SIDE CURTAINS
SIDE CURTAINS The magazine of the
ROTORUA VINTAGE AND VETERAN CAR CLUB
JUNE 2021
WE ARE ON FACEBOOK ! www.rvvcc.org.nz
MAY CLUB NIGHT
MAY CLUB RUN
SIDE CURTAINS - June 2021 The magazine of the ROTORUA VINTAGE AND VETERAN CAR CLUB
Clubrooms: Neil Hunt Park, Tarawera Rd, Rotorua Postal: PO Box 2014, Rotorua Email: rotorua@vcc.org.nz Website: www.rotoruavintagecarclub.org.nz Vero Insurance: Phone 0800 658 411 and quote your VCC membership number Club Meetings: 2nd Wednesday of month (except January), 7.15pm for 7.30pm start OFFICERS
Chairperson - David Tomlinson
CONTENTS
Secretary - Dennis Whimp 021 731 678
Chairman’s Report From The Secretary May Car In The Room May Club Run Midweekers / Spring Tour Agewise, Drivewise Swap Meet Coming Events
Treasurer - Terry Fitzpatrick Club Captain Terry Wadsworth Asst. Club Captain Fleur Tomlinson Committee Ronald Mayes Neville Harper Lois Thompson Jenny Cole Dennis Brown Geoff Nitz
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Mid Weekers - Jenny Cole Side Curtains Editor - David Tomlinson rvvcc.editor@gmail.com Beaded Wheels - Ronald Mayes Librarian - Dennis Kenny Librarian - Ronald Mayes Librarian - Roger Couchman Cards/Flowers - Doreen Green
Cover Photos Front - May’s Club Run Back - April Night Run
CLUB CAR PHOTOS
If you want your club car photo on the clubroom wall then get in touch with Doug Green, and he will organise a time and place for a photo shoot. It would be good if we could have all member’s car photos on display. Side Curtains June 2021
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Chairman’s Report
- May 2021
by David Tomlinson
Our May club night was also our AGM, and ran smoothly and quickly. We also had John Newson’s wonderful 1951 Armstrong-Siddeley in the room. As a result of the AGM we had a small changing of the guard, with retirements from committee of Bob Mackay and Kevin Scott, while welcoming 3 new committee members. Jenny Cole, Dennis Brown and Geoff Nitz are the new committee members, with Jenny and Dennis also taking over the role of midweek co-ordinators from Bob. Our annual accounts showed a very creditable result after a very difficult year. I thank Bob and Kevin for their service but know they will both continue to be involved in helping keep our events happening. Our May run was put on by Nathalie, Marcus and Les, the first run they had organised. It was a great day in fantastic weather, with an excellent turnout of cars. The run meandered around south of Rotorua with break in the middle, and ended up with lunch at the Waiotapu Tavern. I think as we move forward, aligning our Sunday club runs to be more like our midweek runs could improve participation. Although our last three club runs have had very good turnouts, there does seem to be a greater appetite for a “fun day out” rather than a competitive style rally. It was also signalled at the AGM that the Night Run evening meal was popular, but less so the driving around in the dark in busy traffic. This has been taken on board and perhaps next year the run will be before the meal and better suit older cars. May also saw the first midweek outing organised by Jenny and Dennis. I have yet to receive feedback on the day out, but I 2
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am sure it was well received. For June’s club night we will have Michael Thorne’s recently acquired Alfa Romeo GTV6 as the car in the room, and our June club run will conclude with our annual prize giving and a complimentary afternoon tea at the club rooms. I believe our June run will be non-competitive and feature a couple of interesting stops. July’s Swap Meet is looming ever closer, and will be as important as ever to bring a financial boon to the club. This is the one event each year all branch members need to be a part of, it subsidises our annual operating costs substantially and keeping our membership levy low. Then in August we will host our Sulphur City Rally. It would be good to see a big turnout of both branch members and other VCC members from around the country. The Vero International Festival of Historic Motoring to be held by the VCC in January is now open to enter. This is a 5 day event based in New Plymouth with four “motoring days” travelling around the wider Taranaki area, and an optional competitive day in the program also. There is a late entry penalty so members keen to take part do need to enter promptly. You can enter online, but if you require a printed entry form contact Dennis Whimp. Please note that you cannot pay your entry fee by cheque, and indeed by the end of June, cheques will more or less cease to be an available method of payment in New Zealand. Our next club run after the June run will be in September, if you would like to organise a run, or have ideas for a good Sunday run, let our Club Captain Terry Wadsworth know. Also, if you would like to display your pride and joy on a Wednesday club night contact Neville Harper to make arrangements. Let’s try and keep up the momentum for good turnouts at our regular club events. Side Curtains June 2021
