VCC Waikato Venture June 2025 by Vintage Car Club of New Zealand

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 2025

Another year has passed by very quickly; I am sure that the older we get the faster time slides by. It has been my privilege to be your Branch Chairman for the past year; this is my fourth time as Chairman and most definitely my last. My heart felt thanks go out to all the committee members who have worked so diligently to keep our branch functioning at the consistent high level to which we have become accustomed.

A special thanks to the parts shed committee for the effort they have put in to make the parts shed a tidy and welcoming place to visit. The parts shed and our swap meet are major fundraisers for our branch, so a big thanks to all the members who helped at the swap meet. The parts shed is a work in progress and is steadily improving.

Our branches participation in the National Day and Daffodil Rally was a great success and allowed us to donate $6K to the Waikato Cancer Society. Another highlight for me was the North Island Easter Rally, it was a great weekend and really showcased our facilities. We owe a big vote of thanks to Greg and Gaynor Terrill for organizing such a successful weekend. However, I was disappointed at the low numbers of branch members who participated in the weekend’s events. On behalf of our members, I would like to thank all those members who plotted runs, organized events, and helped in the kitchen. Our Thursday mornings have become a very sociable occasion, with the workshop and parts shed open, they are usually very busy. The club projects are moving along nicely. Once again, our Editor has produced a high-quality magazine that keeps us all informed of club activities. Your committee has left your club in a very sound financial position for the future, and all the facilities are also in good condition for the future. During the year we have had a steady influx of new members who bring new ideas for the future. To the committee members who are not standing for re-election, thanks for your assistance over the past year. To the committee members who are putting their names forward for another year, thanks for your continuing support of our branch. To the new members who have put their names forward for next years committee, thanks for stepping up to keep our branch moving forward in the future. I would encourage members to become involved, join in, and have some fun. Lastly, I would like to thank Marcia for all the typing and support she has given me over many years. The support I hope will carry on, but not the typing. That is all from me, over and out. Graham Pate

CLUB CAPTAIN’S REPORT

“A dream without ambition is like a car without gas…. You’re not going anywhere”

June 11th – Club Night – Bingo Night – Lorraine Cossey

15 th – Sunday Club Run start at 10.00am to visit a collection of machinery followed by Lunch

then AGM at 2.00pm

18th – Wednesday Wander

24th – Leg Over Motorcycle Run

July 6th - Motorcycle Run

9th - Club Meeting – Electric Motor Bikes – New Zealand Built

19th - Club Run

23rd - Wednesday Wander

27th - Leg Over Motorcyclist Run

August 13th – Club Meeting -

20th – Wednesday Wander

24th – Daffodil Day – The Day for “

AGM June 15th

DRIVING OUR HISTORY

”

“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough” Remember – Play with your toys!

Club Run May 18th Bikkies and a cuppa at the Clubrooms and then we were away across the hills and valleys to Thames. A nice, relaxing, sunny Sunday drive to connect with others at Te Aroha before light rain began. Lunch at the Wharf Café for one group and a very interesting, enjoyable Goldmine Tour for the rest of us. A short tour through some of the tunnels made us very aware of the working conditions the miners endured –building the shafts and drives. The water pump shaft was hand dug down to 1000ft. Lighting was almost non-existent or only candles and lamps. The main horizontal drive was over 2km. The rich history of Thames during that time was amazing. The population peaked at about 20,000 with 120 pubs in the main street. Our guide pointed out there were more deaths from the pub fights than from the mining! The resident Militia helped maintain the peace. Many of the photos showed a‘goldmine’ of vintage vehicles to boot. Yes, we found light at the end of the

Chris Hawkings

SECRETARY’S REPORT

My last report being Secretary.

June 2000 I was asked by Jan Dearlove if I would be the branch Secretary. I was Project Manager for Golden Homes and honestly at that stage I did not have the time. I did tell Jan I would take the position when I retired. I think the committee at the time persuaded me to take the reins August 2020. Nearly 5 years have passed and I can say I have learnt a lot, enjoyed being secretary, met a lot of great members and met new members as they have joined. When Jillian and I were both away at different times we both stepped into each other’s roles and made sure Secretary and Treasurer positions continued. The last couple of years all positions were not filled on the branch committee, I put my hand up to take on more responsibility which was my choice. I must say thank you to a lot of members who have always helped me out when I rang and asked them to contribute in some way. You all know who you are so THANK YOU. I must say the last 12 months has been hectic and worrying to say the least. Graham (Bozy) battling with cancer, now on his 3rd different chemo drug, we are crossing our fingers that this Glofitamab drug is killing off the cancer cells. There are so many people with some sort of cancer that we all must support the Vintage Car Club Annual Daffodil Cancer Day on the 24th August 2025. I have handed over the co-ordinating of the Daffodil Day to Chris and Shirley Hawkings, Chris being our branch Club Captain. If you can help in anyway do not sit back and wait for someone to ring, put your hand up and offer your time. Lunch 15th June; members are required to let me know who is attending lunch at the club rooms Sunday 15th June 12pm being supplied by the club. AGM will follow at 2pm, it will be a chance for new and old members to meet one another. I will not be disappearing, I know there will always be something or someone I can help.

