SIDE CURTAINS
SIDE CURTAINS The magazine of the
ROTORUA VINTAGE AND VETERAN CAR CLUB
JUNE 2022
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MAY CAR IN THE ROOM
SIDE CURTAINS - June 2022 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 Secretary - Dennis Whimp 021 731 678 Treasurer - vacant Club Captain Terry Wadsworth Asst. Club Captain Fleur Tomlinson Committee Ronald Mayes Neville Harper Geoff Nitz Alan Judd Ken Thomas John Newson
CONTENTS Chairman’s Report
2
From The Secretary
4
May Midweekers
6
Rotorua Doctors’ Cars
7
May Car In The Room
8
Club Captain’s Run
9
Coming Events
12
Mid Weekers - vacant Side Curtains Editor - David Tomlinson rvvcc.editor@gmail.com Beaded Wheels - Ronald Mayes Librarian - Dennis Kenny Librarian - Ronald Mayes Cards/Flowers - Doreen Green
Cover Photos Front - Ralph’s Buick during restoration Back - May Club Captain’s 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 2022
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Chairman’s Report
- May 2022
by David Tomlinson
Our AGM at the May club night went smoothly, with the exception that we did not manage to fill the important role of Treasurer. Thankfully, Sandra Fitzpatrick will continue to keep an electronic record of our accounts, and Ronald Mayes has been added as a signatory to our bank accounts. We will continue to look for a new Treasurer with a hope that the committee can co-opt a member to the role during the year. The AGM saw the retirement from the committee of Terry Fitzpatrick, Lois Thompson, Dennis Brown and Jenny Cole. Lois has been on the committee for many years, certainly pre-dating my time on the committee, and was our branch secretary for many years. Terry has served as our Treasurer for many years. I wish to thank them both on behalf of the branch for their many valued years of service. Dennis and Jenny were only able to sit on the committee due to the pandemic curtailing their international adventures, which they have managed to restart as things improved, and last week I received a picture of Dennis tucking into lunch during their cycling tour of France. They will be back in October and will retake the reins of the midweek activities. In the meantime the committee will make sure midweek activities continue as they enjoy their time in the USA, Europe and the UK. We welcomed three new committee members, Alan Judd, Ken Thomas and John Newson. Other than the committee changes, the AGM reported a small operating surplus for the year thanks largely to the Swap Meet, following an almost $5000 operating deficit in the previous year due to the Swap Meet being cancelled (twice!) in 2020. The annual branch levy was endorsed to remain at the current $30 level. Although we had our AGM, we still had car in the room for May, with Ralph Bennett’s beautifully presented 1938 Buick making its third appearance in the room, with the previous two appearances both being many years ago. Also in May we had our first Club Captain’s Run for about 6 years, which concluded with afternoon tea at the club rooms. The weather was a little better than forecast, which was lucky as there was a scavenger hunt as part 2
Side Curtains June 2022
of the run, which did involve a bit of time out of the cars as we travelled around. We also had a club working bee to remove leaves around the property and in the gutter above the entrance to the clubrooms, and we moved all the furniture so our new carpet could be laid. This was all done in a couple of days and the midweekers made first use of the club rooms with the new carpet in place. I hope they were careful not to spill their cups of tea! As well as taking my youngest two children as my navigator/scavengers on the Club Captain’s Run, I have had a busy time embarking on fitting a new fuel pump to my 1975 Toledo, a carb rebuild for my 1929 Essex, and continuing an awkward fuel rail overhaul for my 1993 Bentley. I also managed to fit in a Track Day that Fleur had bought me as a Christmas present at Taupo Motorsport Park. I drove our modern Mustang V8, and although I kept the car on the track, and in unmarked condition, I was overtaken a couple of times by a Toyota Yaris. I did overtake a Mazda MX5! The following day Fleur, Alex and I attended the Tauriko “Oil Down” as we had other things to do in Tauranga, and despite a frosty start to the day there was another great turnout, yet again many vehicles I had not seen before. In June we will have a full roster of events, including a 1990 Ford Capri in the room at our June club night. The Chairman’s Run will be held a week later than originally planned, and will be followed by an afternoon tea and our annual branch