“Dripfeed” NEWSLETTER OF THE BANKS PENINSULA BRANCH OF THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB OF New Zealand (INC) VOLUME 44, No 2 March 2021. 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 11th of March. • We look forward to seeing you there. Supper is provided.
From the Editor: Organisation for Rallye Monte Carlo has moved up a gear. At a recent meeting of the old and new guard of organisers, the ceremonial brown manila folder was reverently handed over to Giles Gill, Controleur Supreme of the event. Speeches were made, toasts were drunk, and James Palmer, Michael Pidgeon and I passed on our institutional knowledge, and then departed, rejoicing. Already, expressions of interest are pouring in. Bruce McIlroy intends to revive the Rolls Royce team, and Andy Fox has agreed to be part of it. At the other end of motoring spectrum, David Oakley, another Asburtonite intends to enter in a VW beetle, thus proving what an egalitarian branch we are. James Palmer, undeterred by the recent serial failures of various Palmer vintage machinery, (Fiat, Unic), intends to enter in one of the family fleet, and do so properly, rather than a short country drive. Given that James has organised all of the Monties thus far, he has to be a serious contender, but finding a car that suits the formula is the key. Perhaps he’ll buy something suitable. John Hebron from Wellington sent this photo of his finally finished Lagonda Rapier. John has traced the history of the car back to the UK before it came to NZ, and has promised to get it all written down. Mind you, he told me that about two years ago. The car is very similar to one that Geoff Edwards owns.
I was speaking to Geoff recently, and he was very pleased with himself because he had just driven a manual car for the first time since his accident, and in general terms, is recovering more quickly than might have been expected. In a remarkable turn of events, he’s just sold four cars and hasn’t replaced them. I had an email from one Martin Crocker recently, writing from the UK on behalf of a friend who had just bought Bill Clarke’s Bentley. He was wondering if anyone knew of its New Zealand history. Gavin Bain was of course able to oblige in great detail, and the new owner is thrilled. He was particularly thrilled with the photo below, which James Palmer supplied. It shows Bill at the wheel of the Bentley, with John Palmer as passenger, competing in an early VCC event, probably 1952/53, and perhaps on a farm near Lincoln, to judge from the hills. I wonder if Andrew Anderson can be more precise?
And here’s another action photo of a Bentley. It shows Ron Hassel reacting with understandable horror at the sight of the monumentally ugly Vauxhall Victor as he storms the hill at the 1996 Little River Hillclimb.
Don Broome looking tense and nervous in the Imperell as he waits for the off at the Worseleys Spur Hillclimb in 1989. Will the clutch fail? Will it overheat on the way up the hill? Will he get lost?
And finally, Hamish Pidgeon in the Brescia at The Pom, Ruapuna, 1990s. Can anyone identify the other car?
Thanks to John MacDonald for finding the three historic photographs
Future Events: Saturday 20th of March. The annual West Coast Scenic Land Rally, this year called the Timber Trail Rally. It was cancelled last year, but is always a popular and well run event. Get in touch with Lynda at Kevinandlynda@callplus.net.nz 037684847.
Wednesday 24th of March. The trip to North Canterbury to see Rodin Cars is fully subscribed, and the two groups of twenty members will have all the relevant details, including routes, meeting times etc sent to them by the indefatigable Ron. If you want to go, contact Ron and put your name on a waiting list in case someone pulls out.
Sunday 18th of April. There will be branch run to a mystery destination, so mysterious in fact, that the organisers don’t know either. One of those that involves a couple of hours of interesting driving, to a lunch stop somewhere in Canterbury.
Sunday 2nd of May. The annual Ashburton Classic Plains Run. Two hours of gentle tootling on sealed roads ending up in Tinwald., if you can stand the excitement. Get in touch with Owen at owen@moorepark.net 03 3083442.
Highland Fling, 24th – 26th of April Contact Kaaren Smylie kaaren@smylie.co.nz 021 664341 07 5764180
Past Events. Skope Classic, Ruapuna. We entered a reasonable field of this year, and a good weekend of incident free racing was enjoyed by all. Russell Greer in the Stanton Corvette was an easy winner in all the races, with Paul Coghill in the HWM/Jaguar Special a worthy second. Watching young Paul drift the Jag round the sweeper before the main straight is a joy to behold. The Mistrals had a good battle, Team Barrett had their matching Lotii (plural of Lotus?) going well, Kent Larsen in the bewinged E type looked impressive, as did the Healey Corvette, which was going superbly. Organising our field for the weekend is a major task, and yet again, Ron Hassel did a marvellous job. Another marvellous job was done by Don Gerrard, who organised a display of cars with racing history. Don started this event last year, and the Canterbury Car Club were so impressed that we were asked back. Cars we hadn’t seen before included Jim Bennett’s first Furi, built 1960 with a Ford 10 supercharged motor, Austin Seven chassis and Buckler gearbox. Other parts came from Morgan, Citroen, and Morris. It is now owned by Peter Gatehouse and ripe for restoration (the Furi that is).
Another car not seen for years was the very standard looking 1965 Singer Gazelle, as modified and raced by David Craw with considerable success. The cars did a drive by demonstration at lunchtime, and I was a passenger in Craig Pidgeon’s Fiat Dino. What a fabulous car. A late entry was a Mercer, owned by Kevin Mercer, and yes, he is a distant connection of the Mercers of Mercer County in New Jersey, after which the car is named.
The Mighty Mercer
Mercer was famous for the Mercer Raceabout, one of the fastest cars of its day, and this Mercer, although not completely original, is based on many of the parts from the 1923 Mercer that Howard Natrass imported in 1923. It was entered in the 1924 New Zealand Motor Cup, which Natrass won, and was reputed to reach 135kph over a timed run. The history of the car is long and detailed. Suffice it to say that it’s enormous, with a 5 litre 4cylinder motor, and it gets along quite well. Kevin has spent a long time restoring it, and for most of us, it was the first time we had seen such an impressive and imposing machine. Mercer’s main rival at the time was Stutz, and both companies came up with some interesting advertising slogans “There’s no car worser than a Mercer” was the Stutz contribution, so Mercer came up with “You have to be nuts to drive a Stutz”. Other companies followed: “If you can’t afford a Ford, dodge a Dodge” : “If you can’t afford a Dodge, dodge a Ford” being two of the best.
The Healey Corvette
Barrett Loti
The Carlos Neate Prince GT