Heather

MOTORCYCLE REPORT

Past Events: April 29th Tuesday Legover. 18 Bikes had a great ride around the hills and ended up with sausages at Terry Pidducks place. Terry has a nice collection of cars and motorcycles. Thanks Terry. We tried the system where, at each intersection, the 2nd rider stops and waits until everyone except the tail end Charlie goes past, then continues riding. This works well, in theory, especially if road signs are missing and if some don’t have route sheets as long as the leader doesn’t get lost! One good thing is that it mixes up the order so you ride following different people. This often fails in practise. The leader must make sure the person behind them has stopped. A Royal Enfield Diesel was fired up at Terrys place and some of us went for a ride. Slow and rattly is a good description, it struggled to do 60km/h. May 4th VCC ride to Paul Pavletich’s bike collection near Drury. 12 bikes and 1 car left the café in Ngaruawahia, picked up 4 more on the way and 2 went direct to the Jolly Farmer to meet the Auckland branch, so about 18 bikes from the Waikato. This was a great ride on a fine day. Except I got lost while leading (I blame Google Maps and a missing road sign) which is a bit stressful with 15 bikes behind you. I later asked Peter Spiller if he wanted his job back! Neville thought he knew the way and led us on a loop of an extra 40+km through the Hunua valley. Which was an excellent piece of road but we missed the others at the meeting point. Finally meeting at Pauls place there were about 80 visiting bikes, thanks to the fine weather I suspect. Paul has a great collection of 60+ 1970s Japanese bikes in restored condition. Many of us went to the Landing Café at Mercer for a late lunch and everyone said they enjoyed the ride. I went home via HW22 and Rotongaro rd, Waikokowai rd. The glorious sound of 4 x 500cc British singles, a Velocette and 3 BSAs, and a Triumph twin, with the sun behind us was memorable. May 17th VCC Northland MC Rally. 70 entries, excellent roads, good weather and an 18km gravel section. 6 breakdowns, including a Morgan 3 wheeler that snapped a front axle, fortunately without injury. 4 of us from the Waikato. Wayne and Sue were adventurous on their refurbished Sunbeam S8, which had charging problems but made the distance. Coming Events:

May 30th Friday - Not the Tuesday Legover. Instead of Tuesday 27th, as a celebration of 60 years of motorcycle riding, Andy is organising a one-off Friday ride and dinner. Details have been emailed but contact Andy or me if you want to know more.

June 24th Tuesday Legover. July 5th Visit to a Veteran and Vintage motorcycle collection in Albany. It is suggested that being winter and north of Auckland, this should be a carpool trip except for the keen ones. Details to follow.

Steve Walter

WORKSHOP REPORT

The workshop has now acquired an illuminated Renault sign which has been placed on the front of the building above the small door and will be wired up in due course and should look stunning on winter nights.

Progress has been made with the AA Ford truck engine which has been partially dismantled and found to be in generally good condition. The nyloc nuts on the big end bearings have been replaced with proper castrated ones. The distributor is in poor condition needing repair so parts are being sought for this purpose. Some leads are being investigated into possible parts for the truck. Progress is being made on the restoration of a petrol pump with letters for the gauges being acquired and considerable work done on the pump. This is being restored to display condition only.

A reminder that the Workshop is open on Thursday mornings and Saturday mornings and the hoist can be used by arrangement with Graham Holmes or Andy Hammond .

Jeremy Brook

The car is going away to a new location for some specialist work soon, so nothing to report for awhile.

A BIG WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS

We hope that you will enjoy the club and it’s many activities

If you have any queries either big or small please do not hesitate to contact any member of the committee and they will be more than willing to assist you in any way possible.

Connor Peters: Suzuki 1992 DR650R Motorcycle

Graham Catchpole: 1955 MG TF1500 (under restoration)

David Bunyard: 1952 Jaguar Mk7

Once again, welcome to the club. We hope to see you at the club night on the second Wednesday of each month.

