CLUB NIGHT MEETINGS 7.30pm. 2nd Monday of the month bar January
NEW MEMBERS MEET AND GREET Alastair Jones, Kaaren Smylie
Please contact the Club Secretary for your name badge and Membership Booklet
Please wear your name badge to all meetings & events
Which ever month your birthday falls, please donate a plate for club night
CLUBROOM COFFEE MORNING (Café Cliff) 10am. Every Monday morning bar January
PARTS SHED Opens 7pm. Club Nights & Most Coffee Mornings
Please donate all your surplus parts, they may be just what a member is looking for.
CLUBROOM LIBRARY Accessible during Club Hours
The library accepts good clean car service manuals or books that relate to automotive history and travel. No magazines please.
MID MONTH RUN
END OF MONTH RUN
NOG AND NATTER
The first Wednesday following Club Night
The last Sunday of the month
Monthly social get together at the listed restaurants at 6pm.
Held on the third Tuesday of February, April, June, August and October at the Rain Bar Restaurant. 30 Gravatt Road. Papamoa (off Fashion Island shopping centre)
Contact Lynn Howard (George) 027 3106451
Held on the third Tuesday of March, May, July, September and November at the Tauranga Citizens Club. Corner of Cameron Road and 13th Avenue. Tauranga.
Please note; Free parking across road in Citizens Club designated car park
Contact Elwyn Pirie (Pauline) 0274 914600
CLUBROOMS MOVIE AND BYO NIGHT 6pm Last Friday of the Month. Autum and Winter months
FOR UPDATES TO BE WEEKLY BUZZED
FOR MATERIAL RELEVANT TO THE CLUB WEBSITE
FOR ITEMS/ARTICLES TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE KLAXON MONTHLY MAGAZINE
FOR CLUBROOM HIRE AND OTHER INQUIRES
KLAXON EMAIL
Contact Kaaren Smylie
Contact Diedre Rennie
Contact George Howard
Contact Kaaren Smylie
Klaxoninfo@gmail.com
CLUB WEBSITE www.bayofplentyvintageclassiccarclub
SECRETARY EMAIL bayofplenty@gmail.com
BOPVCCC POSTAL ADDRESS
BOPVCCC FACEBOOK PUBLIC PAGE
11 Ridgemount Terrace. Welcome Bay. Tauranga 3110
Bay of Plenty Vintage and Classic Car Club
CHAIRMANS CHAT
JOINING LANE
The BOPVCCC extend a very warm welcome to the following new members
Dave Robins dave.robins@outlook.com
Dave has a 1950 MGTD
Jeremy Burges jeremybur.nz@gmail.com
Jeremy has a 1969 MGBGT
Maurice O’Reilly Maurice@tauranga.co.nz
Maurice, an experienced racing driver, has been a previous VCC member
Maurice has a 1959 Daimler SP250 and a 1991 Honda NSX Coupe
Please contact the secretary Michael Thorman for your name badges
IMPORTANT NOTICES
Jazz Festival Parade Saturday 4th April 2026
This years annual Tauranga Jazz Festival Parade organised by Diedre Renne will start from the BOPVCC Clubrooms. All members welcome. Please be assembled and ready to leave at 2pm. For all enquires please contact Deidre Rennie Mob.021 665 875
Radius Althorp Village. Special Event 10/4/26
There are limited spaces available for Veteran, Vintage and Classic vehicles for this visit at 10.30am. Lunch is at 12 noon and is included for drivers. Please contact Elwyn Pirie 0274 914600 ASAP.
Ladies Informal Get-together
A group of ladies club members have had discussions and have decided to start an informal coffee/tea group to get to know each other better and put ideas forward which may include period clothing requirements, places of interest to visit on vehicle rallies and general social interests etc. Initial venue and time for the meeting will be 10.30am. Thursday 30th April 2026 at the clubrooms. Ladies please come along and bring a small plate.
Contacts are Pauline Pirie 027 6669494. Lynn Howard 027 3106451. Helen Meridith 0276 222667
Classic Car Day Summerset by the Dunes 1st March 2026
Photos courtesy of Michael Thorman & Donn White
A really nice morning event attended by twenty two members Great food — Great company
Many thanks Lynn for your great write-up
Photos courtesy of Lynn Howard & Michael Thorman
Please
ARTICLE AND PHOTOS KINDLY SUBMITTED BY
RAEWYN AND GRAEME FENN
Many thanks for your fantastic report. Ed.
