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Chairman’s Report - December 2020
by David Tomlinson
December’s club night saw me bring in my 1977 Mercedes-Benz roadster at short notice as the car in the room, and we finished our year’s activities off on the following Sunday with the High Tea run which meandered around the western side of Rotorua and finished with a fairly substantial repast at Terry Wadsworth’s home. Thank you to Lois, Dorothy, Terry and Shelley, and all the other helpers that made this a wonderful day out.
We can thankfully now say “goodbye” to 2020, probably one of the worst years in modern history, maybe since the end of WW2 in 1945. Although here in New Zealand we have not had to suffer to the extremes felt in other countries, our lives were disrupted, many lost jobs or part of their income, and even our branch had to cancel some key events as well as club nights and monthly runs. We did our best to put the Swap Meet on at a later date, but the “second outbreak” in Auckland meant it was too difficult to proceed with certainty. The Sulphur City Rally did not happen either in 2020.
We are now in a new year, and our branch’s activities started off well with the Lakefront Car Show. Despite a very good weather forecast right up until the day, we started off in misty drizzle which did not clear until mid-morning. I understand that parts of the Waikato and Bay Of Plenty had quite heavy rain all morning, which impacted the number of cars on display. It was very noticeable that open top cars were far and few between. We did get over 400 cars on the lawn, so while slightly down on last year, it was still more than any other previous year.
Cars in display included a 1926 Delage from Tauranga, a host of Hummers, Rolls-Royces and a Corvette from Hamilton with colourful paintwork (to say the least...), some steampunk style motorbikes, and good turn outs from many car clubs. Clubs displaying many cars included the Rotorua and Tauranga Mini clubs, Ford Zephyr & Zodiac club, Jaguar Drivers Club, and a few smaller groups from clubs who regularly attend. It was good to see many branch members’ cars on display, including the Dorrington’s pink Morrie.
This year I managed to get 7 cars to the domain, I was able to park 3 cars overnight next to the neighbouring circus who were very good neighbours, and had help from a neighbour getting the other 4 there early. Thank you to Terry, Shelley and Dennis, who along with my neighbour saw me get all cars back in the garage in two runs all in less than 40 minutes.
We had many visitors looking at the cars, and even had a brief appearance on the lawn from one of the Duck amphibians. We raised $1500 for St Johns Rotorua, and they took additional donations and sold a number of items while there, so I hope they will be able to use the proceeds well. They had six vehicles on display, including the older Dodge and Bedford ambulances they bring along each year.
The most pleasing aspect was the number of inquiries about joining the branch on the day, certainly more than I recall in recent years. Hopefully a few of those inquiring will attend our first club night for 2021 and we will make them feel welcome.
Our first club night will be Wednesday, 10th of February, and our first car in the room for the year will be Jim Maud’s 1993 Mercedes-Benz 500SL roadster. Our March club night will feature Neville and Carol Harper’s newly complied Studebaker Golden Hawk. If any member would like to display a car or
motorbike in the room during the rest of 2021, please let Neville Harper know. We are keen to see many vehicles over the course of the year.
Our first run for 2021 is the BBQ Run, which has been set back a week from our normal day due to clashes with the Motorama in Morrinsville and the Ellerslie Concours event. Fleur and I will be taking a car up to Ellerslie to display with the R-R & Bentley Club. Displays at the Concours have always been limited to clubs, but this year they are bring in a new “class” for competition, called 50/50/50. Any individual can bring a car along, they don’t have to belong to a club, but the owner and the car must be under 50 years old, and the car must be worth less than $50K. Judging for this new event will focus more on the presentation and condition of the vehicle, rather than originality. It will be interesting to see how many cars take part.
In March the huge Brit-Euro show will be on the first weekend at Howick, Auckland, and over 1200 cars are registered already. Fleur and I are taking Alex up to this, and will be displaying two cars. This is also principally a club event, we will be displaying with two different clubs on the day, but there is an “individuals” area too. I believe one or two VCC branches are displaying. This really is one of the best shows in New Zealand, but is limited to British and European cars, although there is some tolerance for Leyland P76s, and every year a very old Datsun Fairlady from the early 1960s seems to be allowed to sneak in. There are big displays from Supercar marques like Lamborghini, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin, Porsche and others.
Fleur and I will be travelling on the following weekend too so March’s Chairman’s Run will also be set back a week later than usual. April has the Night Run, and Marcus and Nathalie will be putting on our May club run, so there is plenty to do in 2021.
