CLASSIC, VINTAGE AND VETERAN MOTORING FOR 76 YEARS
No. 377 August/September 2022
9 418979 000012
CLUB ACTION HADSTOCK GYMKHANA
New Zealand’s Foremost Historical Motoring Magazine $7.95
CONTROVERSY? CONTINUATIONS VS REPLICAS
RESTORATION 1911 DELAGE PROJECT
DRIVING OUR HISTORY
1918 Cadillac V8 Model 57. This was to become Alexandra Fire Brigade’s first motor appliance. Pictured here outside the Wellington Metropolitan Fire station, the vehicle was purchased from the Wellington Fire Brigade in 1933 and driven to Alexandra from Wellington by Harry Walles and Jack Carline. Photo supplied by John Hastilow Photographs Required: Submissions of suitable prints and information are welcome. Post or email original photographs or high resolution digital files of historical interest with any available information to: beadedwheels@vcc.org.nz or Beaded Wheels, PO Box 2546, Christchurch 8140. Laserprints/photocopies are not suitable. Photos will be returned as soon as practicable.
NATIONAL OFFICE
The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand (Inc.) PO Box 2546, Christchurch 8140 Phone 03 366 4461 Email admin@vcc.org.nz
VCCNZ LIFE MEMBERS Andrew Anderson Roger White Norm Dewhurst Rod Brayshaw John Coomber
VCCNZ MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
PRESIDENT Diane Quarrie 06 876 4009 president@vcc.org.nz SECRETARY/ TREASURER Christopher Leith 03 358 5378 hon.sec@vcc.org.nz CLUB CAPTAIN NORTHERN REGION Kaaren Smylie 021 664 341 nicc@vcc.org.nz CLUB CAPTAIN SOUTHERN REGION Alon Mayhew 027 202 9491 sicc@vcc.org.nz
REGISTRAR Rod Brayshaw 07 549 4250 registrar@vcc.org.nz SPEED STEWARD Tony Haycock 021 662 441 speedsteward@vcc.org.nz BEADED WHEELS CHAIRMAN Kevin Clarkson 021 0270 6525 kevin@vcc.org.nz Tony Bartlett 06 867 9850
mgmt1@vcc.org.nz
George Kear 027 221 4332
mgmt2@vcc.org.nz
COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING comms@vcc.org.nz ARCHIVIST Don Muller 03 385 6850
archivist@vcc.org.nz
Murray Trounson 03 339 8830 mgmt3@vcc.org.nz
Please note this information changes annually - these details are valid until the next AGM
VCCNZ BRANCHES A full list of branch addresses and contact details can also be found on the VCCNZ website at www.vcc.org.nz ASHBURTON PO Box 382, Ashburton 7740 ashburton@vcc.org.nz AUCKLAND PO Box 12-138, Penrose, Auckland 1642 auckland@vcc.org.nz BANKS PENINSULA 27 Showgate Ave, Riccarton Park, Christchurch 8042 bankspeninsula@vcc.org.nz BAY OF PLENTY PO Box 660, Tauranga 3140 bayofplenty@vcc.org.nz CANTERBURY PO Box 11-082, Sockburn Christchurch 8443 canterbury@vcc.org.nz CENTRAL OTAGO C/-114 Shortcut Road, Luggate, RD2, Wanaka 9382 centralotago@vcc.org.nz CENTRAL HAWKE’S BAY C/- 448 Tukituki Road, RD1, Takapau 3286 centralhawkesbay@vcc.org.nz EASTERN BAY OF PLENTY PO Box 2168, Kopeopeo Whakatane 3159 easternbayofplenty@vcc.org.nz
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FAR NORTH C/– PO Box 312 Kaitaia 0441 farnorth@vcc.org.nz GISBORNE PO Box 307, Gisborne 4040 gisborne@vcc.org.nz GORE PO Box 329, Gore 9740 gore@vcc.org.nz HAWKE’S BAY PO Box 3406, Napier 4142 hawkesbay@vcc.org.nz HOROWHENUA PO Box 458, Levin 5540 horowhenua@vcc.org.nz KING COUNTRY C/- 53 Huia Street, Taumarunui 3920 kingcountry@vcc.org.nz MANAWATU PO Box 385 Palmerston North 4440 manawatu@vcc.org.nz MARLBOROUGH PO Box 422, Blenheim 7240 marlborough@vcc.org.nz NELSON PO Box 3531, Richmond 7050 nelson@vcc.org.nz
NORTHLAND PO Box 17, Whangarei 0140 northland@vcc.org.nz NORTH OTAGO PO Box 360, Oamaru 9444 northotago@vcc.org.nz NORTH SHORE C/- 7 Godwit Place, Lynfield Auckland 1042 northshore@vcc.org.nz OTAGO C/- 21 Mornington Road, Balaclava, Dunedin 9011 otago@vcc.org.nz ROTORUA PO Box 2014, Rotorua 3040 rotorua@vcc.org.nz SOUTH CANTERBURY 19 Redruth St, Timaru 7910 southcanterbury@vcc.org.nz SOUTHLAND PO Box 1240, Invercargill 9840 southand@vcc.org.nz SOUTH OTAGO C/- 1931 Breakneck Rd, RD 4, Balclutha 9274 southotago@vcc.org.nz SOUTH WAIKATO PO Box 403 Tokoroa 3420 southwaikato@vcc.org.nz
