SIDE CURTAINS
SIDE CURTAINS The magazine of the
ROTORUA VINTAGE AND VETERAN CAR CLUB
MAY 2021
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APRIL’S NIGHT RUN
SIDE CURTAINS - May 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 Secretary - Dennis Whimp 021 731 678 Treasurer - Terry Fitzpatrick Club Captain Terry Wadsworth Asst. Club Captain Fleur Tomlinson Committee Bob Mackay Ronald Mayes Kevin Scott Lois Thompson Neville Harper
CONTENTS Chairman’s Report
2
April Car In The Room
4
Chairman’s Run
6
April Night Run
7
Midweekers “First Run”
9
Swap Meet
10
Coming Events
12
Mid Weekers - Bob Mackay Side Curtains Editor - David Tomlinson rvvcc.editor@gmail.com Beaded Wheels - Ronald Mayes Librarian - Dennis Kenny Asst Librarian - Ronald Mayes Asst Librarian - Roger Couchman Cards/Flowers - Doreen Green
Cover Photos Front - The Thomas’s 1973 Citroen DS 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 May 2021
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Chairman’s Report
- April 2021 by David Tomlinson
Well April has been and gone, and the 2021 AGM is upon us, at the correct time this year. Last year our AGM was held a month late and combined with a club run due to the Covid19 alert levels. More about the AGM shortly. Our April club night featured the Thomas’ 1973 Citroen DS, a car which has attracted a lot of attention since they joined the club. Also it was announced we have new midweek co-ordinators, Jenny Cole and Dennis Brown, who will take over from Bob and Pat Mackay. Their first midweeker run will take place in May. The Night Run saw a good turnout, a good meal, and a bit of fun out on the town in the dark. As there was limited space available in the last issue of Side Curtains, there are reports on both April’s Night Run and March’s Chairman’s Run in this issue. April’s Midweekers saw the “final run” organised by the Mackays. I hope those present took time to thank them for the last 6 years of monthly midweek outings. Thanks on behalf of the branch. Sadly, on the first weekend in May, Des and Angie Brunton hosted a farewell afternoon tea (with exceptional, seemingly never ending catering!). Des and Angie are moving to the South Island in May, and their little Morrie Traveller is now in the hands of new owners too. It was only a couple of years back Des and Angie received their 25 year badges. They will be sadly missed, as was displayed by the huge turnout at the farewell. There is no “From The Secretary” this month, but Dennis has been working hard on getting things together for the AGM, as have Terry and Sandra Fitzpatrick. We are so confident members will be happy 2
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with our state of affairs, despite the Covid affected last 12 months, that we have a car in the room on club night as well as the AGM. At this stage only one sitting committee member has announced they will not seek re-election, but please don’t let that dissuade members wanting to put some more back into the branch putting their names forward for committee positions. Fresh ideas can be very helpful. Our May Run has been set by Nathalie Descat and Marcus McKee, with the assistance of Les Martin. This is the first run they have put together, lets make sure we support it on the day. The May midweekers run is covered later in this issue, and again with new organisers it would be great to see a bumper turnout. In June we have our annual prize giving, the Swap Meet in July and the Sulphur City Rally in August, as we attempt to get our program back to normality.
Des & Angie’s farewell afternoon tea at the clubrooms on May 2nd Side Curtains May 2021
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April Car in the Room
by Ken Thomas
1973 Citroen DS23 Pallas (DS punned to Déesse translates to Goddess in French - quite appropriate) I spotted her mid last year, of all places on Trademe having already looked for a classic to purchase for some time. It was listed on a Saturday, my wife Jude and I viewed on the Sunday and bought it on the Monday (much to Alan J’s annoyance!). We love driving her, taking her out on runs most weekends. The most memorable trip to date is a week long trip around Tongariro National Park, October 2020, with a group from the Citroen Club. This car has been fortunate to have been used regularly, properly and thoroughly maintained by her previous owners using marque specialists who knew and understood what these cars were about. This is a special car and you feel more like a custodian than an owner. The Citroen DS concept and design took about 18 years to get to production which pre-dates the beginning of WWII. The principal architect of the Citroen DS project was the brilliant and accomplished French engineer André Lefèbvre. He was also principally responsible for the Traction Avant, the H series Citroën trucks and vans, and the 2CV as well. Italian sculptor and Industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni styled the car. Paul Magès, a young engineer with no formal training, developed the hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension. The initial design brief was simple, fast travel on poor road surfaces. He later professed that if he had been trained then he would never have developed this type of suspension. Citroën built 1,455,746 examples across six countries, of which 1,330,755 were manufactured at Citroën’s main Paris Quai de Javel (now Quai André-Citroën) production plant. The original DS19 was launched on 5th October 1955 at the Paris Motor Show. In the first 15 minutes of the show, 743 orders were taken, and orders for the first day reached 12,000. During the 10 days of the show, the DS 4
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took in 80,000 deposits; a record that stood for over 60 years. The DS placed third in the 1999 “Car of the Century” poll recognizing the world’s most influential auto designs. It was also named the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine. In 2009 the magazine asked car designers “What is the most beautiful car ever?” Included were former McLaren designer Gordon Murray; Ian Callum famed for his Jaguar and Aston Martin designs; Leonardo Fioravanti of famous Italian design shop Pininfarina/Ferrari; and Marcello Gandini of Bertone. The DS was a clear winner! The Citroen DS’s hydraulics perform many functions including: • Hydropneumatic suspension including an automatic leveling system and variable ground clearance. • First production car to have disc brakes. These were inboard to reduce unsprung weight. • Rack and Pinion power steering. Other party tricks include: • Fibreglass roof which lowered the centre of gravity and so reduced weight transfer. • Aluminium bonnet reduces weight and reduces weight transfer as well. • Directional inner turning headlamps turn with the front wheels allowing the driver to ‘see around the corner’. • Aerodynamically efficient. This car has a drag coefficient of 0.34 • Wide front and narrow rear track reduces understeer. The Citroen DS was a car many years ahead of its time.
