VCC Auckland Bulletin June 2026

June 2026

Coming Events

All events are held at our clubrooms unless otherwise specified.

Note: The clubrooms are open on the SECOND and FOURTH Thursday evenings of the month from 7:30pm to 10:00pm and EVERY Saturday afternoon from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. Our Spares Dept & Library are open during the clubrooms opening hours PLUS Thursday mornings from 9:00am ’til noon.

Chairman’s Report

Many thanks must go to Val and Rodger Ball who plotted the Autumn Tour for us this year. With the postponement of the event from early April due to the petrol crisis and very low entries at the original closing date. Extra checking had to be done and instructions amended, but Rodger and Val, as usual, stepped up and presented the twenty-three entrants with a great rally which took everyone over lovely countryside and finished at Windross Farm Golf Course Cafe for lunch.

Perfect weather and great countryside set the mood for the Mid Week Tourers run to Mercer Landing Bar and Café. Thanks to Norman Dewhurst for organising this. I’m sure everyone had a great time. I’m looking forward to being able to attend these runs once Alan finally retires after 56 years teaching at Massey High School at the end of this year.

The Charabanc, Spares, and Library Teams, continue to make progress with sorting books and spares and working on the great display of tools in the Barn. The Motorcycle, Veteran and Vintage Sections have good numbers attending their respective meetings.

It was disappointing to lose a good keen Committee and Branch Member, Rory King, to North Shore Branch, but the move is understandable as he lives close to the North Shore Clubrooms. As Maintenance Man on our Committee. Rory has worked continually at our Clubrooms and Barn. You will be missed Rory.

It is that time of year again. The AGM is fast approaching (Saturday, 25th July), and it is time to think about the future of our Branch. Remember, the Branch belongs to every one of us and the AGM is one of the times for you to have your say. Every position becomes vacant and there will be some present committee members standing down. We need new blood. So – don’t be shy... being on committee is fun and, as the saying goes, “many hands make light work”. Please consider how you could contribute to the branch. See you there.

Happy, safe motoring and restoring.

Shaaran

Club Captain’s Log

Sunday, 24 May was our annual Autumn Tour. The entry numbers were good. Thank you to Rodger and Val Ball for plotting and Russel and Jocelyn McAlpine for running the start and trail car. The Prizegiving will be held on Saturday 27 June at our Club Afternoon with a Pot Luck Dinner after.

Thanks to all those who came out to support the Autumn Tour. A very enjoyable drive and great atmosphere at the Windross Golf Club café at the finish. If you didn’t make it you missed a good day.

It was great to see John and Pat Campbell out with both vehicles being driven by daughter and son in law, Fiona and Andre. On a side note - John borrowed one of our display jacks for Ellerslie Concours and it has arrived back in the clubrooms in a much better condition, having been sandblasted and painted by Andre, it looks great!

In June Aucklanders traditionally have supported Waikato Branch with their Double 50, this year the rally is being held on Saturday 6 June. I’m looking forward to seeing how many of us pop over the Bombay Hills to support our neighbours.

I am still finalising our June club run, but will likely be a short run in the Tuakau area, perhaps finishing with lunch at the Tuakau Hotel.

In July, I will be demystifying the Rally Rules, come along – this is a session for all to run through the basics, hopefully making it a little less daunting and more enjoyable finding your way around any run.

Then three days later, on Sunday, 26th July, is our annual Expert’s Rally. This year Russel and Jocelyn McAlpine have the task of plotting this run. This run will be starting in the West at Massey Domain Carpark with the first car away at 10:30 am.

Finally, August, we’ll be going yellow with Daffodils. Sunday, 30th August is our annual vehicle display to raise money for the Cancer Society. This event is getting better and better each year. We look forward to having you join us at the FGS Buddhist Temple in Flat Bush, once again. More on this event as the plans come together.

Have a great motoring month. Tracey

Library Notes

The Club library has a small section for Auto/Biographies of well-known Motoring and Automotive personalities.

Recently we acquired a copy of On The Edge: My Story by Richard Hammond as a donation from a member. This is a gripping account by Richard Hammond of life before and after his terrifying high-speed car crash, during filming of a Top Gear segment at the former RAF Elvington airbase near York on 20 September 2006. He was severely injured in the crash of the jet-powered dragster called Vampire he was piloting. According to observers he was travelling at 288 mph (463 km/h) when the vehicle suffered a tyre blow-out causing one of the parachutes to deploy. Vampire was powered by a single Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus afterburning turbojet engine producing 5,000 lbf (22 kN) of thrust.

The book is his compelling account of life before and after the accident and an honest description of his recovery, full of drama and incident.

A serial adrenalin junkie from a very early age, Richard tells the story of his life, from the small boy showing off with ridiculous stunts on his bicycle to the adolescent with a near-obsessive attraction to speed and the smell of petrol.

