SIDE CURTAINS
SIDE CURTAINS The magazine of the
ROTORUA VINTAGE AND VETERAN CAR CLUB
SEPTEMBER 2017
WE’RE NOW ON FACEBOOK ! www.rotoruavintagecarclub.org.nz
Sulphur City Rally 2017
SIDE CURTAINS - September 2017 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 Treasurer - Terry Fitzpatrick Club Captain - vacant Asst. Club Captain - Kevin Scott Committee Bob Mackay Roger Nelson John Peters Lois Thompson Terry Wadsworth Cliff Wickham
CONTENTS Chairman’s Report From The Secretary Sulphur City Rally e-Bikes Pirongia Club Run August Midweekers Buy Sell Swap Upcoming Midweek Runs Events Calendar
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Patron - Bob Mowbray Mid Weekers - Bob Mackay Side Curtains Editor - David Tomlinson rvvcc.editor@gmail.com Beaded Wheels - Ronald Mayes Librarian - Roger Couchman Asst Librarian - John Kirkland Cards/Flowers - Doreen Green
Cover Photos Front - Sulphur City Rally 2017 Back - Daffodil Day Deliveries
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 September 2017
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Chairman’s Report
- August 2017 by David Tomlinson
Well August was a busy month, with the social dinner, club night, midweekers, Sulphur City Rally and for me there was also committee night and the VCC AGM in Blenheim. The VCC AGM was held in brisk but fine weather, which helped as there was a 500 metre walk to the meeting from the accommodation. Both motions from the postal votes were lost. The threshold for change is very high, and the lost motion regarding changing the membership application form structure had more than 65% approval. Only 19% of members voted, so one could argue only about 480 of our 8000 plus members voted against the change, so not sure the VCC’s current processes for change could ever work efficiently. I raised that point from the floor at the meeting. Regardless of the application form’s structure, all new members have to be approved by a branch committee as part of the process so I am not sure what it was about changing the existing form upset those 480 members so much... Club night in August was a busy affair, with the Wickham’s Anglia on display, electric bikes for members to try and a medical emergency thrown in too. The meeting ended a little chaotically before some housekeeping issues were dealt with, particularly the delayed club run for September. There is an item about this run elsewhere in this issue. The Sulphur City Rally was held in light occasional rain, with a good turn out of just under 60 vehicles, including many brave soles in vintage cars. The afternoon activities had to be abandoned as they were on grass and it was too soggy. I cannot understand how so many cars were clean at the lunch venue, when mine was brown all over after the forestry roads. Was there a big “drive through dip” that I missed? Thanks to branch members who helped with delivering daffodils to businesses the Tuesday before the Rally, and those who took part in the Daffodil Day run to raise money. I believe we raised just over $300, and there were some interesting visitor cars on the run, including a lovely E-Type Jaguar, a big V8 Torana and some club members cars we don’t often see. It was also good to see Dave Mayhew on his Douglas Dragonfly bike. 2
Side Curtains September 2017
We are still on the lookout for a Club Captain. If you are at all interested, even if you do not want to commit, please contact me or Kevin Scott. Please note our “fluid� events calendar at the back of this issue. We have delayed our September run to coincide with a great opportunity on 1st October in Pirongia, and we have our 2-4 day event to Whanganui in early November. In October we have nothing planned as of yet, but one option may be to take part in displaying at a car show being held at the Ngongotaha Domain on the Saturday of Labour weekend. The week after our club run on October 1st there is Brits At The Beach from 6-8 October at Whangamata, and there is also a vintage truck and tractor show on 2-3 December in Thames, so lots to do around our own events. Our annual Lakefront Car Show will take place on Sunday, January 21st 2018, more details to follow in future issues. I hope to see you at a club event soon.
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FROM THE SECRETARY by Dennis Whimp
Welcome to new members A big welcome to Greg and Veronica Adams. They have some excellent club eligible V8s including a Jensen, a Monaro and Shelby Cobra roadster. We look forward to seeing these vehicles at club events in future. Des Brunton has sold his 1937 Morris 8 after 37 years of ownership. It has gone to Palmerston North. He is now being driven in style in the 1964 Traveller.