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Chairman’s Run Sunday, 21 March
by Dennis Whimp
What a great way to spend Sunday. Having lunch with 45 happy car enthusiasts with their 20 club vehicles surrounded by gleaming radiators on the Rolls Royce cars in Chairman Dave’s large Ngongotaha shed. Each year it is the Chairman’s privilege to organise a run for club eligible vehicles, the winner of which receives a trophy at the June awards dinner. There is no problem taking a modern vehicle if you don’t have a club vehicle, but you can’t win the trophy. This year Dave set a simple run, leaving from his Ngongotaha shed, out around the mountain on Paradise Valley road, onto Pukehangi and Springfield Roads, and back to the shed. A request for navigators before we started was a great idea and meant that each car had at least two in it. The directions were plain and simple, but the many questions had a few scratching their heads and resulted in a wonderful slow drive as letterboxes and signs were scanned for the answers. The shops at the Springfield/ Otonga Road intersection must have wondered what was going on as all the carparks were full of club cars with people out reading all the fine print to find out what the 5 letter word was that went in front of “Beautiful”. What complicated it was that there was the Beauty Therapy Skin Clinic there with lots of written advertising on the window plus a large power box sign written about Jean Batten, the beautiful aviator. The answer was on the veranda signwriting above the parked vehicles. CRAZYBEAUTIFUL. (a hairdressing salon). Although I pass by these shops regularly, the run showed me how you miss the detail. Just to make sure he had a winner, Dave had 3 questions at the end of the run that he asked of each driver. These were based on the March magazine covers and only two cars got all 3 correct. We then had a tasty finger food lunch very kindly prepared and provided by Dave and Fleur. Later Dave said it was cheaper to put on lunch rather than go on a run as last month they spent more than that on fuel for the two V8s that he and Fleur drove. Many thanks Dave and Fleur, a really enjoyable day. 6
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CHAIRMAN’S RUN VEHICLES & DRIVERS 1929 Austin 7 - Bill Skelton 1938 Buick Special - Ralph Bennett 1938 Morris 8 - Joe Hossack 1951 Armstrong Siddeley Whitley - John Newson 1949 Riley RMB - Alan Barnes 1959 Austin-Healy Sprite - Ross Munro 1957 Vauxhall Velox - Neil Handley 1958 Studebaker Golden Hawk - Neville Harper 1973 Rover P6 - Tom Fyfe 1967 Jaguar E Type - Alan Judd 1968 Triumph Vitesse - Bob Mackay 1975 Triumph Stag - Roger Nelson 1972 MG Midget - Jason Munro 1973 Citroen DS - Ken Thomas 1964 Riley - Terry Wadsworth 1970 Triumph 2000 - Ronald Mayes 1981 Mercedes Benz 280CE - Shona Wickham 1990 Ford Capri - Kevin Scott Modern - Michael Thorne
April Night Run
by Fleur Tomlinson
Kate and I arrived at the clubrooms to help Ronald, Gloria, Carol, Neville and Ralph set up. Tables were quickly put up and set all ready for dinner. Carol and Neville had already been in and done the spuds so we set about getting things ready for the rest of the night. Wasn’t long before other club members started arriving. Michael with his newly purchased Alfa GTV6 which soon had its bonnet up and the male folk inspecting it inside and out. It was a great turn out of cars and members from old to modern. We were soon sitting down to warm dinner of Peas, Pie and Spuds. Thanks to Couplands for the yummy pies and Ronald for going and getting them. Ralph for being the spud masher which has become his job. Carol, your kitchen skills were par excellence and not a thing was out of place all night. Ronald and Gloria were soon dishing out plate after plate of warm food. Side Curtains May 2021