After a series of jobs in local radio, he graduated to television and eventually audition and acceptance as a presenter on Top Gear in 2002, when the show began in its revamped format.

His insights into the personalities, the camaraderie and the stunts for which Top Gear has become famous, make compulsive reading.

His wife Mindy tells the story of the anxious hours and days of watching and waiting until he finally emerged from his coma. In an extraordinarily powerful piece of writing, she and Richard then piece together the stages of his recovery as his shattered mind slowly reformed. The final chapter recounts his return home and his triumphant reappearance in front of the cameras on the BBC chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 22 December, just three months after the incident.

A book that’s hard to put down once you start it.

The Library Team

Veteran Section Notes

We had a good attendance of seventeen people with apologies from Russell Vincent. Barry Birchall is back from Australia, where he saw a man who had a number of veteran four cylinder Cadillacs, he also brought some books along from Mark Maloney’s collection. Gavin Welch attended an HCCNZ meeting at Tim Edney’s garage. About eight veterans were present, including three Model T's a Cadillac and an Oldsmobile. Gavin also mentioned an upcoming auction of memorabilia, conducted by Dunbar Sloan. Bill Mercer mentioned that his 1916 Hupmobile is painted and other small jobs are being done, he is waiting for Denise to start on the upholstery, the Mercers also intend going to an Australian veteran event. Peter Alderdice has moved his veteran Harley Davidson from his shed to his lounge, he has also started the Militaire "the motorcycle that rides like a car" engine.

John Gardner took the late Roy Sharman’s ashes to Wellington, most of Roy’s collection will probably go to auction. Denis Lowe took his Curved Dash Oldsmobile to the Edney event. Don Johnson enquired about Peter Le Gros 1913 De Dion Bouton, apparently the car is still in the South Island. Barry Wade is getting a new fan cast for his 1909 Rover twin cylinder, the work is being done by the Montrose Foundry. Barry has had the car out for a family reunion. Terry Jenkins took his 1917 Dodge Four to a local museum open day.

David Oliver had a call from Phil Ward 021 474 894, who is disposing of a lot of Model T parts including a Ruxtell rear end. There was also discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of Model T crankshafts.

There was a recommendation for electroplating for Progressive Polishers & Electroplaters , 3 Veronica St, New Lynn and Bumper Replacements (NZ), Onehunga.

That's it for this month... John.

Vintage Section Notes

A good turnout this month.

John Stokes will again drive for David Adams in the upcoming Autumn Tour. His Whippet is still leaking a little water from the water pump which gets thrown by the fan onto the spark plugs causing an annoying miss.

Tim Gray took his Model T to the Waiuku ‘Steel n Wheels Festival’ and reported a very enjoyable day, with quite a bit of interest in the old cars from young people. There were three other Model Ts, two of them trucks.

Brent Bellamy has a pair of brass veteran acetylene headlights to enhance his shed’ s décor. One of them is missing a rim, so Brent is trying to match it up with other old headlamps of which there are several in the spares department - mostly incomplete.

John Towers is nearing completion on his 1929 Chev truck. His standards set a very high bar and unfortunately some little bubbles have appeared in the paintwork on one of the front guards and will have to be rubbed down and done again. A friend designed the signwriting on the tailgate. (Baby Blue)

Neil Lucas raised the possibility of our section having an occasional informal run for our old cars and there appears to be a lot of support for the idea. Quite a few suggestions were made and John Stokes and John Morrison both offered their properties as a start and or finishing venue. A number of our group would like to be involved and I will coordinate their enthusiasm. Anyone who has any ideas or would like to be involved please get in touch with me.

It was great to see Bob and Dawn Pickering at the meeting.

David Goryl has had his ’38 De Soto out for a bit of exercise. With limited use, 6 volt batteries get a bit lazy, but with a bit of rough love (a few good bumps and a short period of high charge – and repeat) often brings them back to life.

Richard Green thought he was on the home straight, finishing off the assembly of the Rolls-Royce, but the electrics are not going to let him off that lightly. A lot of the wiring on a RR is contained in steel conduit, closely following, but not able to be removed from, the chassis. During it’s immersion, of course, water entered and started rust heave, causing shorts. After injecting POR down the conduit, Richard is slowly teasing out the old wires and then with a little home-made wire brush (teased out Bowden cable) on the end of a length of flexible curtain wire driven by an electric drill, he is slowly making progress.

Neil Bieleski’s granddaughter, Jo, is doing a great job planning midweek runs and has several in the pipeline. This month is a trip to the Waikato with it’s plethora of quiet sealed rural roads and ending at a café. Next month is a trip to the Chelsea sugar refinery. As this involves a guided tour we need to let Jo know so she can book numbers.

Arthur Atkins is very pleased with his dipping LED headlights (as am I) 6 and 12 volt. If you are interested the link is https://www.classiccars.co.uk/

Don Johnston has been having a cleanup and has found a haul of 1930s Chev parts he had forgotten he had. He is threatening to throw them in the bin, so if you are interested, get in touch with Don soon.