National North Island Easter Rally

EGG-STRAVAGANSER 2025

Easter for us as a family is all about being with family and friends, having a good time, recounting memories and making new ones, making new friends, getting the old girls out, the cars, I am meaning the cars, not us ladies, but most of all enjoying ourselves. Well, this is exactly what we got and more. This year the Waikato Branch of Vintage Car Club had the pleasure of hosting the National North Island Easter Rally. Our weekend consisted of an activity programme that covered three days, Friday18, Saturday19 and Sunday 20 April. The weekend’s activities were all planned around three days of relaxed rallying being able to enjoy the picturesque scenery the Waikato has to offer. There were 50 cars entered covering fellow branches from Northland, Wellsford/Warkworth, Northshore, Auckland, Waikato, South Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Eastern Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Manuwatu and Horowhenua. Easing into Friday and the beginning of our Easter Weekend activities we jumped in the cars, Dad (Joe Bruntlett) and Carey-Ann were in Dad’s 1928 Chrysler Plymouth and Wayne and I in Ernie a 1962 Commer Cob. Our first stop was a late lunch at the Juke Box Diner before heading to the clubrooms in Cambridge where we were welcomed with afternoon tea, registration and to collect our rally packs. At 4pm we headed off on our first event of the weekend a twilight rally “A Little bit me, A little bit new”. Driving around Cambridge was a nice way to get back into the groove of rallying with no added pressure of looking for silent checks or answers to questions. I must admit there was a few of us who were a bit rusty and minor mistakes were made, but it was all laughed about later as fault was solely from inside the cars. While at times it may have been a little wet, I think we all managed to stay dry with only our cars getting wet. After the conclusion of today’s rally, the first minor casualty was Dad’s Plymouth having lost all power going up the hill in Duke Street, those of us that know this street, it’s rather steep and not somewhere you would want to stop. Dad and Carey-Ann told me it was rather scary as having cars right behind them and no way to push her safely up the hill, the only option was to get her onto the footpath with what you could only say as a kerb jump as those kerbs are big in Cambridge. After getting her somewhere reasonably safe, Dad could have a look to see what was going on, with a bit of a jiggle Dad managed to get her going but had to forfeit the rest of the rally to get her back safely to the clubrooms where a more in-depth look could be undertaken, it was concluded that she has some bad wiring and now that has been added to Dad’s to do list. Thankfully the Plymouth was able to have pride of place on the hoist in the workshop over the weekend where her battery could be charged, and after a temporary fix on Saturday morning she successfully completed the rest of the weekend’s activities, that’s a win. After the conclusion of today’s rally we enjoyed a BBQ dinner at the clubrooms called “Build a Bun”. It was so good. Cooked perfectly, with delicious salads to add to your bun.

There was plenty for everyone, so much so that even seconds were offered. But you can’t forget to add Hugh’s “homemade” plum sauce eh Hugh? We even got dessert with Wayne finishing off the leftover ice cream. Saturday morning was an earlier start, but well worth it to start the day off with a cooked breakfast. What I thought was a nice touch was being handed a plate full of hot food where you then got to add spaghetti or baked beans, or both if you so wished, then as always a nice hot cuppa to wash all that great food down. Again we can’t speak highly enough about the food, always plenty and always delicious. 9.45am was rally briefing, and we were told that there were three different rally routes that had been prepared depending on the age of your vehicle, so DO NOT follow the car in front, or any other car for that matter, read your own instructions and you will be fine. Somewhere this got lost in translation and did not compute resulting in others (not us or Dad and Carey-Ann) getting lost and confused and not knowing where they were or where they were meant to be headed. Highly entertaining and there was so much laughter later on, I guess you learn from your mistakes, but it was a hard lesson to learn. There was no doubt that the scenery was beautiful and I got lost in the moment and was in my own little world which I can attest to is a great place. I had to be gently reminded what’s the next instruction.Lunch was at the RSA in Matamata and yes you guessed it there was nothing to complain about, there was a selection of hot and cold finger foods and cakes and slices and of course a hot cuppa was always present, or if you preferred you could buy a drink from the bar. With Anzac Day approaching there were some wooden homemade poppies for the garden available to purchase, these were very popular with some coming home with the four of us along with some poppy themed jewellery. The afternoon section took us from Matamata travelling out the back of Te Aroha past Wairere Falls and past the 1963 DC-3 plane crash memorial site. We continued to travel on some more amazing country roads back to the clubrooms for afternoon tea. For some of us we even got to take the cars one could say swimming, with one section of the road completely flooded, I was quite concerned that Ernie was going to get wet on the inside, which is not where we wanted water to be, but driving slowly through we came out on the other end dry. Dinner tonight was held at the clubrooms again with tonight’s tea being Pea, Pie and mashed spuds, and don’t forget the gravy, followed again with dessert. It reminds me of that song Food Glorious Food. Time to head home with full stomachs. Sunday was another relaxed shorter planned day starting from the clubrooms with a morning tea of Hot Cross Buns, cakes and biscuits, these went down a treat. The activities were kicked off with all those who got into the theme of crafting an Easter hat, we were asked to join in a parade.