Going through the maize paddock
The view from the top Saturday lunch stop
Down and sharp left
Up and over
Young man on gate duty
Graeme, Helen and Les Duggan
Joe Scott’s Memorial Service
7th March 2026
The club rooms were filled to capacity for the Memorial Service for member Joe Scott with a large turn out of club cars participating.
The family gave some amazing insights into the life of Joe, some of which wife Jill only realised on that day and was accompanied by a montage of Joe’s achievements throughout his life. There were many guest speakers from the family and the floor and all showed a common theme of the humour that always seemed present with Joe.
All in all, a great send-off for Joe, much appreciated by everyone.
A fun evening was had by the sixteen of us that arrived for the first Nog & Natter of the year held at the Tauranga Citizens Club. It was St. Patrick’s Day and Club Secretary Michael Thorman and his good lady Jane arrived in the appropriate attire. A great meal with great company.
Photos courtesy of Clive Taylor
March 2026 Tauranga Citizens Club Evening
EDS RAMBLINGS
What an eventful month it has been not only with the weather but also with the cancellations of the ferry crossings ?connecting the North and South Islands.
To get to the various rallies for the South Island has been a nightmare for all concerned and a number of our members were left stranded both to and from these events, we can only hope that the bureaucracy involved gets it sorted urgently.
On top of this, we now have rising fuel prices and impending fuel shortage, I think that in future (30) years there will be an explosion of hybrid/electric cars suddenly joining our club. (audible sighing)
For all of you that are contemplating a crossing, don’t forget that Bluebridge is currently the only operator offering the VCCNZ discounts.
I believe discussions will be on the agenda to revise distances involved in our runs during this period. Don’t forget to support Elwyn Pirie in the organizing of runs and don’t leave everything to him. All suggestion gratefully received.
Speaking of support, I have been very fortunate to have received some great articles and photos for the Klaxon and hopefully, this will continue. If you participate in any event, then please put your hand up and pen your story and/or take photos, this is your club and your input is gratefully received.
The March club night was filled to capacity for the voting on all the potential names put forward for the branch website branding.
Of the seven titles put forward by the members, the majority voted to endorse the name “BOP Vintage and Classic Car Club” and now an online logo will be introduced to reflect this. We look forward to enticing younger members into joining our club through this media.
The first movie night of the New Year arrived with comparatively dry conditions prevailing.
We all arrived at 6pm, set up tables and ate our BYO meals and refreshments. The movie, a continuation of the sitcom ’Allo’Allo that was shown at the end of last year, once again brought on a lot of laughter. The ice cream interval was once again served to the delight of the sixteen or more people that arrived.
I am now busy sourcing April’s movie night DVD which will be Buzzed by Kaaren.
A good turn out considering the amount of members away on rallies.
Fast arriving is the Jazz Festival Parade in Tauranga organised by Deidre Rennie. Lynn and I have not only put our names down for this annual showing of our clubs vehicles, but for the first time are organised to go to the Jazz Festival Friday night event. Look forward to seeing you all there.
There are a couple of public holiday events in April so our normal runs have been disrupted, my advice is grab what you can no matter the weather.
Cheers Klaxon Editor George
CHAIRPERSON
SECRETARY
TREASURER
CLUB CAPTAIN
CLUB RUN CO-ORDINATOR
COMMITTEE
HALL HIRE
BOP VCCC COMMITTEE 2025 2026
DONN WHITE (CHRISTINE)
027 4764465
MICHAEL THORMEN (JANE) 07 5444291 0274 742625
KEITH PERKINS (JANE)
KAAREN SMYLIE
ELWYN PIRIE (PAULINE)
0275 781231
021 664341
0274 914600
ALASTAIR JONES (GWEN) 07 5761124
ELWYN PIRIE (PAULINE) 0274 914600
ALAN MACKENZIE 0275 647785
GEORGE HOWARD (LYNN) 0204 0427624
RUSSELL HULBERT (JULIE)
0274 784599
DOUG BROWN 021 668117
VALUED VOLUNTEERED POSITIONS
KAAREN SMYLIE
021 664341
LIBRARIAN PETER WITHERS 0220 173798
HONARARY SOLICITOR PETER BUTLER (MARION) 021 423453