Murray & Penny

Autumn Tour Prizegiving

in conjunction with The Auckland Trams Pt. 3

Presented by

James Duncan from MOTAT

Saturday, 27th June

From 2:30 pm

Join us for a fun-filled afternoon, with the final episode of the story of the Auckland Trams. Followed by a light Afternoon Tea, then the Prizegiving, drinks and a Potluck Dinner.

A review of Wednesday, 20th May by Paul Smith:

Today was a beaut sunny day and time for a drive in one of my vintages, (got to get my share of the fuel) joined the Auckland Branch Vintage Car Club for their midweek run from BP Service Centre at Drury, we meandered through assorted back roads to Mercer. (Lesson one read and understand the written instructions.) Was a bit like a Model A Club gathering with the, Costello's x 2, Hulse's and myself along with other assorted marques, about 20, in all. First up, roadworks and the Fitzgerald Road sign was gone, Lesson two DON’T follow the cars in front - they are lost! After negotiating more roadworks it was back onto the route and up the Bombay Hills. This time, I didn't follow the others, the wrong way, at a straight ahead. The instructions directed us through more broken or missing signs, local knowledge definitely helped down Ridge Rd and across Tuakau to Pukekawa, then eventually to Mercer for lunch at the Mercer Landing Cafe. Saw more cars going in all directions (lost) than I have seen for a long while. It looked like many gave up and drove to Mercer! Thanks to Jo for coordinating with Norm and Ryan for this run, despite some difficulties, it was a great drive. Back home odometer just on 90 miles.

A review by Norman Dewhurst:

Last month saw 21 vehicles leave for Mercer, plus two others, who met us at the finish, add to that three others who came to the start but unfortunately could not participate.

Diane and Peter Coleman had a puncture on the motorway, called Drury Tires who ably came to their rescue but they unfortunately missed the start. Thumbs-up for Drury Tires in their efforts to rescue.

The route led us through the tangle of road works at Drury and Ramarama, over the Razorback and down Ridge Rd to Tuakau, over another hill at Alexandra Redoubt, and then over Pukekawa hill and down to Mercer. All well traversed in the past, but what a treat to do it again in glorious Autumn sunshine. Lunch was at the Mercer Landing café, where our numbers took them by surprise, despite having prebooked and telephoning that morning to let them know final numbers. It was a lengthy wait for some. The café staff promise to do better next time. Then a walk over the road to the Mercer Museum where Jo had arranged for them to be open. Well worth a visit if you haven’t been, not many people even know it’s there.

A question was interspersed in the route instructions, clearly mid-weekers are not quizzers. Not many bothered to answer, perhaps they were engrossed in the route instructions. As usual these were straight forward, but the multiple road works, which seem to change daily didn’t help. This was despite altering the route 3 or 4 times to avoid them. Overall a good day, enjoyed by members from most of the branches encompassed by greater Auckland, thank you to all.

Looking ahead:

Wednesday, 17th June

This month we are off to Chelsea Sugar Factory. We’ll be starting from The Warehouse Carpark, Westgate at 10:30 am.

This run will be around 70 km and you can either have a BYO Lunch or you can visit the café.

The Sugar Works Tour is fully booked, however, if you can advise Jo as soon as possible, she may be able to book a second tour. Email Jo: midweek@avvcc.org.nz or call her on 027 943 1545. The tour is $15 per person.

Wednesday, 15th July

Next month we’ll be heading south again. Details are yet to be finalised. Watch The Week Ahead for info as we confirm.

I look forward to catching up with you.

Jo Bieleski

Motorcycle Section Notes

We set off from Pokeno in light drizzle. This was a bit of a worry as our guest speaker, Ray Ferner, had said that if it was raining he probably would not bring his 1931 BSA FW32 race car. Luckily, once over the top of the Bombay Hills the weather changed to sunshine.

We arrived at the club rooms at 1.45pm, the members started to arrive soon after, and then we heard the sound of a loud exhaust note. It was Ray arriving in the BSA, he parked the car just outside the back door for display.

Soon the car park was filling up with members all chatting and looking over the BSA car. We had a nice collection of 12 bikes parked up, the bikes that stood out were a 1976 Triumph T160 Trident, a 1950 Panther Model 100, a 1951 Triumph T100, a 1986 Honda GB 500, and Keith Ballagh’s home built Velocette that has a 1938 engine, his own mono shock frame with Ceriani forks and disc braked mag wheels.

The meeting started at 2.30pm, we had 54 members attending. The new members present were Aaron Jackson who owns a 1964 Norton Atlas, and Martin Treadwell owns the ex Peter Cooper 1937 Rudge Ulster.

It was good to see past Branch Motorcycle Coordinator and Librarian, Neville Olsen, at the meeting, and Fraser Cars founder Neil Fraser.