prize giving. Don’t forget we need all the help we can get for our July Swap Meet, which will be our main event for July. Our club night will be a week earlier than usual in July so we can finalise things before the big day. In August I will attend the VCC AGM in southern Auckland, and we will hold our annual Sulphur City Rally for the first time in 3 years. The rally prize giving will be held in conjunction with our branch’s 50th Anniversary celebration dinner at the Millenium hotel, and any branch members past and present will be encouraged to come along to enjoy the celebrations. Dianne Quarrie, the VCC President, and her husband will also be in attendance at our special night. Lastly, don’t forget our 10th Anniversary Lakefront Car Show will be held on 30 October at the Village Green. Plenty to look forward to over the middle months of this year as we continue to emerge from the pandemic that has wreaked some much havoc with our program over the last two years. Let’s hope our March cancellations will be our last ever. Side Curtains June 2022
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FROM THE SECRETARY by Dennis Whimp This time there is a lot of thank you. Firstly it is to Chairman Dave. He rattled through the AGM in record time and after the remainder of the evenings meeting a few of the members asked me to thank Dave in this column. They didn’t get a chance after the AGM. In particular, for his enthusiasm in keeping the branch operating during the trying times of Covid shutdowns, and for continuing to produce such an excellent magazine. This view was endorsed by many others subsequently. The second thank you is to Lois Thompson who at the last minute decided not to stand for committee this time. This resulted in Dave not realising Lois wasn’t back on the committee; otherwise there would have been a special thanks. Lois had been on the committee for 14 continuous years, 7 of them as Secretary. Previous to that she had been the Secretary’s secretary when her husband Len was secretary for 12 years. Before that she had been Side Curtains editor and Assistant Club Captain. So special thanks to Lois for all your work on the committee. Her knowledge of the club both nationally and locally has been invaluable especially to me as I follow her lead. The third is to all those who turned up to the working bee on Sunday 22nd May. The work was greatly reduced as most of the leaf and vegetation removal had been completed by the local residents before we got there. An adjacent resident, Dave Fischer, 9 years ago looked at the old quarry face that is the bank behind 5 of the buildings including our club rooms. Then it was covered in blackberry, broom, wandering dew, and weeds. He had a vision of a native bushed bank to encourage native birdlife and commenced the conversion. Dave enlisted the help of a group of his friends and neighbours, got a grant from the Council for 4
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the plants, and holds regular working bees to transform the bank to what it is now. I met Dave the day before our working bee and explained what we were going to do including cutting back the shrubs from the building and removing all the leaves that had formed a hay stack behind our building. He was obviously concerned that we were going to butcher the bushes, and called his own working bee for the Sunday morning. The shrubs were trimmed back, most of the leaves removed to compost, the regenerating wandering dew removed and the bank tidied up. And they all left before we arrived. We did shift the furniture ready for the replacement carpet tiles, and Doreen and Shona got half the kitchen cupboards and contents spotless using lots of elbow grease. The carpet tiles that replaced the old carpet are now all down and look superb. They blend in such that when you walk into the clubrooms the new tiles feel as though they have always been there. I see that former member Bob Woolston’s immaculate 1927 La Salle roadster will be in the forthcoming August Webb’s Classic Car Auction. We have set the date for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the forming of the Rotorua Branch. It is Saturday 27th August and will be held in conjunction with the Sulphur City dinner and prize giving at the Millennium Hotel. Our National President will be in attendance to present the 50 year certificates to 5 of our members who have been in the NZVCC for that length of time. We will also ask her to present the 25 and 35 year badges. If anyone wants a badge for that length of continuous membership, and hasn’t already asked me, please let me know. There are a number of our members who have been not so well lately. I won’t name them but if you do know of any of them, give them a call as our love of old cars resulted in us joining the club, and it’s the people in the club and that friendship that keeps us coming back. Side Curtains June 2022