TARANAKI C/- PO Box 39029, Egmont Village 4361 taranaki@vcc.org.nz TAUPO PO Box 907, Taupo 3351 taupo@vcc.org.nz WAIKATO PO Box 924, Hamilton 3240 waikato@vcc.org.nz WAIMATE 4 Harris St, Waimate 7924 waimate@vcc.org.nz WAIRARAPA PO Box 7, Masterton 5810 wairarapa@vcc.org.nz WAITEMATA C/- 9 Marlborough Ave, Glenfield, Auckland 0629 waitemata@vcc.org.nz WANGANUI PO Box 726, Whanganui 4540 wanganui@vcc.org.nz WELLINGTON PO Box 38-418, Petone, Wellington 5045 wellington@vcc.org.nz WELLSFORD/WARKWORTH PO Box 547, Warkworth 0941 wellsfordwarkworth@vcc.org.nz WEST COAST C/- 1999 Kumara Junction Highway, RD 2, Hokitika 7882 westcoast@vcc.org.nz
CONTENTS
Beaded Wheels Publisher
The Vintage Car Club of NZ (Inc.) The Historic Vehicle Authority of New Zealand ISSN 0113-7506 Vol LXXIII No. 377
Issue 377 August/September 2022
Editorial Committee
Kevin Clarkson (Chairman), Judith Bain, Rosalie Brown, John Coomber, Mark Dawber, Greg Price.
Material for Publication
Reports of restorations, events, road tests, historical and technical articles should be submitted to beadedwheels@vcc.org.nz. Email of text and photos is preferred, digital photographs should be high resolution eg 300dpi. Alternatively mail your contribution to PO Box 2546, Christchurch 8140, typed or neatly printed. No payment is made to contributors. The opinions or statements expressed in letters or articles in Beaded Wheels are the author’s own views and do not necessarily express the policy or views of The Vintage Car Club of NZ (Inc).
Email beadedwheels@vcc.org.nz Advertising Enquiries
Classified and Display Advertising to: PO Box 2546, Christchurch 8140. Email beadedwheels@vcc.org.nz Phone 64 3 332 3531 Rate schedule available on request.
Back Issues Available on request to PO Box 2546, Christchurch 8140.
Correspondence & Editorial Contributions
FEATURES 14 16 20 24 28 32 34 37
Phone 64 3 332 3531, Fax 64 3 366 0273 PO Box 2546, Christchurch 8140. Email beadedwheels@vcc.org.nz
Subscriptions
Beaded Wheels subscribers change of address to: PO Box 2546, Christchurch 8140. Phone 03 366 4461, Fax 03 366 0273 Annual subscription (6 issues) $52* inc GST Australian subscription (6 issues) NZ$112* Other countries (6 issues) NZ$185* Digital subscription (6 issues) NZ$39 available from vcc.org.nz or issuu.com. *Payment by credit card incurs additional bank fee processing charge of 3%
Production
Design: RGB Design & Print Ltd, Christchurch
Closing Date for October/November:
Editorial Copy 26 August 2022 Advertisements 10 September 2022
The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand (Inc.)
44
A Delage Delight David Hall, VCC Waikato Branch Founder member, made a super restoration of this Delage Replicas Vs Continuations John Dennehy looks into the murky world of replicas
Delage restoration
14
A Princess…That’s an Austin, isn’t it? Behind The Wheel Austin J40 A Young Lad and an Old Talbot 1931 Austin 7 John McDonald recalls his first vintage car Russolini Formula Junior Build
Wanganui Annual Rally
37
Hadstock
38
Rally Snippets 37 Wanganui Annual Rally – Wanganui 38 Hadstock Driving Tests – Banks Peninsula 40 Irishman 2022 - Canterbury My First Ride in a 1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom 1
COLUMNS 4
President’s Message
13
The Way We Were
4
As We See It
45
Book Review
5
VCC Branch Events
46
Marketplace
6
National Office
51
Swap Meets & Rallies
7
Mailbag
54
Trade Directory
9
Timelines
55
Idle Torque
12
Soapbox
67
Passing Lane
National Office Phone 03 366 4461 Email admin@vcc.org.nz
Postal Address: PO Box 2546,
Market Place
Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.
46
Address: 12 Aberdeen St, Christchurch, New Zealand. Website: www.vcc.org.nz Copyright Information
The contents are copyright. Articles may be reproduced complete or in part provided that acknowledgement is made to “Beaded Wheels, the magazine of The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand (Inc)” as the source. Reproduction of articles must be at least 12 months after original Beaded Wheels publication date. Beaded Wheels reserves the right to digitally store all published material for archival purposes.
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COVER Sam Deavoll chose a 1961 Land Rover 88 to contest the 2022 Hadstock Driving Tests, run by the Banks Peninsula Branch. See page 38. Photo John McDonald.
The Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens (FIVA) is the worldwide organisation dedicated to the preservation, protection and promotion of historic vehicles and related culture. The Vintage Car Club of NZ (Inc) is a founding member of FIVA. VCCNZ Registrar Rod Brayshaw is the New Zealand delegate to FIVA and also a member of the FIVA Technical Commission.
DRIVING OUR HISTORY
THE WONDERFUL TROUBLED WORLD OF
REPLICAS Vs CONTINUATIONS Words and photos John Dennehy
Thinking of building a replica? John Dennehy has a word of caution…
If you ever find yourself in the south of England wandering around the back streets of terraced homes in suburban Surrey, you’d be hard pressed to notice a small alleyway halfway down one such street. This is the home of Richard Stuart Williams Ltd, better known simply as RSW, a moniker bandied about by those fortunate enough to have had their classic breathed on by Richard and his team over more than five decades, and where the TV cameras headed to, to make the documentary “Stars and their Cars” in the 1990s. It’s also where, in 1991 and 1992, the world of continuation cars kicked off when RSW, in collaboration with Aston Martin Lagonda (AML), oversaw the build of six so called Sanction 2 DB4 Zagatos, of which only 19 had been built in period and saw success on the track in the 1960s, taking on Ferrari and Jaguar in epic sports car battles worldwide. For some, the DB4 Zagato was even more beautiful to the eye than the Ferrari 250GTO, although I concede it’s a close run thing. Importantly, AML agreed to pass on six AML period chassis numbers to RSW for the builds.
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To give some idea of the financial imperative driving these prime marque continuation builds, an original DB4 GT Zagato can command up to $40m, and a Sanction 2 RSW, more than $10m. Phew! Jump forward to 2019 and now AML itself is in the game, producing a further limited run of ‘tool-room’ copies of the car and to no great surprise, significantly beefed up with over a 100hp more on tap than the original. But you couldn’t just rock up and buy one, even if you had the $8m+ (yes, really) sitting around doing nothing else as you would already own a ‘significant’ modern Aston, and, wait for it, also order one of the ‘new’ continuation DB4 GTs, the whole package setting back the lucky few about $12m. Gulp. AML will tell you these are ‘continuations’ but they are in effect, replicas, as unlike the Sanction 2 Zagatos, they don’t have period validated chassis and as a result these new AML factory cars aren’t road legal in the UK. Undeterred and given the queue of buyers, AML has also now built 25 Goldfinger DB5s, with all the clever gubbins (the ejector seat, doesn’t, for obvious reasons — they’re no
▲▼ Spot the original – which of these is the original Jaguar? Photo above is a 1952 Jaguar C-Type replica on a 1967 Jaguar chassis, below is an original classic C type Jaguar.
fun these AML people) for a modest $6m+ a pop. And no, you can’t drive these on the road but for $3m a pop plus change, you can of course fire up the smoke gun from the rear and foul up the washing on the line.
Other manufacturers had also caught on to the opportunity. In 2015 Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) announced the build of a further six factory E Type lightweights, circumventing the need to comply them with modern standards by claiming (rather conveniently) that the six chassis numbers to be used were merely hibernating somewhere after the fire at their famous Browns Lane factory in 1957. This after 12 of the race modified cars had been built. An original will set you back a modest $11m or so, and a continuation a snip at $3-4m. And they haven’t stopped there; a further 25 D Types, echoing those famous Le Mans wins in the mid 1950s, and a clutch of stunning C Types will all be built, again, and unlike the continuation E Types, neither being capable of being road registered. (The catch here is that neither Aston nor Jaguar qualify for small manufacturer compliance exemptions under UK regulations – ironic to say the least.) In the US, Carroll Shelby didn’t hold back. His company Shelby America building hundreds of street legal Cobras, true to the originals as practicable and whose values hold steady at around $400-500k a pop. To collar an original in period early 60s CSX chassis Cobra is a more frightening seven figures. Needless to say, and understandably, the wonderful simplicity and brute force of the Cobra design has spawned any number of replicas worldwide. Just to liven up the whole continuation scene, Lister has resurrected the stunning and stunningly successful 1957 Lister Knobbly in a series of continuations that as well as being a serious track weapon, are road legal under the small manufacturer regulations. Yours for about $1.5m. Not to be outdone in the old rising from the ashes trick, comes Allard with a continuation of their 1950s JR Sports Racer, although I see that a recent car offered for sale at about $300k hasn’t found a home. The many superb engineers and coachbuilders in Italy haven’t missed out on the fun either. For me, one of the all-time great small sports cars, is the Alfa Romeo TZ1. In period (1963-7) about 124 were built and to quote a wag from Motorsport some years ago, ‘only 500 survived’. Most of the rest were probably built on Alfa Giulia chassis which they shared and I’d happily have one should a few hundred thousand dollars drop my way. Alfa GTAs and Maserati Tipo 60 Birdcages have had similar flatteries bestowed on them and on unsuspecting buyers. Here’s where it gets uncomfortable, so hang on to the steering wheel of your replica while you digest the latest from a Swedish High Court operating, presumably, under the wider jurisdiction of the EU of which that country is a law-abiding member.
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