REPORTS

Martin told us about the passing of our member Peter ‘’Rudge’’ Cooper and his funeral, that was held on Friday, we had a minutes silence to remember Peter.

John Comer told us about the recent Northland Motorcycle Rally that had around 20 Auckland members taking part. John Poole won the P60 class on his Norton Commando, and Rory King was the overall winner on his 1938 250 BSA.

Trevor Hackett told us about his 350 Velocette Mac’s tyre problems on this rally, he thought there was something wrong with the handling on the way back to the club rooms, he checked the bike over for any problems, he then found that the front tyre was missing a large lump of tread, he said I can’t understand why this happened as the tire was only made in 1958!

COMING UP

June 7th Kaiaua Fish’ n ’Chip Run starting at the Public Carpark by the Mobil Station in Drury at 10:30 am.

June 20th our next meeting the topic will be Triton’s. We could have 3 on display. June 27th We have James Duncan returning to complete the trilogy of the Auckland Trams. Martin then told us its that time of the year when the members have to vote in the branch’ s motorcycle coordinator, he asked for any nominations, the only one put forward was for Martin. Martin accepted the position. The group shouted aye, which means that Martin has now been in this position for 28 years. He has also sat on the branch committee throughout this time, surely this must be some sort of a record in the Club.

GUEST SPEAKER

Ray Ferner came along to tell us about his 1931 BSA FW32 race car, that was built by the late Ralph Watson back in the early 1950’s. BSA made 4 wheeled cars that used an in line 4 en-

Motorcycle Section Notes

gine, and 3 and 4 wheeled cars with a Hotchkiss V Twin engine. Ray was brought up in a motoring family with a plethora of vintage and veteran cars including Alvis, Minerva, Lea Francis and Riley. A keen interest in cars developed and Ray spent much of his youth touring in an old Singer and Triumph TR6.

Ray’s more interesting vehicles include a rather large pedestrian London Route Master double deck bus and an Aston Martin DB2/4 MK II. The Aston had an early racing history and was class winner of the 1958 Dutch Tulip Rally and it also competed in the Monte Carlo rally in 1958. Ray restored the car from a barn-find condition and it was a big job that took ten years. He also became the keeper of the Ralph Watson BSA special through his father and has campaigned the car in various historic races and hill climbs. The BSA was developed into a racing special by Ralph in the early 1950s. The car was modified with a lowered chassis, a lightweight body and he doubled the horsepower from the original. Ralph raced the car until 1954 with a great many wins to his credit. Over the years that Ralph raced the BSA he drove it many thousands of miles, this included driving it to all the race events throughout the country. He sold the car to develop his up coming project the Lycoming Special race car. The owners after Ralph were – Dave Long, R Hugill, M Roberts, and Martin and Ray Ferner.

Ray’s father Martin bought the BSA back in the 1960’s, but Ralph wanted the car back to race and modify the engine from overhead valves to rotary, so Martin loaned the car back to Ralph to carry out the modifications. Ralph raced the car around NZ and further developed it in the late 1980s to include rotary valves. They were a real Engineering challenge and sealing the combustion chambers and the oil system took much experimentation. The result was more horsepower (70 BHP) and more torque across the rev range. Ralph machined new crank cases from an aluminium billet. The BSA was extremely reliable. Ray took over racing the car in 2015, but he had engine trouble at a race meeting in 2021, which meant a complete rebuild. He has won a number of Hill climbs and track events in the car. Ray showed us lots of photos on the big screen of various stages of the car through the years, and he showed the very long list of its competition history, this was followed by a video of Ray competing at the Lead-foot Festival hill climb taken from the cockpit. Ray said he could hit a 100mph on Pukekohe’s back straight.

Martin thanked Ray for coming to show and tell us the history of this famous little car.

Martin Spicer and Jack Clark

Motorcycle Section Pictorial

Great to see such a busy back yard, and a great looking car to study.

2026 Vero International Festival of Historic Motoring

By Don Howarth

On Saturday 14 March, my son Tony and I left Auckland in the 1992 Peugeot 205 CTi 1.9 litre Cabriolet Automatic at 7.30am, heading for Wellington, intending to make it in 1 day. With good weather, only 1 shower in the middle of the Island, we chose to drive via the King Country, National Park, to Waiouru bypassing the Desert Road due to ongoing roadworks. Reaching Transmission Gully approaching Wellington, interrupted by only 2 sets of roadworks, which sprayed cement laded slurry down the sides of the car, we enjoyed a good run into Porirua, then Titahi Bay, where we were staying overnight with Wayne Gair and his wife Dianne. Wayne was my co-driver when we did Targa NZ tarmac rally events in the early 2000s. He is an avid collector of 1980s Peugeot 309 GTs. He wrecks the worst cars to maintain a parts supply for the model, a useful guy to know.