August Car in the Room
The Wickham’s 1963 Anglia 105E
by Dennis Whimp
We were going to have the Harper’s 1931 Studebaker President as the August car in the room, but a check of the height at the home garage showed that we had no trouble getting the bonnet into the clubrooms but that was it. The back springs were very rigid so a big load in the rear made no difference and we weren’t going to let the tyres down to the rims so Cliff brought his 1963 Anglia 105E along and gave us an entertaining talk on his acquiring it. He purchased it in 1998 from his next door neighbour. These cars with their 998cc engines were bullet proof and many were modified, rallied and raced. So he was pretty amused when the lass next door who owned the vehicle managed to destroy 3 engines. Cliff didn’t say if she was his best customer. So Cliff bought it, did a bare metal respray and fitted a 1500cc motor which makes it very motorable. 4
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Sulphur City Rally - 26 August by Cliff Wickham
Where do I start? At the beginning, Shona says. Friday night we caught up with fellow competitors at the clubrooms where the team put together a very nice dinner. Saturday morning we left the clubrooms with clear instructions as to where to go, leave 7 streets on the right? Nearly got caught but the next instruction made us think again, around the mountain and into straight line was well done and easy to follow, straight ahead rule worked well, the angle of one of the road signs had us thinking again. Around Kaharoa found the coin (Penny) road and carried on around to Manitutu Rd through the forest and found the lunch stop. A hangi lunch was provided and enjoyed by all, unfortunately too wet for a planned gymkhana, Prize-giving and dinner was again held at the Sudima hotel with everyone enjoying a great night. A big thanks to the team for organising a top rally that had us thinking all of the run and caused lots of discussion on some of the finer points from some of the visitors. Looking forward to the next one. The Grey Ghost MYSTERY CARS FROM LAST MONTH’S ISSUE OF SIDE CURTAINS
1953 Dodge ‘Zeder’ Storm Z-250 by Bertone Side Curtains September 2017
1965 Jensen P66 prototype 5
Electric Bikes - August Club Night
by Dennis Whimp
As well as having Cliff ’s Anglia in the room at the August club night, we invited Bryce Shapley of Cyclezone to bring along some electric bikes and talk about them. Bryce was a NZ representative cyclist and rode professionally in Europe for a while. He then returned to NZ to run the cycle side of Key Services. In 2010 he opened a new shop Cyclezone in Fenton Street beside Valentines. Bryce explained that 18 months ago he might get one query a month for e-bikes but now they are his biggest sellers. The important component of all e-bikes is the battery pack. Each cylindrical battery is a bit bigger than an AA size and they are grouped in packs of 4. Bike packs have between 30 and 50 batteries producing 36 to 48 volts. For comparison, the Tesla model S uses 7,104 of the same sized batteries. The bike battery packs weigh about 7 to 7.5 kg and most e-bikes weigh around 21kg. A replacement battery pack costs around $800 to $1200 but unless you live on the bike, your bottom will give out before the battery does. Bryce showed us 4 models starting with the entry level step through hub drive with a throttle that has five levels of assistance. Then through various pedal crank assist models including a $9,000 mountain bike that with flat out pedalling could out drag most cars. These ones had a torque sensor so the more power you put on the pedals, the more e-power is delivered. They have a single front chain ring and an 8 chain ring rear so you can ride it as a conventionally geared bike. Much of the world including Europe and Australia restrict top speed to 25 km/h but NZ doesn’t have this so some of our e-bikes can easily do 45km/h. Most ebikes have hydraulic 4 piston disk brakes to ensure safe stopping. Because the batteries are almost impossible to extinguish should they catch fire, there is a huge set of safety measures built in. Regardless of this, all airlines will not carry e-bikes. It wasn’t raining so we put the various models to the test by riding them around the carpark with headlights blazing. By the hoots of laughter, I think Bryce was lucky they didn’t disappear into the darkness at 45 km/h. 6
