and fauna from entering the country. This all seemed a bit pointless when I removed the front wings during disassembly and discovered half the Utah desert stuck up behind the baffle plates. Anyway, eight years later and a er a full ‘body off’ restora on, an expensive paint job and the vagaries of going through the registra on process, my TR6 (by then affec onately named ‘Esmeralda’) was street legal. Since then I have con nued to nker and discover some of her idiosyncrasies, as only owners of classic cars can appreciate. Currently she is running smoothly and we are enjoying the summer weather with the top down and the wind blowing through my diminishing hair. Jim Flewi 9
R
TRIUMPH TALES (EDITOR)
iding in Jim’s pris ne green car was a rare pleasure and the first me in 33 years that I had been in such close contact with a TR6. When I lived in New York I bought a one-year old 1971 LHD US-spec model from a friend and I ran it for 15 years before reluctantly selling it when I moved to NZ in 1987. If only I had known that it was in fact possible to bring a LHD car into NZ... I took the car back to South Africa in 1973 and used it as my daily drive for many years. Johannesburg has the ideal climate for an open car and it went for months at a me with the top down. As I was a keen windsurfer I had a metal frame made to carry the equipment and the car could s ll crack 100 mph despite all that windage. (The engine photo is of Jim’s car: both cars had twin Strombergs) My moment of glory (?) came in the late seven es while en route to a squash match a er a too-good Sunday lunch. The sports club was on the other side of town so I took the ring road around the north of Johannesburg. A white Corolla SR5 ahead of me was traveling faster than the other traffic— but not fast enough—so I overtook it at over 100 mph. It turned out to be an unmarked police car which was in hot pursuit of a Honda motorbike, so the cops nabbed me and radioed on ahead to catch the Honda as well. They escorted us to the cop shop and wanted to lock us up right away. I was fortunate to have a legal friend who got us released but we had to appear in court at 08:00 the next day. The Beak gave each of us a monster fine which had to be paid immediately in cash, and it hurt for months.
10
MYSTERY MOTORS
W S
hat car is this? The answer will appear in next month’s newsle er.
omething trivial to ponder.
Have you seen the ‘Water Truck’ used on the motorway extension? I have seen it down at the Puhoi end and also on Woodcocks Road. The thing is, though, it’s not just a simple water cart anymore but it has become a Mobile Dust Suppression Unit. I wonder, does the Driver now need to have a special cket and become a Mobile Dust Suppression Unit Operator?
Just sayin’, James Lawrie
11
SWAP MEET ROSTER - 29 FEBRUARY 2020 Gate: 6.00 – 7.00
Dennis McDonald
Nigel Hawkes
Doug Hamilton
7.00 – 8.00
Dennis McDonald
Nigel Hawkes
Brian Mason
8.00 – 9.00
Dennis McDonald
Karl Stachel
Brian Mason
9.00 – 10.00
Dennis McDonald
Karl Stachel
Steve Paddison
10.00 – 11.00
Dennis McDonald
Randolf Baxter Steve Paddison
11.00 –
Volunteers as required
Parking: 6.00 – 7.00
Ray Spick
Nigel Robinson
George Lloyd
7.00 – 8.00
Len Miller
Nigel Robinson
Randolph Baxter
8.00 – 9.00
Lynn Jones
Dave Wenzlick
Len Miller
9.00 – 10.00
Lynn Jones
Rex Thompson
Dave Wenzlick
10.00 – 11.00
Brian Becro
Rex Thompson
11.00 –
Volunteers as required
Display Car Parking: 7-00 – 8.00
Neil Cremer
Murray Dingle
8.00 – 9.00
Murray Dingle
John Garea
9.00 – 10.00
John Garea
James Flewi
Stall Site Alloca on: 6.00 – 7.00
Leon Salt
7.00 – 8.00
Dave Coop
8.00 – 9.00
Colin Colburn
9.00 – 10.00
Colin Colburn
Dave Coop
12
SWAP MEET ROSTER—CONTINUED BBQ: Sausages: 6.00 – 7.00
Anne Hamilton
Phylippa Davy
7.00 – 8.00
Anne Hamilton
Phylippa Davy
8.00 – 9.00
Sharon Sto
Phylippa Davy
9.00 – 10.00
Anne Hamilton
Brian Payne
10.00 – 11.00
Anne Hamilton
Brian Payne
6.00 – 7.00
Brendda Salt
Graham Buchs
7.00 – 8.00
Brendda Salt
Graham Buchs
8.00 – 9.00
Brendda Salt
Neil Cremer
9.00 - 10.00
Brendda Salt
Neil Cremer
10.00 –
Brendda Salt
Carrick Oliver
BBQ Bacon Bu es:
Roving Assistants/Back-up: Megaphone:
Paul Hodder
People Mover: Club Stall: Cash Float:
Jason Morrison / Doug Hamilton / Leon Salt
James Lawrie / Chris Harvey Dave Oliver
Record of Stall-Holders:
Leon Salt / Dave Oliver
Reserves: Bruce Huchinson, Lee Middleton, Grahame Power, Maarten Bubbert, Bre Houston, Alan Lupton, John Badham.
13
Pressure Exterior Cleaning
® Low
∑ Moss & Lichen Control ® Exterior Insect Control
Contact us today for a free quote! 027 275 0080 09 425 8747 or 09 426 2314 Email: chemwash@rosscoltd.co.nz Phone:
14
15
ADDRESS
If undelivered return to PO Box 547 Warkworth 0941
Sales.warkworth@guthriebowron,co.nz Tel 09 425 8187 Fax 09 425 8585
STAMP
16