On Sunday very early we headed for the Bluebridge ferry queue for the 7.15am sailing to Picton. Our ferry was the “Connemara”, their newest car/truck and passenger ferry, which had experienced a short lived “breakdown” two days earlier but was quickly back in service. We had a good crossing in sunny, calm conditions. The vessel was full of passengers and contained many vintage cars from the North Island headed for Nelson, so we were in good company. In Picton we quickly looked for lunch food but seeing the big familiar bakery closed we drove onto Blenheim, then Omaka, as I intended to visit the Omaka Classic Aircraft Museum to show Tony the excellent WW2 aircraft collection. We had lunch in the café, enjoying the sunshine then entered the Museum, which similarly to the WW1 collection, Peter jackson’ s Weta Workshops has produced very lifelike scenery and backgrounds to WW2 situations that Spitfires, Hurricanes, Lancasters and Mosquito aircraft had first defended Britain then had crossed the Channel to take the fight to Germany. I warmly recommend aviation enthusiasts visit this splendid museum of both WW1 and WW2 aircraft (20 for each section). We looked across the road to the Classic Car Museum and decided to view that on our way back from Nelson to Picton.

We set off for Nelson, in warm sunshine making good speed maintaining 90100km/hr except in the mountains and the very winding stages, arriving in Nelson about 3.45pm. We drove on past the City Centre heading for Tahunanui, to our Hotel. We checked in and carried our bags to our upstairs rooms and made a cup of well deserved tea. We later found a recommended burger shop to take care of our evening meal. We watched a 20/20 cricket match to complete another busy day.

Monday 16 March: Having read our driving notes we chose the Medium length run to Motueka via Moutere, we were given a choice of Short, Medium and Long runs each day, the Short runs being designed especially for Veteran cars (prior to 1914). We often crisscrossed the “other Run cars” as we drove our route. Having traversed uncrowded roads we stopped at Motueka for lunch food. We then proceeded on to our destination at Kaiteriteri. We found the beach camp and were directed to park.

We were parked alongside a Far North VCC couple in a Rover SD1, who knew Dave and Dorothy Duirs, a Cable Bay couple who were long term Peugeot Club friends of my wife Wynne and myself. We decided on a walk around to see the varied assembled cars. Who should we stumble across but Brett Druskovich, Peugeot Club President, who was co-driver with his Hawkes Bay friend Al, we were introduced to Al and admired his wonderful 1929 Alvis open tourer, a car owned by his father before being passed down after his dad’s passing. After checking out most of the cars, including meeting an old Peugeot Club friend Tony Haycock and his French visiting friends driving Tony’s rare 1947 Peugeot 302 saloon. Tony himself was driving his Dad’s 1929 Chevrolet open tourer, as his intended car a vintage Renault would not start, prior to being loaded to a trailer (oh the fun of owning old cars!). We enjoyed our lunch under a shady tree and departed back for Nelson and bought fuel at a Challenge gas station at Ruiwaka and got a Challenge Discount Card for a better fuel price. Prices were rising about 10c a day at this point! We arrived back in Nelson about 3.45 pm, had a cold drink, then washed the car as it was quite dirty from road works experienced on the Saturday drive. Then after a freshen up we headed for dinner at the Trafalgar Centre, the Festival headquarters. The evening was a good event with the usual welcoming speeches but the meal was small, being commented on by many. We heard later that the Executive had taken up the matter with caterers and that aspect was remedied on subsequent nights. We departed fairly early and were back at the hotel by 8.45 pm.

Tuesday 17 March: Before starting our Festival tour we dropped in on a friend, David’s home, high on the hill above the harbor and marina, for a coffee. Then we headed out of Nelson to the Nelson VCC clubrooms on the outskirts to start for our “Lakes Run” to Lake Rotoiti/St Arnaud (a 100km drive) in warm, bright sunshine. En Route we stopped at Wakefield, 35km from Nelson, for a coffee. We jumped out of our car to look at other less familiar cars i.e. a Lotus Elan (on which Mazda MX-5 is based), various Model T and Model A Ford speedster and roadster types. Then we moved on to quiet back country roads, crossed the Motueka River, then deviated off to “Top House” Chalet Motel on a side road. We saw Dave Duirs’ car in the carpark but no sign of Dave and Dorothy. Driving back down to the main road we saw Dave, had a brief talk and handshake before departing. Arriving at Lake Rotoiti after passing through St. Arnaud, we parked in a large park overlooking the Lake. This became a large car show for the local people. We had lunch, talked to some interested locals, and answered questions about our car and how far we had come. We parked next to a Peugeot 309 SRi 1.6 driven by a couple from North Shore Vintage Car Club and chewed the fat with them about this excellent Festival blessed by fine, warm weather and the good company of old car enthusiasts. We caught up with Brent and Al, the 1929 Alvis driver and crew. We left Lake Rotoiti about 1.30 pm for a 100 km run home, passed back through Wakefield again on light traffic roads, arriving back again around 3pm in Nelson. We decided to walk from the hotel to Tahunanui Beach across a big sportsfield park across from our accommodation, the

beach being a big, wide white sandy beach with a great open sea outlook, with swimmers and sunbathers taking in the scene. Then we returned home for a cold drink. Each day Tony and I shared the driving, with the soft top down, using liberal sunscreen or coverings to avoid sunburn. We met up with Nelson friend David, had a cold drink with him, then descended the hill back to the hotel, buying some Indian food to enjoy while discussing our days driving experiences.

