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leaked rapidly when you were stopped and slowly when you weren’t, although, before this happened, it did have to be raining). The water pump was soon repaired and although no water leaked, the car still managed to boil regularly. I found that at 30 MPH stops were needed every 15 mins, but at 35 MPH, they were needed every 10 mins, I was too scared to go any faster. One of the first major trips was to Whangarei, about 100 miles. This took 5 hours of driving and 8 gallons of water. The car ran beautifully there and back, even over the Brynderwyns’ in second gear. A few weeks later another trip was on, this one to Whitianga and up to Kuaotuna. Once again, much water was consumed, particularly over the Tapu Hill, but the joys of driving at 20 MPH on a hot day along a dusty road, wearing my worst hat, and having the front windscreen opened out, far outweighed the slight inconvenience of these frequent stops. The absence of shock absorbers made the ride somewhat pendulous, particularly on the road north from Whitianga, where the entire contents of the back seat transferred itself, in a parabolic motion, to the front seat, and thence on to the floor. While getting petrol at Whitianga, I was approached by an old joker who said he used to work on the cars before the war and hadn’t seen one since. He poured over the car for several minutes, recalling memoirs of 40 years. On just about every outing now, I am approached by someone who used to own one or drive one or ride in one as kids. One day when out, I had a guy proudly tell me that he drove one over the cliff at Eketahuna 16 just after the war! The actual decision to restore was not taken lightly. I had owned many vehicles previous to this, but had never restored one. I had dismantled several, with good intentions, but had run out of money, space, the ability, knowledge, or time. So, with a determination to see this through I drove the car into the shed and started the dismantling process mid May 1978. Not having any manuals or guidebooks at all, I decided it best to record every detail of the operation and now have three volumes of descriptions starting with: 1: Bonnet - 2 screws, Front - 2 screws, Rear All screws, nuts, bolts, and small parts were placed in individual envelopes with a description written on the outside of the envelopes. Often it was necessary to draw a picture of a part or set of parts and I reproduce here, those relating to the ignition timing. There were timing marks o anything except on the crankshaft and camshaft sprockets where there were two “T” ‘s (for Top). With typical British reasoning, the No. 1 cylinder was about to fire when the T’s were both at their lowest point. (See diagram on page 16) Believe it or not, when the assembly time game, this method of setting camshaft and ignition timing, turned out to be precisely right and no adjustment was necessary at all. The basic order of dismantling was lamps, bumpers, guards, radiator, seats, steering box, firewall, gearbox, motor, front and rear axles, doors, dashboard, upholstery, windows, floorboards. The body shell was left on the chassis, but everything else was removed, cleaned, inspected, labelled, stored and then attended to bit by bit.
I was fortunate in having a 15’ X 50’ garage to work in and even this was not really big enough to store all the bits, so with much buttering and tact, I was eventually able to move the doors, guards, and upholstery into the lounge and spare bedroom. Overall, the condition of the car was good, although the processes of dismantling had revealed a little more dust and some rotten woodwork. So having taken the waggon to bits, the next question was “where to start?”.
Motorc ycle Repor t
Getting a run to Picton is turning into a bit of a mission with cancelling due to weather and the road closure after the accident all conspiring to force alternative plans. In last month’s case an alternative ride up to the Waihopai dam and back then for lunch at Renwick. Even with the cooler weather we had a turnout of 15 bikes and 19 people for lunch. Paul rode the Ace up the valley and back again and it would be fair to say most of us noticed the judder bars caused by tree roots under the tar seal on the way back but watching Paul bounce his way between ruts with the Aces rigid back end made me appreciate having rear suspension and gave an insight on how tough a life the early bikes had on rutted unsealed roads. Roy has found a spare Guzzi and reattached the side car that provided family transport on runs many years ago, Ben got to play ballast in the chair for its first outing and didn’t seem fazed by the experience. Riding a bike with a chair is totally different from riding a solo bike and sitting in a chair has its own peculiarities one of which can be lack of suspension. On an early club run Roy had managed to shoehorn the wife and kids into the chair which was no mean feat on its own, after stopping for lunch half way around the Queen Charlotte track the hood was lifted to expose one small boy unconsolably bawling and howling, further investigation ascertained that hitting a large pothole with the side car wheel had coincided with said child trying to remove an irritation from inside his nostril, the sudden down up movement had resulted in a finger insertion of up to at least the second knuckle hence the tears and discomfort .
Glenn
MOTORCYCLE CALENDER
Sunday 17th July : Leave the park at 11am for a ride to the Havelock pub. Sunday August 21st : Garage run.
18
3-6 February 2023
Hosted by the Southland Branch Join us for an action-packed weekend! Information: www.sporty.co.nz/nationalmotorcyclerally
The Marlborough Branch Updated History book
is now available. Copies can be picked up from Trevor at 6 Milford Street (Ring before coming around on 578 4142) or on Wednesday mornings at the clubrooms. Payment of $40 can be made by direct credit
03-0599-0246604-001
Or EFTPOS at the clubrooms or cash to Trevor.
I had the privilege of being invited to the launching of this book on Sunday, May 29, 2022 and a grand occasion it was with some good speeches and a great spread on the smoko table. It is a ‘must have’ read, and chronicles the History of the VCC extremely well. Humour anecdotes and some serious stuff well mixed so it keeps everyone interested.
Extract from a Review by Kevin Andrews