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After full bellies were had by us all we were soon given instructions by Ronald about the Night Run and given the instruction sheets. Some cryptic questions which threw you off and made you think but its all part of the course. We soon had our torches at the ready, engines revving and we were off. The run took us around town finding clues which were mostly mottos to do with schools, businesses and a few other places filling in the gaps on the pages. With trying not to hold up too much traffic and not getting tooted at we managed to make our way around the course without any accidents, injury or breakdown. One car lost their headlights and had to go back home and change cars mid course, but we all got there in the end. The tie breaker questions were very interesting to say the least and taught us all something about our city and the streams that run underneath it (who knew there 3 of them we do now). Dessert time thanks to Carol’s amazing baking skills we had the most yummy Chocolate Brownie (still waiting for the recipe Carol) with ice cream, berry coulis and whipped cream. I guess we find out who will be putting on the run next year at the Prize Giving when the results will announced. Thank you to everyone to who helped make the night a fun night for us all. Especially Ronald and Gloria. Night Run Entrants Neville and Carol Harper - 1958 Studebaker Neil and Sharon Handley - 1957 Vauxhall Tom and Olive Fyfe - 1973 Rover Geoff and Christine Nitz - Modern Fleur and Kate Tomlinson - 1977 Mercedes-Benz Dave and Alex Tomlinson - 1979 Rolls-Royce Alan and George Judd - 1963 Jaguar Pat Burr & Shona Wickham - 1981 Mercedes-Benz Dennis Brown & Jenny Cole - Modern Michael Thorne - 1985 Alfa Romeo John and Gay Newson - 1951 Armstrong-Siddeley (continued on next page...) 8
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Bill and Adelai Skelton - Modern Terry Fitzpatrick & Dennis Whimp - 1973 BMW Roger & Diana Nelson - 1975 Triumph Jo. Hossack & Maree - 1938 Morris Bob & Pat MacKay - Modern
Midweekers - “The First Run”
by Jenny Cole and Dennis Brown Wednesday, 26th May - 10am at the clubrooms First, we must thank Bob and Pat Mackay for organising midweek runs for the last 6 years. Dennis and I will try and follow their example and organise some varied and interesting venues, but if anyone has any suggestions for places you would like to visit, these will be gratefully received. For the May Run we will meet at the clubrooms at 10am for morning tea. We will leave around 10.30am, individually, to avoid forming a convoy, heading for Cambridge and lunch at The Bikery Café at the Avantidrome at 15 Hamlin Road. At 1pm we will have an organised tour of the Avantidrome. I am afraid there is a $15pp cost for the tour. We have been told that during the tour, high performance riders will be practicing. This could include some of our Olympians, either speed or endurance riders, putting in some final practice, before leaving for Tokyo in a few weeks. For our June Run we will be visiting the C&R Developments Car Museum at 162 Hanson Road, Cambridge. They have a collection which includes cars, trucks and heavy machinery. The cost for this is $5pp. Lunch will be at a café in Cambridge. Venue TBA. For July, Ralph Bennett has very kindly offered to show members a new project he is just starting on at his shed at Lake Okareka. The restoration of a 1953 Humber Super Snipe. We will then have lunch somewhere locally and will advise the venue in due course. Hope to see you on 26th. Jenny and Dennis Side Curtains May 2021
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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 & AGM - May 12th Neil Hunt Park - 7.30pm Car In The Room: 1951 Armstrong-Siddeley Followed by tea, coffee and biscuits.
May Club Run
by Nathalie Descat Sunday, May 16th - 11am at the clubrooms Meet at the club house at 11am for tea and bikkies, first car away around 11.30am. There will be a marshall along the run for a small fun activity. There is food available for sale at the location where the run ends. The run is about 85km and should take about two hours. There will be prizes and the return journey should be a bit quicker (in your own time).
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
NUMBERS
by Ronald Mayes Amongst the paper treasures donated to the club by Reg. Munro’s family there was an April 1975 list of 201 new nationwide members , presumably those who had joined during the financial year. Their vehicles ranged in age from 44 to 66 years, having all been built between 1909 and 1931. Of the 225 vehicles only 42 were British, 1 was French and the rest were American, including 33 Ford Model As. Of the motorcycles there were only 7 American (Harley Davidsons and Indians) but 14 of British manufacture. I wonder how many of these vehicles still exist?
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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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APRIL’S NIGHT RUN
APRIL’S NIGHT RUN