Wednesday 18 March: Having checked the oil and water first thing, I found our oil level was very low, so headed for Supercheap Auto in town to buy 4 litres of Castrol. Topping up took nearly 3 litres, that was a shock. Mental note made, need to check oil consumption regularly now! Having broken a handbrake cable yesterday we enquired about a good quality brake repairer and fortunately there was a specialist near our hotel. They agreed to take the car at 1.00pm, but would need it all afternoon, so we caught a bus to the Nelson Classic Car Museum where free entry was given to all Festival attendees. There were a huge number of cars in the collection compared to last time, when the WOW collection took half the floor space. The car collection was mainly high quality American cars from the 40s onwards and some UK and Euro cars but mostly a great collection of Jaguars.

We spotted the Charabanc, the 16 seater omnibus, owned by the AVVCC parked outside. We found the Charabanc Team and I asked John if we might hitch a ride back to our hotel with them. He readily agreed. We were back by 4.30 pm so we walked around to Nelson Brakes, paid for the repaired handbrake cable ($500 Invoice), and headed into Nelson City where a car show was on for the early evening to suit the after work city folk. For our car we were parked in Montgomery square, alongside a 1960s Ford Mustang convertible, both cars attracted interested locals, so we explained where we had driven from and shared info about our 1.9 litre Peugeot 205 Cabriolet. Then we walked around the car park to look at the other vehicles on display and talk to owners, before going further afield to see the rest of the Festival cars in an adjacent car park. About 8.00pm we left the park to order Italian Pizzas, from a Pizzeria that Tony had discovered on a mountain biking visit he had made late last year. The Pizzas were as good as he remembered, and were devoured hungrily back

at the hotel as we watched another Cricket 20/20 match against South Africa on TV.

Thursday 19 March: Departed on another Medium length run at Nelson VCC start area and joined a string of cars to drive to 1st stop at Tapawera, where we joined a queue for coffee cart. I turned around and there was Peter White, from Dunedin. He was driving a 1930 Delage. Peter had driven in Targa NZ in 2001-2004 in a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9, I was able to help him out 1 year with a FWD half shaft from my parts shed. He had put Wynne and I up in Dunedin when we did a circum navigation of the South island in the later 2000s. I mentioned that I was now driving a Pug 205 CTi 1.9 in this event. We reminisced about our days of rallying and racing and how much we were enjoying this Festival. After coffee we drove around the corner to the local rugby club grounds. We had over an hour for lunch here so walked up to the club house and sat in shade and talked to an English couple from Suffolk who came out to sunny Nelson each UK winter for 3 months and were using a vintage Triumph 2.5 PI in this Vero Festival. They have been coming to NZ for many years because they found NZ a very friendly and hospitable place. We drove back to Nelson in bright sunshine, top down, arriving back about 3.30pm for a short rest, then walked down our street about 60 metres to a local beer garden for a cold drink. Then onto dinner at Festival Headquarters Trafalgar Centre for 6 pm. This dinner was a much better sized meal. After dinner we walked with Dave and Dorothy Duirs back to our cars. They were doing the “Team Relay” the next day at the local Showgrounds and Trotting track.

Friday 20 March: About 9.15am we met other participants near Trafalgar Centre for a “City and Environs Tour”, starting with Nelson Port area, we stopped at the Marina to view our friend David’s large and beamy 40’ catamaran yacht. A fine vessel for Nelson’s open water. Then on through city suburbs, a superb town park Botanical Reserve and Fellworth House, passed Nelson Boys and Girls Colleges and Nayland College, Nelson Christ Church Cathedral, a grand historic church established by Royal Decree in 1858. Passed Broadgreen House built around 1857 of “Cob” construction (clay, dung, horsehair and straw), passed Isel Park established about 1849, then into Stoke, where we looked for Gluten free food for Tony’s lunch. Not finding any, we drove on past Waimea College, being the largest school in the top of the South Island. Then drove onto Richmond Park showgrounds where the Relay Challenge was taking place on the trotting track in 2 separate segments, one in am, one in pm, with cars, pickup trucks and motor bikes. Some participants were taking this quite seriously with some good speeds achieved, but the track got dustier and dustier as the day went on. Then back home, as a freshen up, we walked out to buy a fish and chips takeaway meal which we enjoyed back at hotel.