Two winners were chosen. Ladies winner: Patricia Dawson, Men’s Winner: Wayne Hayward, each receiving a chocolate bunny. Well done to you both and to all those who spent time getting into the theme and getting crafty, it was so great to see everyone’s hat. A group photo was taken in front of Ernie, with Ernie Jnr sitting on the bonnet with his crafted Easter hat, those that don’t know Ernie Jnr is my big Teddy Bear and he goes on every rally with us. The next activity was the Gymkana for those who wanted to test their hand and eye co-ordination and skill level, looked like a lot of fun, this was followed by a short rally “Attractions” around Cambridge.

I really enjoyed reading the history about the different places we passed as we were on the rallies, I was having a great time reading it out and learning at the

It was back to the clubrooms for lunch, the whole weekend has been a highlight and we were always so excited to see what our next meal was going to be. In my opinion (as I’m allowed to have one), if you went away hungry or had something bad to say about the food then you are either too shy to go get seconds (not that we really required seconds as the first amount was more than enough) as there was always more food on offer, or you are just too fussy. I know it is hard to please everyone, but the four of us couldn’t have been more stoked with what was served each and every-day. After lunch we took the cars home and had a rest before getting our glad rags on as tonight was the Grand Finale Dinner that was being held at the Cambridge Town Hall with a Roaring 20’s theme. Those that know us, as a family we love to dress up, it’s a lot of fun and we enjoy it. Well not to toot our own horn, but we do scrub up quite nicely, so it was back to Cambridge this time in the modern to see what tonight had in stall for us. It was amazing to see those that could get dressed up in the 20’s theme do so. The ladies looked stunning and the men dapper. First things first we had a group photo outside on the front steps and then we were welcomed inside. Wow, Wow, Wow. The hall looked stunning, so much time and effort had gone into decorating the tables, setting everything up right and to even have thought about planning an area off to the side that had been set up for photo opportunities, what a great idea and we took advantage of this. The dinner tonight was spectacular, a buffet was provided and we can all admit that we ate more than we probably should have, (not just tonight but the entire weekend) but when the food is that delicious you just can’t stop yourself, and this is a testament to each and every person who had a hand in helping whether it be a big or a small part, it takes a team to make things like this happen and to make them a success. Dessert was served and topped the evening’s meal off beautifully. We had entertainment tonight of a live country singer Glenn Carley. He was amazing and Carey-Ann and I found ourselves singing away to the songs, probably out of tune but we were having a great time, and loving dancing with Dad. My Dad is what Carey-Ann and I call our Hero, and he loves to dance, but not only that, he’s really good at it. It really makes us miss Mum even more because those two were great on the dance floor. I was asked if I could keep up with him and that was a solid No. I guess I had better make a mental note, get fitter, and girl, take some dance lessons. From what I heard others saying, Joe’s a legend and we couldn’t agree more. Over the three days there was raffle tickets to be purchased, and it was to be drawn at the finale dinner, but there wasn’t just one raffle there was five separate raffles, all amazing and well worth purchasing some tickets. We thought we had a chance as Carey-Ann is pretty much guaranteed to win one, she’s always very lucky. Don’t quite know what happened this time but we didn’t win any. I even had a special raffle ticket that I was given from Greg after being cheeky saying he should buy more and put my name on them, I must admit I did say if it was pulled out it was Greg’s prize not mine. Better luck next time. Each night there was spot prizes and if your car number was called out you win the choice of an umbrella or a cooler bag, Dad and Carey-Ann won an umbrella. There were two auctions held on Sunday night and Dad not only loves an auction, but helping out the Waikato VCC, so he bid on both and won them both giving the club a nice amount of cash, well done Dad.

We did hear about a story where a lady had to get out of the car to help push it up those hills, as the car was just too little to make it up. We all laughed and said next time she should be the one driving, great fun had by all. So as a parting message once again a huge and grateful thank you goes out to everyone who helped in making the Easter Rally a success, because to us as a family that is exactly what it was, with so many memories to treasure. If you had other plans arranged and sadly couldn’t make it that was a real shame, but if you decided that either you couldn’t be bothered or it’s going to rain then shame on you, because you missed a well-planned, greatly executed fun rally had by all over the weekend. Get your cars out and support your local club and fellow clubs too, because without its members being involved things like this weekend won’t be able to happen and that would be devastating.