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May Midweekers
by Dennis Whimp
The Wednesday midweek run crew gathered as normal at 10am on the last Wednesday of the month at the clubrooms for a cuppa. But this time they had the task of putting the furniture back on the newly laid carpet tiles that had been finished the day before. Bob had two furniture moving 4 wheel platforms that were invaluable for shifting heavier items such as the bus seats. Thanks Bob and everyone who helped with the shift. Maybe it was the new tiles. Everyone was chatting away and it was with some difficulty they were prised out of the clubrooms for a follow the leader drive out to the Waipa Mountain Bike carpark to view the newly erected Steampunk mountain bike sculpture. An information plate explained the background to the construction. Well worth a read. Then it was off to a walk around the edge of the new BMX track with an explanation by Dennis on the background and construction. The cost was $1.6 million and included a lot of voluntary work and fundraising. It is one of two tracks in NZ that can be used for international meets. Then a short walk into the Hemo gorge to see the start of the Puarenga Stream rapids and back along the shared path to the cars. Lunch was at the Trail Kitchen café. All our cars lined up on the grass outside and created a lot of interest as half of them were club cars. 6
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Rotorua Doctors’ Cars, 1960s and 1970s by Ronald Mayes
In those days our tea room in the Rotorua Hospital laboratory overlooked the doctors’ car park. We saw their comings and goings - general practitioners needed reliable cars as they were often called out for home visits and baby deliveries (remember those times?) so most bought new everyday-model cars, but some of the wealthy specialists bought more exotic models which we lusted after. Gynaecologist David Rodwell had a new Ford Zodiac before lashing out on a 1968 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow convertible and a 1970s MercedesBenz 280SE coupe. He spent considerable money on the R-R’s engine overhaul and its repaint from blue to white. Short and stocky anaesthetist Tom Magner had a tight squeeze into his Austin-Healey 3000 convertible, and flamboyant GP and later medical superintendent of the hospital Keith Ridings had a magnificent early 1960s Daimler Majestic Major, complete with a massive antenna mounted on the tail for his two-way radio (no cell phones then). Our pathologist Ron Ensor at first made do with a Mini-Minor to transport his wife and two children about (later he bought a new bright red Triumph 2500S) and Murupara GP and part-time farmer Henry Wilcox had a Vanden Plas Princess 3 Litre! From its appearance it looked like it had a rather hard life on the farm and was eventually replaced with a new first-generation Honda Accord. Police surgeon Meredith (Merry) Moore owned a Chrysler Valiant Charger - even shorter than me he looked rather lost behind that vast bonnet, and one surgeon in the 1980s owned a Jaguar 3.4 Mark II. Few wanted to travel anywhere with him for fear of being stranded when it broke down. And a psychiatrist struggled with an automatic Triumph 2.5PI’s mind of its own: using full-rich to start the engine he would immediately engage F or R and the high revs would mean the car gave a rather severe lurch. Pathologist and VCC member David Taylor owned some interesting cars including a Mercedes-Benz 190 convertible (“Christmas present for his wife Rata”), which one day I spotted over the pit in the hospital garage. There he was, in his white lab coat but with very dirty hands, busy replacing its kingpins. Enthusiastic about Ford’s history and influence on motoring he also owned a Ford Model A roadster and a Ford Model T light truck. Side Curtains June 2022
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May 2022 Car in the room