Saturday 21 March. Final Day. We drove out to the Richmond Showgrounds about 10.00 am with heaps of old cars on the causeway/motorway. We were guided to a parking space with 100s of cars already on site. It was drizzling when we arrived, and the rain became heavier, so we stayed in the car for about 20 minutes, until the

rain eased and the sun came out. We had a walk around looking at the hundreds of cars on display. Then went back to our car for our lunch. We talked to a nearby Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 owner, formerly from Cromwell in Central Otago, now based in Blenheim. He mentioned he was keen to buy a 205 CTi, so I mentioned that my 1.6 5-speed was for sale, fully restored. He gave me his card I must follow up! About 2.30pm we departed, amazingly the public were still pouring in. We filled up the car on way back to hotel, taking $104 worth of 95 octane, the most expensive fill ever made, in that car. Back at hotel, intending to ring Wynne, I opened my phone to find a text from Bluebridge telling us that the Connemara ferry was cancelled for Sunday due to breakdown. I phoned Bluebridge, and after being on hold for 30 minutes, was told our best bet was to arrive early Monday, at 6.15am, to join the standby queue. We were also re-booked for the night sailing Monday. We would attempt the early sailing on Monday so needed to book accommodation in Picton for Sunday night, which I duly did by phone.

Sunday 22 March: We checked out of our hotel and bought coffee at Raglan Roast Coffee on Tahunanui Rd, then left Nelson about 9.30am. Driving over the range between Nelson and Blenheim, with the top down we got quite cold, so we stopped at Pelorus to look for a warm coffee. We took some photos there, having put on jackets for the final run into Blenheim. Then drove straight on to Omaka for lunch at the Aviation Museum café before visiting the Omaka Classic Car Museum. We saw a good collection of Australian cars, Jaguars, some Mazda Rotaries, a Peugeot 404 Saloon and a selection of motor cycles. We went out the back to see the workshop which contained a 1965 Mustang (which belonged to a guide in the Museum), a Mk 2 Jag, a hot rod and some V8 motors to be reconditioned by their motor engineer. Then we drove on to Picton, parked in the main street to look for an ice cream, we found a Kapiti Ice Cream shop and enjoyed flavoured cones. Drove down to the Bluebridge terminal to check our booking and standby prospects. Being early, our chances of getting on the early morning sailing were quite good. We determined that we needed to be there by 6.15am or earlier! We checked into our camp ground cabin, watched the news then drove into the main street for a fish’ n ’chip dinner.

Monday 23 March: Drove down to Bluebridge and joined the standby queue at 6.10am, meeting up with many other Vintage Car Club “refugees” all there on standby too. We chewed the fat with many other motorists and noticed long queues of heavy trucks bound for the North Island. Dawn showed clear and sunny overhead with light winds. We were finally waved aboard, to our relief, the loading seemed to take forever. The vessel finally departed Picton at 9.30am, some 2.25 hours late! The water was dead flat thru the Sounds, with perfect views of great scenery. It was similarly over the Cook Straight, probably the best double crossing I have ever had. We went outside on to side deck as we entered Wellington Heads, to see small Dolphins quite close to ship. Later, as we entered Wellington Harbour we saw larger

dolphins very close to the bow of the ship. It was great to be greeted by these friendly mammals. We were docked at the harbourside by 1.30 pm, so drove out to Porirua on the Motorway, onto Transmission Gully and as far as Otaki, where we stopped to buy a late lunch and a cold drink before heading North. Having checked the LTSA website in regards to the status of the Desert Road, we headed up SH1 in light traffic, thru Waiouru, and onto Turangi. Recent roadworks have certainly made the Desert Rd a good road for efficient travel.

We turned left at Turangi and Tony and I swapped places for me to make the drive up the Western side of Lake Taupo. We passed through Tokaanu, the Hot Pools and Hotel looking somewhat down at heel these days. I have driven the Western route a few times in the past, and as darkness descended, we pressed on in very light traffic to Whakamaru, where we made a quick comfort stop, before pressing on to Tokoroa, arriving about 8.30 pm to find the only place for a coffee was McDonalds. We quaffed down coffee with some biscuits. Then Tony took over driving again for the run up to the Waikato Expressway, where we made good time in fairly light traffic, through Auckland over the Bridge to Castor Bay, where Tony unloaded his bags. I resumed the driver’s seat to head back to Howick. I got home at 11.45pm, to find Wynne had waited up me. We talked briefly about the drive back, then I fell into bed for some very necessary sleep, I was very tired after the VERY long day.

A darned good adventure, bonding again with my 55 year old son, and being pleasantly surprised with the trouble free run of my 34 year old Cabriolet sports car, the longest run I have done in any of my four Peugeot 205 convertibles I have owned, a 36+ years of French car passion.

Don Howarth

Expert’s Rally

Plotted by Russel & Jocelyn McAlpine

Sunday, 26th July

Starting from the Massey Domain carpark Red Hills Road, Massey.