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“September” Club Run - 1 October 2017 by Kevin Scott The branch run for September will actually take place on Sunday, 1st of October. The run will be to Pirongia Village to visit and view an impressive collection of classics owned by Rodney McDonald. The date is has been chosen by our host as it coincides with the annual Pirongia Craft Fair which starts at 9am. It is recommended that those wanting to go make their own way to Pirongia and visit the Fair at your leisure. Our host has suggested that on arrival we turn left into McClure St at the Service Station, then go to the end off the street and turn right into Baffin St. This street will be blocked off but tell the traffic control people that you are part of the group that will be visiting Mr McDonald’s later in the day, they should let you through and we will park on the grassed area along Baffin St. We will depart Baffin St at approximately 12.45pm for a very short drive to the McDonald’s where we will have lunch in their gardens. After lunch and a casual walk through the gardens we will be able to check out the car collection. The trip home will again be at your leisure. Please note daylight saving will have kicked in by this weekend so there will be a little less pressure to get home in the daylight. On the way there or back you may wish to have a coffee at the Central Cafe in Te Awamutu which has quite a collection of auto memorabilia displayed in the Cafe. It would be helpful if I could get an indication of the number intending to go at the September club night where I can answer any questions and provide any more detail required. Side Curtains September 2017
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August Midweekers
by Bob Mackay
A number of less familiar faces including Allan Barnes in his repainted Riley arrived for morning tea and the usual good fellowship at the club rooms. Following morning tea 28 members in 15 club cars and one modern drove to the Timberlands Te Ngae Nursery. On arrival we were welcomed by Antoinette Roberts, who manages the new container facility, and Warwick Brown, who planned and oversaw the design and construction of the facility costing some five million dollars. The nursery is part of Timberlands Forests, the company being jointly owned by a number of investors of superannuation funds, with the New Zealand Superfund (Cullen) a major shareholder. This new facility is in addition to the open ground nursery which has operated on the site for many years. They are a commercial operation set up to supply tree stocks to the Timberlands Forests in the central North Island. As well as the two facilities that by design complement each other, they also have their own laboratory on site which produces and provides high genetic material for further propagation by vegetative means through the green house which is located along side of the outdoor propagation area. While construction of the barn and green house is of NZ origin, the internal equipment is all European, the aluminium bench/growing frames arrived pre-cut in containers, the Dutch suppliers sending two of their tradesmen to assemble benches. The container facility adds five million tree seedlings to the output of the Te Ngae nursery, taking the total output to well over ten million for planting in the company’s central North Island forests. With a reduced labour force in the forest due to the company no longer pruning it has led to a shortage of labour for planting; having container grown seedlings allows the planting season to both start earlier as well as be extending beyond the normal limits. Warwick also foresees the possibility of machine planting as part of the land preparation process with container grown plants. In the large barn we find an automatic container filling and a precision seeding machines all mounted over a conveyor which also allows for the manual setting of high genetic cutting material into the containers when required. At the end of the conveyor, the trays are automatically placed on the large bench growing frames that are then moved out to the sheltered growing area on a bench high rail system. The outdoor growing area has a computer controlled automatic traveling irrigator/sprayer that can also be controlled by smart phone. When the seedlings are ready for despatch the bench growing frames move back through the barn where they are deplugged from the containers and packed for despatch to the forest. The green house has the same bench/ rail system with the containers filled with small genetically improved pinus radiata cuttings. Having thanked Antoinette and Warwick for a very informative and interesting tour we drove round the lake to the Waiteti Holiday Park on the banks of the Waitete stream at Ngongotaha for a lunch as guests of Michael Thorne. Our thanks go to Michael for the delicious soaps and buns, putting the icing on a very good day out. 8
Side Curtains September 2017
BUY, SELL, SWAP...
