“Dripfeed” NEWSLETTER OF THE BANKS PENINSULA BRANCH OF THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB OF New Zealand (INC) VOLUME 43, No 1 February 2020. Editor: Michael Williams 10 Selwyn Parade Lyttelton Ph 328 8043, email mimiandmichael@yahoo.co.nz
Chairman: Secretary:
Club Officers: Craig Keenan 322 1006 Ron Hasell 942 1105
Branch Address: 27 Showgate Ave, ChCh 8042 E-mail: bankspeninsula@vcc.org.nz Noggin & Natter: 2nd Thursday of the Month
Noggin 7.30 pm at the Papanui RSA. Upham Room – enter either from 55 Bellvue Ave or the first entrance on the left on Harewood Road (Papanui / Main North Road) Thursday 9th of February. We look forward to seeing you there. Supper is provided.
From the Editor: Welcome to 2020 and another year of motoring. I spent some of the break reading through the early editions of Dripfeed that Richard Foster has given the club, and it’s impossible not to feel nostalgic, and somewhat regretful that they were indeed the Good Old Days. At the National Veteran Rally of 1982 for example, there were 78 cars, and in that same year John Surtees was at the Classic Motorcycle Registrar’s meeting at Ruapuna. The Ashley Forest Hillclimb had 31 entries. FTD for cars was set by Don Suckling in the GCS Special, with Geoff Owen setting the FTD for Vintage cars in his Bentley. Graham Henry was the fastest overall, on his AJS. Other entrants included Kieft, Riley, Vauxhall, Frazer Nash, Buckler, Fiat, Ace, AJS, Triumph, and Jaguar, Citroen and V8 Specials. The inevitable gaggle of A7s of course, but what a wonderfully diverse field of interesting cars and drivers. It’s hard to imagine Clynt Inns fitting into an A 7 in 1982 let alone driving one. There was a 24 second gap between his slowest and fastest times, so perhaps he got lost. Max Fleming of Flemings Road Balcairn died recently. Max was approached some 26 years ago by Phil Jelfs to see if we could use his farm for a mudplug type event, and of course he agreed. Without his tolerance, kindness and good humour over the years, the event would not exist, and as a club we are very grateful indeed. Because of Max, the Fleming family have continued to allow us to use their property for the Balcairn Trial, and we extend our sympathy to his family.
The 2020 Skope Classic race meeting at Ruapuna has just concluded, and we as a branch were involved in a different way. Don Gerard, who races a Mistral, was concerned that numbers and interest in racing was slipping away, and suggested that we organise a display of cars that had a local racing history. Don started contacting various owners, we were duly allocated an area by the main gate, and over the weekend there were up to 20 cars in the display area. Some of them were cars that had taken part in the recent Targa events, others just turned up on the day through word of mouth, and the whole thing was a great success, with a steady stream of people coming to have a look. Most of the cars had their history attached in some form, and of course the owners loved talking about their cars. Highlights for me were the Ford 10 Special that Alan Bryce brought up from Invercargill, the Buckler, and the Railton that’s been in the Shand family since 1949. I discovered that John Chamberlain’s white XK120, was timed at 132mph while in Sybill Lupp’s ownership,( thus making it an XK 132) and that Andrew McGuire’s XK 140 was once traded for the Lycoming. The ex John Rush Mini de Joux, now owned by Geoff Edwards, attracted lots of interest, and still holds some Gold Star hillclimb records in Otago. A highlight for spectators and owners alike was the chance to do three laps of the circuit, at lunchtime, while I helped announcer Lindsay Kerr with details about the cars and drivers as they drove round. The Canterbury Car Club was very pleased with the display and the lunchtime laps and has asked us to do the same again next year. Many thanks to all the people who had their cars on display, and special thanks to Don Gerard, who thought of the idea in the first place. Welcome to new member Kent Larsen, with a 1962 Jaguar E Type Coupe. This is the famous Scott Wiseman car, complete with spoiler that has been in the Larsen family for many years. Kent has brought it back to life, and was racing it at Ruapuna.
Coming Events: Sunday 16th of February, Picnic Run. Digby Gemmell and Pat O’Connor have organised a picnic run that will assemble at the VTNZ carpark in Radcliffe Road, Northwood at 10.00am, ready for a 10.30 start. An interesting route involving some shingle roads, with a lunch stop at Ashley Gorge, so bring provisions.
Past Events: New Years Day Picnc at Little River. The usual group of suspects, but this year there were about 12 vintage cars, well up on last year. The Triumph Club must have got there at dawn to display their wares, but there was an interesting variety of cars to be looked at, and the usual amount of mocking and sneering was to be heard from the assembled experts as they made their laps of honour. For most, it’s an interesting day, but for Peter Croft, club puritan and upholder of Proper Standards, it’s purgatory. Peter has written us an interesting letter in which he suggests that there be a drafting gate at the entrance, with cars sent to allotted areas that reflect their age, and cars that don’t meet any standards at all to be parked out on the road. When the event first started at the Hororata Pub carpark, this system of motoring apartheid was strictly enforced, but alas, standards have slipped, and class distinction has been consigned to history. Peter is keen to revert to the Good Old Days, and
is only too keen to be on the drafting gate for next year. He likens the VCC to a Bridge Club that has been told that all members must now play Happy Families and Snap, instead of Bridge. An excellent analogy, some would say. Sic transit gloria mundi.