First car away: 10:30 am Your one chance each year to really test your Rallying skills!

We’d love for you to advise your intended participation if you know you’ll be joining us.

To do this, click on the advert in the email or use this address: rjmcalpine@xtra.co.nz to advise Russel & Jocelyn.

A shorty story of driving in India

By David Adams

A little on our experience of driving in India. We were driving back overland starting in Bergen, Norway and shipping the Land-Rover home from Calcutta. Up to India our most “exciting” times were driving through the centres of Istanbul and Tehran. But nothing matched Old Delhi. Total chaos. I quickly had to remove the wing mirrors as they were getting clobbered so often. Anthea was hanging out the passenger window shouting and waving and I was driving one handed as the other was permanently on the horn button. The horn later stopped working until I bent the contacts of the button back. At one point a guy driving a large 4 wheel cart came up inside us and then shifted sideways into us while we were stationary. One end of the large wooden yoke harnessing the two bullocks became caught up on the Land-Rover’s windscreen hinge when we moved off. The driver went absolutely berserk and it took forever to separate us. The photo here has a truck with “Horn Please” painted on the back.. It was the only driving instruction that anyone complied with.

The rural roads were little better. The overtaking vehicle seemed to have right of way. On one occasion we came across a blocked main road with both lanes meeting with opposing trucks also in both lanes. Complete impasse. So I engaged low ratio and four wheel drive and went down the embankment, through some paddy fields and back up when we got to the end of the tail back. Railway crossings were interesting too. They each had a little hut with a man who worked the gates and there was a book in which we were invited to write complaints. It was not uncommon that after the gates were opened to have both lanes blocked with opposing traffic.

Rally Rules Tutorial

Join us…

Thursday, 23rd July

starting at 8:00 pm

With the Expert’s Rally on Sunday, 26th, here is your prime opportunity to learn, or brush up on, true rally instruction interpretation.

Then take on the Expert’s Rally with gusto. It’s a load of fun!

Chairman

Your Committee & Officers

Shaaran Price (Alan) Email: chairman@avvcc.org.nz

Vice Chairman/Continuous Membership Awards Steward

Glenn Morris (Marion) Email: glenn-maze@xtra.co.nz

H: 09 833 8575

M: 0204 195 2476

M: 021 136 5926

Secretary / New Members & Privacy Offcr / Bulletin & Website Editor / Branch Delegate

Jodi Tomlin (Paul) Secretary Email: secretary@avvcc.org.nz

Treasurer

Ian Hubbard (Lesley)

Editor Email: editor@avvcc.org.nz

Email: treasurer@avvcc.org.nz

Club Captain / Trophy Steward

Tracey Winterbottom Email: clubcaptain@avvcc.org.nz

M: 021 678 258

M: 0274 426 748

H: 09 232 0246 (Stephen)

Committee Members

Martin Spicer (Lynda)

Motorcycle Section Rep/Entertainment

Email: motorcycle@avvcc.org.nz

Lynda Spicer (Martin) Social Convenor

Email: spicerclan2017@gmail.com

Jeremy Lambert (Michelle) Clubroom Bookings/ Health & Safety Officer

Email: bookings@avvcc.org.nz

Neil Stott (Christine) Spares Liaison

Email: neilxstott@gmail.com

Non-Committee Positions

Library Team Leader

Richard Green (Lois)

Email: library@avvcc.org.nz

H: 09 489 2427

M: 021 818 334

Beaded Wheels Scribes

John Stokes

Jocelyn McAlpine

Peter Wood

Mid-week Tourers Co-ordinator

Jo Bieleski

Email: midweek@avvcc.org.nz

M: 027 943 1545

Clubrooms

Spares Team Leader

Bill Hulse (Sherrill)

Email: bill.sherrill@xtra.co.nz

H: 09 579 0494

Veteran Section Rep

John Stokes

Email: jcstokes96a@xtra.co.nz

H: 09 236 4582 or

M: 0272 772 108

M: 021 732 209

H: 09 233 6382

M: 022 102 5954

H: 09 233 6382

M: 021 189 3120

M: 027 576 7045

M: 0274 949 059

VIC Officers

John Stokes

Alan Price

Neil Stott

Email: vic@avvcc.org.nz

Vintage Section Rep

Murray Firth (Penny)

E: pennyandmurray@xtra.co.nz

H: 09 818 6434

Insurance

Vero Consumer Insurance Specialist

F: 0800 505 905

Our Agency Number: 0300126

Phone: 09 579 5625

Street & Postal Address: 39 Fairfax Avenue, Penrose, Auckland 1061

Club Afternoon: Last Saturday of the month 2:30 pm

Clubrooms Open: Second & fourth Thursdays of each month 7:30 to 10:00 pm, Every Saturday afternoon 4:30 to 6:30 pm

Branch Website: avvcc.org.nz