Photo: John Bissett, Timaru Herald
FROM CONCEPTION TO COMPLETION
1922 ESSEX FOUR ROADSTER WORDS AND PHOTOS PHIL KIDD
Those who know me will be aware that I have an attachment to Essex motor vehicles. In 1958, on my way down to the sea scout boatshed in Petone I spotted a man with his head under the bonnet of an old car. I cheekily parked my pushbike against his fence, walked in (dressed in my scout uniform) and asked if I could watch. This gentleman (who I later learned was Jack Hargreaves) was tuning his recently restored car, and was doing stuff under the bonnet that was incomprehensible to me then. He explained what he was doing to this nosey young stranger, and it made a lasting impression on me. Not long after that, in November 1958, I heard about a whole lot of these old cars that had arrived and were parked on High Street, Lower Hutt, following what I later learned was the inaugural run from Upper Hutt of the recently formed Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Vintage Car Club – of which co-incidentally I am currently Chairman. Jack’s son Ron married one of my wife’s friends and he later delivered to me part of the book of notes Jack had made when he restored the car. I also subsequently learned that the windscreen to complete the restoration was supplied by a fellow VCC member, Gavin Croft. Cutting a long story short, my friend Bob Douglas and I embarked on many trips around the country looking for Essex Six parts to restore my 1928 Essex Super Six coach and his 1928 Essex Super Six coupe (which I subsequently bought from him many years later). We came across other parts not suitable (Essex fours) and donated these to Peter Tucker. When Peter and his wife Elizabeth (who was a neighbour and classmate from Lower Hutt) planned on moving to Hawke’s Bay he called to say his collection of Essex Four parts including a completely stripped down tourer, and literature,
14 Beaded Wheels
were for sale. Around 1996 we completed the transaction and he delivered said items to be stored on the mezzanine floor in the barn – ready for later?