Lake Coleridge Station. Tony Airs from Coalgate is the lucky owner of the splendid 1916 FN. This Belgian car was first purchased by the Murchison family, who owned the Lake Coleridge Station for over a century. The FN had a few other owners after the Murchisons, and was eventually owned by Cave Archer, who worked for the Murchison family in the Weka Pass. Julian Loughnan bought the FN from the Archer estate in 1954, for 10 pounds, restored it, and motored it enthusiastically. Tony Ayres bought the FN from Julian in 1998.. Tony has a photo of the FN outside the Murchison homestead, taken in about 1913/14, and with encouragement from good friend Richard Foster, thought that he would like to duplicate the photo while both car and owner are in fine fettle. So it came to pass that a small support group of four cars assembled for morning tea at Terrace Station in Hororata with Richard and Kate Foster before setting off. It was an eclectic mix, with a 1911 Model T, a 1924 Sunbeam, an Austin Healey 100/4 and the editorial Citroen D. Mercifully, the tone was raised considerably when we met Tony in the FN and Tony Tripp from Snowden Station, in the sublime 1929 Bentley 4 and a half, the famous ex Lucy Wills car. Upon arrival at the homestead, which hasn’t been lived in for 12 years, we discovered that a pesky laurel hedge had grown up in the exact spot where the FN needed to be to duplicate the old photo, so in the absence of a chain saw, photos were taken in other places in the grounds. The homestead is a huge and rambling villa, with large verandahs and many interesting outbuildings, so it was a real thrill to be able to see it. Richard Foster and Tony Tripp gave us a bit of background history of the place; we had lunch and then proceeded to Snowden, where Tony had offered to show us through his museum of Snowden and Bentley memorabilia. Absolutely fascinating, especially for me, because Tony had some Citroen DS parts sitting in a shed and he kindly gave them to me. Tony’s father bought a new Citroen DS 19 in London in 1956, and with a teenage Tony and other family members on board, set off for Glasgow, where the DS collapsed. There was something of a delay while the suitable hydropneumatique fluid was brought over from France, as there was none in the UK. Once fixed, the Tripp family drove the DS around Europe before bringing it back to NZ, and they subsequently owned other DS models. Tony has happy memories of the DS, so I generously offered to exchange his Bentley for my DS. I could see he was tempted, but he felt other family members might be a bit upset. So some wonderful motoring in a magnificent part of the world, and a day that gave Tony Airs great pleasure to see his lovely car go back home.
The FN at home
Dealer details on the FN
Sunbeam plus Fosters
The Tony Tripp Bentley: One of New Zealand’s most significant vintage vehicles
Skope Classic at Ruapuna: A field of 22 boy racers entered the Murray Maxwell VCC field this year, and there were some welcome new editions. Perhaps for the first time, we had a grandfather and grandson racing, with grandfather Gordon Dacombe in his Daimler SP250, and grandson Jarred in that most unlikely of track cars, a Nash Metropolitan convertible. With twin carbs, disc brakes, different wheels and other sundry mods, the Kelvinator Special went very well indeed, until one of the wheels decided to go exploring, leaving the Nash looking rather Morganesque. There was a welcome return by the Stanton Special, otherwise known as the Cropduster. Driven by Tim Mauger, this historically important car held the NZ speed record of 280kph, at Swannanoa in 1958, but in its detuned form was somewhat slower over the weekend. It hasn’t been out for about 11 years, and it was a thrill to see it, and hear it, once again. Tim it going to sort out the brakes and front suspension as he said that driving it in its present form is a nervous experience.
The other crowd pleaser was Phil Mauger in the huge Auto Union Replica, which is a replica of a 1930 Type C Auto Union that was built as a hillclimb car, thus the 4 rear tyres. With a 750 bhp Rolls Royce aero engine it sounded and looked superb, but the present gearing means it’s not as fast as it looks. And when Phil spun it coming out of the hairpin it looked amazing, although Tracey Barrett in her lovely little 1959 Lotus 7, who was very close at the time, had other adjectives.
Donald Ammon from Wakefield has built an interesting Vanguard Six Special that cost him $4,600, just a little less than the Auto Union, but the car ran well both days, and joins Donald’s other single seater, a Daimler V8 special. Mark Barrett was having his first drive in his Lotus 23 replica, and Kent Larsen added some nostalgia to the field with his aero foiled E type. John McDonagh won the Mistral battle, and the evergreen Ramon Farmer in the Ransley Riley was always consistent. Until he ran out of petrol, Mark Mcfadden in the lovely 260M Zephyr Special was going very well. Mark’s pit boy Graeme Hamilton clearly wasn’t doing his job and may face employment issues in the future.
Russell Greer in the mighty Stanton Corvette was too fast for everyone else, but Paul Coghill, in the Jaguar Special and Rob Cope-Williams in his Lotus 23B replica had a great battle for second place. Ralph Smith had the Lycoming motoring well, and it was a real pleasure to see such a varied field of wonderful old cars, and equally wonderful owners having so much fun.
Murray Maxwell’s first A7 Special.......... ...things could only improve.....
John Rush Mini, 1380cc of grunt, body by Ferris de Joux, a weapon in its day
Geoff Owen’s MG Magnette
Ford 10 Special, with parts from Fiat Topolino, Riley Kestrel, Ford 10, No 8 wire
Ex Sybil Lupp XK120. In the tender loving care of the Chamberlain family for three generations
The Mighty 2 speed Crop duster; Fast and Bloody Fast. The ultimate New Zealand Special
The Railton Straight 8. Owned by the Shand family since 1949. Capable of 125mph on a very good day......... (the car that is)