FOR SALE
1913 Overland 179R Speedster. Starter fitter. New set of 6 tyres. New radiator. LED lights. Rego on hold. $42,000 1915 Studebaker 7 seater Tourer. Great motoring, reliable veteran. Many spares including motor etc. $42,000 1926 Ford Model T coupe. Restored by Ford agent in USA. Very tidy car. New set of tyres. Has water pump. Still to be vinned and new rego and WoF. $22,000 Contact Jim on 09 636 6610
Bouquet for Roadrunner Starters
by Cliff Wickham
I recently fitted a pre-engaged starter to my Mk1 Cortina that I purchased it from Roadrunner Starters at one of our swap meets some years ago and have only now got around to fitting it. I had problems with the initial alignment and contacted Tim & Dallas (the owners of Roadrunner). Tim replaced the unit with no hassles straight away. Tim is only too willing to help get the correct starter for all applications and has had wide trade experience as an automotive engineer. Product 10/10 ! Service 10/10 !! Side Curtains September 2017
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s plu“THEN & NOW” TRUCK SHOW
DECEMBER 2-3 2017 57 ORONGO ROAD, THAMES
TRACTORS TRUCKS MOTORBIKES CARS STATIONARY ENGINES MODEL DISPLAY FOOD & DRINK AND MUCH MORE Bring your classic along! Contact Jeremy on 027 277 1067 or email him at info@vintagebarn.co.nz
In Association with Model Barn & Vintage Barn
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Supported by the Thames Lions Club & New Zealand Trucking Magazine
Side Curtains September 2017
CLUB NIGHT - September 13th Neil Hunt Park - 7.30pm Car in the room: 1936 De Soto Airstream Speaker: David Philps - “Art Deco 2017” Followed by tea, coffee and biscuits
Upcoming Midweek Runs
by Bob Mackay
Calendar dates for the midweek runs
Please note changes have been made to the normal midweek dates to avoid clashes with the club run on 1st October and the Whanganui visit:
Wednesday 20th September - Midweek run as below Wednesday 18th October – Midweek run (destination TBA ) Thursday 9th November – Spring Tour (advanced party to Whanganui) Friday 10th November – Spring tour in Fielding before travelling to Whanganui Saturday 11th & 12th November - Club visit to Whanganui Wednesday 29th November - Midweek run (destination TBA)
Midweek Run 20th September 2017
The September midweek run will be held a week earlier than normal due to the Sunday club run to Pirongia on Sunday 1st October. The run on Wednesday 20th will be to a very interesting agricultural enterprise, a goat farm north of Matamata. We will meet and leave from the Ngongotaha Fire Station at 10.15am stopping at a café for lunch before travelling on to the goat farm. Should the change to the starting point leave you in a deprived state by missing your coffee (or tea) fix, an earlier visit to “Essence café” in Ngongotaha may be beneficial.
Club visit to Whanganui
At the time of writing, 17 cars have advised of their attendance for the combined Spring Tour and club visit to Whanganui. While I understand that Cooks Garden Motel may be fully booked there are many alternatives with one member already booked into Kings Court Motel. You may feel it is a long way to take your club car, so book some accommodation and bring the modern, there will be so much interesting stuff no one will notice. You may just be the one to say later “wish I had gone”. Members are free to join all or any part of the tour. Our Chairman met up with members from Whanganui at the VCC AGM and reports much enthusiasm for our visit in November. Side Curtains September 2017
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Gift Baskets please! If you have any unwanted gift baskets available (just the basket!) could you please drop them off at the clubrooms? The branch regularly makes up gift baskets for sending to members from time to time, and it will save the branch money and time if we have baskets already available.
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.
www.rotoruavintagecarclub.org.nz
The branch website aims to meet the needs of our members, and to promote our branch nationally, and to potential new members. If you have any suggestions for improvements please contact David Tomlinson. 12
Side Curtains September 2017
Midweekers - August 2017
Club Night - August 2017
Daffodil Day Deliveries