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FROM THE SECRETARY by Dennis Whimp By the time you read this, the $300 replacement sign for the clubhouse will be up. Roy Burrows, an old time 80 year old signwriter has made an excellent job using brushes and enamel paints. He still regularly does truck doors etc. Our old sign had badly degraded and delaminated. The crisp replacement now shows up the old chalky paintwork on the clubhouse exterior. An exterior repaint will be the next clubhouse project. Vero Insurance offer VCCNZ members discounted premiums on vehicles, houses and contents. An agent’s commission on each premium is also paid to both the branch and the national organisation. Last year, Rotorua received over $1,600 and the National organisation over $35,000. I haven’t checked recently, but in the past, Vero’s premiums without the discount were cheaper than all the others. The only downside on vehicle cover is that they no longer have free cover for windscreen breakage. It is treated as for any other damage claim. I regularly receive entry forms for other branches main rallies. These go on the clubhouse noticeboard. They are also available on the Vintage Car Club of NZ website, as are all the branch magazines. We were all new members once and some of us older members have poor memories. Please wear your name badges so we all get a reminder of who you are. If you need a replacement badge, see me. The cost is $15. If you would like a hardcopy of the magazine posted out, the cost is $30 per annum. Let me know. Lastly, at the AGM there was a discussion about the framed prints of members cars on the club room walls. Doug Green advised that if you would like a photo of your car on the wall, provide him with an A4 landscape colour photo of the front three quarters and no people in the photo. We need to replace many of the existing photos on the wall. 4
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May Car In The Room by John Newson 1951 Armstrong-Siddeley Whitworth
Armstrong-Siddeley Whitley cars were built from 1949 to 1953 (2582 made). This automobile is a 4 door saloon. Its 2.3 litre engine is a naturally aspirated, overhead valve, 6 cylinder motor that has an output of 75bhp (76 PS/56 kW) of power at 4200 rpm, and maximum torque of 145Nm (107 lb-ft/14.8 kgm) at 3000 rpm. Power is transferred to the wheels by means of a 4 speed manual gearbox. Weight is 1430 kg, maximum speed 100mph. I have driven my car up to 60mph, but I didn’t have the balls to go any faster as it tends to go off track on New Zealand’s bad roads. The Siddeley Autocar Company were building cars from 1902 until it became known as Armstrong-Siddeley in 1919. At this time it also started building aeroplanes but under the Armstrong-Whitworth brand. When WW2 started the Armstrong-Siddeley Motor Company then went into aircraft manufacturing for the war effort, building the Lancaster, Hurricane, Typhoon, Tempest (Typhoon II) and the Whitley. After the war Armstrong-Siddeley then went back to car manufacturing building the Lancaster, Hurricane, Typhoon, Tempest and the Whitley car .What a great marketing ploy using the aircraft names for the different models of cars. The Whitley car model engine is the only Armstrong-Siddeley engine that has hydraulic push rods. It also has same other interesting features like push button start ,inboard under chassis jacks that jack up the whole side of the car. It’s lovely to drive and very comfortable, with easy gear changes. It has hydraulic front brakes and push rod rear brakes. Although I love my Whitley there is one model of Armstrong Siddeley would love to own if I could find one and afford it that is:
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May Club Run by Fleur Tomlinson Well we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect autumn day, the sun was shining and we had clear blue skies and not much wind. We all gathered at the car club for morning tea. We nattered over lovely cakes and biscuits washed down with cups of tea and coffee enjoying the warm sunshine. What a fantastic turn out of cars. Was great to see the Fyfe’s turn up and introduce the new addition to the family, the beautiful wee Hazel. What a cutie just like her big sisters Olive and Violet. Nathalie and Marcus handed out our instructions and sent us on our merry way telling us there was a stop midway for a fun activity which had us all intrigued. The Skelton’s were the first away in their little red “Chummy”. Given a good head start. Soon we were all in our cars reading through the instructions working out the course seeing that we were heading out towards Waikete Valley. And we were off. Heading towards Sala Street, past the big round about with the famous statue that us ratepayers paid for and can barely see. Turned off onto Highway 30 and onto Whirinaki Valley Road. We followed the roads answering the questions till we all met up at the Lake Ohakuri Boat Ramp for our fun activity. Marshalls Les and Marcus were there to greet us with a soccer ball and two poles and the objective was to get the ball between the two poles. Was so much fun and a lot of laughs and was good to get out of our cars and have a good stretch of our legs. Was also a lovely spot for a fun activity. Soon we were back on the road heading towards Waikete Valley where we would end up at the Waiotapu Tavern for a fantastic pub lunch. Well we couldn’t fault the food at all. The burgers looks so juicy and mouth watering. Everyone was eyeing up everyone else’s 6