Story by Tracey Hayward.

LIBRARY NEWS

The library is here for the members, it has been very quiet in the library, the only noise that comes from it is the vacuum cleaner. Members come on in and browse the shelves, you never know, there might be a book that you require for your project. There may be a book that you can just flick through that shows pictures of old vintages. Thank you to those members that read the Venture library report and returned their library books. Very much appreciated. Just a reminder that you can sign library books out for two months. If you require longer, just come and see me and I can extend the time. We have had a few books donated to the library lately, come on in and see what we have. Library is open on Thursday mornings and club nights. If you are donating books and I’m not around, please leave a note with the books of your details.

Events Ahead Home

Workshop open every Thursday at 9.30am

Wed 11 Bingo at club room

Sun 15 Lunch, Club Run + AGM

Wed 18 Wednesday Wander

Tues 24 Leg Over Motorcycles Run

Wed 9 Club night before the F T N Motion Electric Commuter Motorbikes

Wed 16 Wednesday Wander

Tues 29 Leg over Motorcycles Run

Wed 13 Club Night TBC

Wed 20 Wednesday Wander

Tues 26 Leg Over Motorcycles Run

Model T Ford Club 33rd National Rally 24 Feb – 1st March 2026

Vero International Rally Festival of Motoring 15-21st March 2026

Wellsford-Warkworth Winter Woollies 5-6th July (entries close 26th June 2025)

FORD Day info later - to be in September 2025

CLUB NIGHTS 2025

If you have any great ideas of what YOU as club members want to see/do on club nights, contact your Committee

With a Difference Free Lunch! This years AGM will be held at the clubrooms on Sunday the 15th June at 2pm

BUT!! BEFORE THE AGM AT 2pm

You can participate in the following:

A small run commencing at 10.30am at the clubrooms culminating with a light lunch at the club, which will then be followed by the Annual General Meeting

An AGM is an extremely important aspect of a clubs ongoing existence and for that reason we would very much like to see a large turnout please. If you are planning to attend lunch we need numbers for catering purposes, so please let Heather know

GroceryRaffleDonations

On behalf of the National North Island Easter Rally Committee, I would like to thank branch members who generously donated items for the grocery raffles for the National North Island Easter Rally. These items enabled us to divide the groceries into two substantial raffles. These formed part of an offering of five raffles, that provided a good return.

These events are only successful if there is a team of people supporting in the background. I would also like to thank the branch members who assisted by either working in the kitchen, cooking meals, marshalling, or just offering help on the day.

Thank you once again for your generosity and assistance, it was much appreciated.

Yours

faithfully

Gaynor Terrill Rally Secretary.

Open one hour before club nights

Now open Thursday mornings 10am—12pm

Lots of parts including:

wiper blades steering columns

lights gauges

generators carburetors

light bulbs wheel rims

gaskets bumpers

armatures alternators

axles distributor caps

Recent additions:

Thanks to Geoff Wilson for the donation of MG parts.

MG J2/M/Morris parts

19" x 2 1/2" splined wire wheels

Radiators and surrounds (one Morris Minor)

Gearbox parts diff parts and axles

Crankshafts pistons and rods

Sideplates water manifolds oil pipe and oil filler

1" SU carbs and parts bonnet catches starter

MG TC bench seat and back squabs Full tonneau cover MGB V8 flywheel

2" Stainless steel muffler 6" diameter 18" long

Parts Shed Committee

Alan Sharp

Les King

021 02553853

021 1909506

Clive Plumtree 07 8275973

Terry Pidduck

027 2726319

Graham Holmes 07 827 7341

Robert Johnson

027 4839825

CLUB

1954 Wolseley 4/44 for sale. Car in good condition with the registration and warrant of fitness. A very comfortable touring car. Phone Jeremy Brook on 021152 0922.

Waikato Vintage Car Club Clubrooms

The information in this newsletter and on the club’s web site, is supplied as a service to club members. Articles and other copy of interest are always welcome and encouraged. The opinions expressed in this newsletter and on the club’s website are those of the author alone. Neither the club nor any of its officers accepts responsibility for the accuracy of any statements or opinions.

Notice

We are getting non members ask about putting an advert in the For Sale or Wanted section of the Venture. After a discussion with the committee it has been decided that an advert from a non Waikato VCC member will incur a $15.00 charge. This will cover a three (3) month insertion. After the three (3) months it will be automatically withdrawn.