7 minute read
Motorcycle Report
Well, we are now past the shortest day, and believe it or not, the days ARE starting to lengthen out a bit. Not long before it will be warm enough for me to put the hood down on the Model A and get out and about again. The Mystery bus trip a few Sundays ago organised by Cath was well patronised, and having Ron Hebberd with his knowledge of the southern part of our province as commentator on the day was great. Ron’s comments about the area as we drove through was great and the early history was very interesting.
Thanks to Cath for organising this, and bus driver extraordinaire, Alan Graham for getting us there and back with no problems.
From our Committee meeting last Wednesday. • There are a number of requests coming into the Branch from people and other like-minded groups asking us to display our vehicles and events.
These will be advertised in Vintage viewpoint. • We are running the Biennial Rally in October. The routes have been chosen and driven to check them out and a bit of final organisation needs to be done before the entry forms are out. Keep the weekend of 14th to 16th October free. • The Targa rally being held in Top of the South have had a date change which now will be the same weekend as our rally, but we hope this will not have a huge effect on us. • As you will see around the grounds, there have been a few straggly trees and shrubs removed along the compound wall, Cath, John and Roger will be deciding what to replace them with. There was a suggestion that a
“Muriel” be painted on the wall!! Where are the artistic people in our membership?? • A document from National Management committee was presented entitled 5-year Strategic Plan. This was last updated 7 years ago so is somewhat behind the times but will be discussed at the Clubs AGM to be held in Auckland on 12th and 13th August, which I will be attending on your behalf. • As you will be aware, the Vintage Car Club national day, Daffodil day is coming up on 21st August where we will be running our very successful vehicle show and display, as we have in the past years. Organisation for this event is well underway, and we need members, and anyone else with interesting vehicles to put them on display for the day. Also, helpers will be needed, and baking provided to the kitchen to be sold on the day.
• We have decided once again to produce a 2023 calendar which will be out for sale (hopefully) on Daffodil day. Cath and Linda have taken charge of this project. • There was a discussion on how the members of the VCC Management Committee are selected. It was pointed out that each position is up for election each year. It was asked if there was a maximum term for each of these positions, as far as we are aware there is not. Comment was made that perhaps there needs to be a 3 year term set for these positions. If that was to happen, the Constitution would need to be changed which is a process which is likely to take a couple of years.
Have a great month of Heritage Motoring.
Chris Bird
New Members.
Jonathon Franks, 1973 Morris 1000. Keith Thoms, 1954 Austin A30 Tina Little, 1960 Morris Oxford Welcome along to the Marlborough Vintage Car Club. We hope to see you out and about at our events, like Wednesday morning smokos, Monthly runs and Noggin and Natters and other events which we hold. These are all listed in the monthly Vintage Viewpoint.
A quiet month but to be expected with a cold wet June and the ever present COVID being prominent. However the teams are continuing their endeavours to sort and rack various parts and the compound clean up is proceeding with the removal of tons of scrap, much of which has been stored for over 50 years and has little or no commercial value. In a very dark and remote corner of one shed we have a selection of vintage period tourer and sedan doors which we would be ecstatic to move on to appropriate restorations. Many are in reasonable condition so is there any interest out there?, if so please call and inspect our inventory. Tyres are a major problem to us so unless they are in good warrantable condition we will not accept them, so please dispose of them to the landfill yourselves.
Cheers, Tris Winstanley.
Branch Books & Badges
AA CENTENNIAL CAR BADGES $35 each David Bool P: 03 579 4716 AA CENTENNIAL BOOKS $25 each Trevor Harris P: 03 572 5323
Tyres - Tyres Tyre sale $10 - $20
12in x 540 , 13in x 525 - 560 - 600 640 - 650, 14in x 520 - 525 - 600 695 - 735 15in x 600 - 630 - 650, 16in x 575/600 - 175 radial - 670 Truck 17in x 560 & 18in x 525/550
Good selection of tubes $5.00 ea no patches.
See the ‘blokes in the shed’
1934 Morris Cowley 6 - Restored and Owned by Neville Grant
The following pages are a members recollections of the find, drive and restoration of his beloved Cowley. Thank you to Neville for the article which was published for the VCC in the late 1970’s early 1980’s his final words of the time being “p.s. The car is now entered in the 1980 International Vintage Car Rally to be held in Rotorua in Feb / March”. The story itself is timeless and the final part covering the restoration itself will be in next months issue. Thank you to Mac for typing the copy for print and to Neville for sharing his story with us.
Neville Grant
Finding the Car
I was at a Primary School Reunion in September 1977 and while talking with a bloke I hadn’t seen in years, I mentioned that I was looking for an early thirty’s car and he mentioned that he had a 1934 Cowley Six that he would soon have to sell as he was going overseas, so I mentioned that I could be interested and an arrangement to view the car was made. He had brought the car some four years previously off a Mr Fred Rowse of Mangere Bridge, who had owned it since 1943 (& incidentally, had driven the car no further than Te Rapa in those 30 years). (Previous to this, the car had been imported to New Zealand in 1937 and was first owned by a Mr John Morgan of Papatoetoe). Consequently, the car was still in good original condition with mileage at 97,000 miles. Though, in the four years of being garaged, the spiders, moths, rats, borer, birds etc, had all taken a homely interest in the car. The car was virtually complete and although it had not been driven during this time, the motor had been started at regular intervals. I was fascinated by its quaint oddments like the “Pull and Spin –Push to Stop” windscreen wiper, the “Shutters” in front of the radiator, the Convex Mirrors above the corners of the front windscreen, so as you could see the indicators when they were on and the false “Rocker Cover”, cunningly disguised as an air filter. 15
Being a relatively rare car and in relatively good nick, I decided to purchase; a price was agreed on and the car was towed home. A swift couple of weeks work on brake cylinders and hoses and it was ready to go (or stop). A further couple of days hassle with the Post Office, Transport Department and local M.V.D’s over the re-registration and it was round the block. All systems were operating, though it was weeks before I figured out the devious ways of 3 brush generators (no 3rd brush within the generator which can be adjusted to 2 – 16 Amps). A W.O.F was easily obtained (it seems to me those older cars get them easier than new ones) and it was a case of drive it around for a few months to find out what was wrong and what wasn’t. I then joined the Morris Register and quite apart from the social aspects of the Club, I am indebted to the many members for the assistance in procuring parts and information on the car, which I would otherwise not have been able to obtain.
Owning the Car
In the course of driving the car, one of the first things I had to get adjusted too was the accelerator. It’s between the clutch and brake pedals. Surprisingly, adapting to this system was not as difficult as expected, although real emergency stops still catch me out. I also learnt that it was necessary to have vast amounts of water onboard, mainly due to the leaky water pump. This would leak water slowly when you were stopped and rapidly when you weren’t, necessitating stops at 5-minute intervals for refills. (Conversely, the canvas roof