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meals as they came out. What huge meals for fantastic prices, a great place to stop, will most definitely be putting it on the list of places to go to for a meal when travelling out of town. With full bellies and questions answered and prizes given out for first, second and third and was lovely to see one for last place who is often forgotten that was fantastic to see. We slowly made our way home. What a great run with lots of laughs, fun, relaxed and great company. Looking forward to many more like this one. So thank you Nathalie, Marcus and Les for your hard work for making this run possible for us and making it as fun as it was. Taking part were: Terry Wadsworth & Shelley - 1964 Riley Neil & Sharon Handley - 1957 Vauxhall Velox Ken & Jude Thomas - 1973 Citroen DS 23 Pallas Ralph Bennet & Doug Lambert - 1938 Buick Bill & Adelai Skelton - 1929 Austin 7 “Chummy” John Peters & Jenny Gill - 1973 Triumph Stag Terry & Sandra Fitzpatrick - BMW 2002 Tii Tom, Olive & Violet Fyfe - 1973 Rover P6 Neville & Carol Harper - 1958 Studebaker Golden Hawk Roger & Diana Nelson - 1975 Triumph Stag Doug & Doreen Green - 1929 Graham Paige Ronald Mayes - 1970 Triumph 2000 Bob & Pat MacKay - 1968 Triumph Vitesse David & Alex Tomlinson - 1979 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II Fleur & Kate Tomlinson - 1977 Mercedes 350 SL Pat Burr & Shona Whickham - 1981 Mercedes 280CE Jenny Cole & Dennis Brown - 1983 Land Rover Alan & Lynn Barnes - 1949 Riley Michael Thorne - 1988 Panther Kallista John Newson - 1951 Armstrong Siddley Whitley The Dorrington’s and the Nitz’s also took part in their moderns. Side Curtains June 2021
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Midweek Runs and Spring Tour 2021 By Jenny Cole
Wednesday, 30th June - 9.30am at the clubrooms For our June Run we will meet at the clubrooms at 9.30am for morning tea. Last car away by 10am. We will head for C & R Developments Car Museum (also known as Ross Bros Muscle Car Garage) at 162 Hannon Road, Cambridge. We are due here at 11.30am. After the museum visit we will have lunch at Columbus Coffee in the Mitre 10 Mega store in Cambridge at 1 Oliver Street. In July, on Wednesday, 28th, we look forward to visiting Ralph’s shed at Lake Okareka, to view his restoration project, a 1953 Humber Super Snipe. We will then have lunch at the Landing Café at Lake Tarawera. Usually in the winter the café is only open on Fridays and at weekends, but Geoff is opening specially to cook lunch for us. In August we will be delivering daffodils for Daffodil Day. Spring Tour 2021 dates Friday, 29th October - Thursday, 4th November. The proposed itinerary, to Northland, will include two nights in Warkworth, a night in Whangarei, two nights in Paihia and a night in Wellsford. More details next month. 8
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AGEWISE, DRIVEWISE
by Ronald Mayes
The Rotorua Lakes Council is running another series of free road safety update courses for those over 65 years of age. They will be held on TUESDAY, 10 AUGUST and WEDNESDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER, 9:30am to 2:30pm at the Parksyde Community Centre. Lunch is included. From my observations (dare I say it) one or two of our members would benefit from attending, particularly on learning the correct use of indicators at roundabouts. Telephone the council to register: 348 4199. In previous years participants have been invited to later take part in a practical event at the Taupo motor racing circuit. I have twice taken up this offer and found it very enjoyable indeed!
THE MISSED PHOTO!
by Ronald Mayes The last mid-week run organised by Bob and Pat MacKay was held on a mild day in April and a good number of cars headed off around the lakes and over the Rotoma Hills for lunch at the White House Café at Thornton. Les and Thelma Forward, who live nearby, were there with 17-year old granddaughter Gabrielle (Gaby), Les and Gaby in his Ford Model A convertible and Thelma drove the modern car. After lunch I managed to photograph most of the cars, but I missed what would have been a great cover shot for Beaded Wheels: Les in the left hand seat of the Model A and Gaby at the wheel as they drove off from the venue! Great to see a young one capable of driving a 90-year old car and obviously enjoying the experience! There is hope for the future of our old cars if there are youngsters out there who are able to keep them on the road - we must encourage them!
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WE WANT YOU! All branch members are urged to give their time and support to help run this year’s Swap Meet. The volunteer positions board is up at the club rooms, make sure your name is on it somewhere!
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CLUB NIGHT - June 9th Neil Hunt Park - 7.30pm Car In The Room: 1985 Alfa-Romeo GTV6 Followed by tea, coffee and biscuits.
June Club Run
by Neville Harper
Sunday, June 13th - 1pm at the clubrooms Meet at the club rooms before 1pm. The run will be a touring run with a couple of stops on the way, before returning to the club rooms around 3pm for our annual prize giving and a complimentary afternoon tea.
WANTED TO BUY! V-belt pulley to fit 1/2” diameter 1/4hp electric motor shaft. Diameter approx 3/1/2” (not critical, it is to drive my small compressor.) Ronald Mayes, 347 8490
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www.rvvcc.org.nz The branch website aims to meet the needs of our members, to promote our branch nationally, and to potential new members. If you have any suggestions please contact David Tomlinson. Please also make sure you “Like” our Facebook page to keep up to date.
Contributions to Side Curtains This is your magazine! Please feel free to share anything you think might be of interest to the membership by sending it to the editor, preferably by email, and a picture says a thousand words, so include photos where possible. Members taking part in club runs or events hosted by other branches are encouraged to pen a short piece about their experience to include in the next issue going to print. All items to the editor by the end of the month. 12
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MAY CLUB RUN
MAY CLUB RUN