Ralph’s 1938 Buick Special 6 wheel by Dennis Whimp This was the third time that the Buick had been the car in the room, but each time you learn something new. Ralph decided to talk about where the Buick had taken him and what a reliable car it had been. But first a few facts on this car. The 1938 models are considered the kings of the Buick line amongst pre-war car buffs. They were the first American car to have coil suspension all round. The shock absorbers were roughly 4 times the size of any other absorbers on the road. The 248 cubic inch engine had turbulator pistons. The battery was under the bonnet, another Buick innovation. This car has a 122 inch wheelbase. The car was originally imported to Steadman Motors in Kawakawa. In the GM stable the line-up of brands went from Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac to Chevrolet. Ralph purchased the car in 1988 from a Rotorua Buick enthusiast. It was in poor condition and needed a complete restoration including the body off, mechanicals all done, panel beating, rewire, repaint and complete reupholster. He currently has retread tyres on the rear that he sourced from Palmerston North. The starting is rather unusual in that you hop in the vehicle, turn the key on and then press the accelerator. The starter is linked to the depress of the accelerator. Ralph took the Buick to the Art Deco rally for 10 years running when Dianne Quarrie was the organiser. He drew No 1 one year which meant he led the street parade. The Journey Through Time rally at Taumarunui was attended for 8 years. The car has been very reliable for those 30 years since restoration. He recently had a professional tune up and the car pulls better but the mileage has dropped from 18 miles to the gallon (16 litres per 100km) to 15mpg (18.8 litres per 100). It was good to see that both car and driver who have a combined age of 174 years are both still in great condition. 8
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Club Captain’s Scavenger Run
by Neville Harper
It was a pretty wet day so it was a great turnout of 12 club cars and 1 modern making a total of 27 people. Joelene was the only soft top brave enough to come out in her Mazda MX5. First car was away at 10.00am. We had lots of questions to answer and also a scavenger hunt so lots of bitsand pieces to find. We headed off to two stops at Lake Okeraka where we all managed to find most of the scavenger hunt bits and pieces and to answer some questions. There were lots of questions all the way around so coming back into town we went up to Tihiotonga Centennial Park and the Genko trees on the way in were a sight to behold even in the pouring rain. The rest of the rally was through the city with questions all the way to keep us on the lookout. We had to stop at one point to get a cloth out of the boot because the windows were fogging up and right at that point the skies opened up and it bucketed down and I got absolutely soaked and even opening the door to get back in, the inside of the car got wet which then of course didn’t help the fogging up situation. It was a good rally which took a couple of hours and ended up back at the clubrooms for a nice lunch which Fleur, Shelley and team put on. A great way to finish the rally. Thanks to Terry, Fleur, Shelly and anyone else involved in arranging the day. Who won you ask? You will have to come along to the Chairman’s Run which will be followed by our annual prize giving.
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FOR SALE 1965 Rover 95 Saloon 6 cylinder 2.67 litre manual with certified power steering. In pristine condition. $15,000. Phone Doug on 027 274 4861
RAC (Royal Automobile Club) grille-mount badge, plastic (1960s70s), in mint, unused, condition, complete with RAC telephone box key in its envelope. $75. Ronald Mayes Ph 07 347 8490 or email randgmayes@gmail.com
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CLUB NIGHT - June 8th Neil Hunt Park - 7.30pm Car In The Room: 1990 Ford Capri 1.6 Turbo Followed by tea and coffee.
Chairman’s Run Sunday, 19th June The Chairman’s Run will be a short poker run. Be at the club rooms by 1.30pm. The run will conclude back at the club rooms where we will hold our annual prize giving and then afternoon tea.
Rotorua Vintage29th & Veteran Car Club Midweekers Wednesday, June - TBA proudly present the
As this edition went to press details were not yet available.
The 41st Annual Central North Island
Swap Meet
& Car Show Spectacular Paradise Valley Raceway
7am - 2pm, Sunday, 10th July 2022
FEATURING VINTAGE, CLASSIC, MUSCLE CARS & HOT RODS Hundreds of vendors, with items of interest to all collectors of cars, motorcycles, hot rods, automobilia, automotive books, old toys, model cars and trains. Almost everything antique or collectible.
Hot food and refreshments available
Side Curtains June 2022
SELLER SITE INQUIRIES: Neville Harper 07 348 2412 or 027 494 7249, email daharpers@gmail.com
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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
Side Curtains June 2022
May Midweekers
May Club Captain’s Run
May Club Captain’s Run