New Zealand Rolls-Royce & Bentley Club Inc - The Enthusiasts ...
New Zealand Rolls-Royce & Bentley Club Inc - The Enthusiasts ...
New Zealand Rolls-Royce & Bentley Club Inc - The Enthusiasts ...
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<strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong><br />
<strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> &<br />
<strong>Bentley</strong> <strong>Club</strong> <strong>Inc</strong><br />
Issue 11-5, 2011<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 1
NZRR&BC MAGAZINE<br />
NATIONAL EXECUTIVE<br />
CHAIRMAN Michael Midgley<br />
RD 1, Culverden, Nth Canterbury 7391<br />
Phone 03 315 6445 or Mobile 0274 148 145<br />
Email midgleym@xtra.co.nz<br />
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN Richard Hadfield<br />
242 Sunnyside Road, R.D.3 Albany 0793<br />
Phone: 09 448 2248<br />
Email oldie@ihug.co.nz<br />
SECRETARY Geoff Walls<br />
4/3 Karitane Drive, Cashmere, Christchurch<br />
Phone 03 332 6387 or Mobile 021 786 652<br />
Email geoff@wallsnz.net<br />
TREASURER Philip Eilenberg<br />
3B 21 George Street, Parnell, Auckland<br />
Phone: 09 374 5901 or Mobile 021 928 041<br />
Email peilenbergnz@gmail.com<br />
MEMBERSHIP REGISTRAR Rob Carthew<br />
85A Wharewaka Road, Taupo<br />
Phone 07 377 4117<br />
Email watcher@pl.net<br />
TECHNICAL LIAISON OFFICER Post WW2 Roy Tilley<br />
204a Waiwhetu Road, Lower Hutt<br />
Phone 04 566 0850 Fax 04 586 2937 Email rmt@xtra.co.nz<br />
TECHNICAL LIAISON OFFICER Pre WW2 Eddie Riddle<br />
27 Edith Street, Fairfield, Dunedin<br />
Phone 03 488 1121 Email edjoyr@xtra.co.nz<br />
MAGAZINE EDITOR Tom King<br />
191 Sparks Road, Christchurch 8025<br />
Phone 03 339-8309 or Mobile 0275 880 767<br />
Email the.king@xtra.co.nz<br />
WEB MASTER Bob Barbour<br />
27 O’Leary Road, R.D.1 Pokeno 2471<br />
Phone 09 236 6556 or Mobile 027 280 7902<br />
Email gotalife@ps.gen.nz<br />
NATIONAL EVENTS CO-ORDINATOR Rob Carthew<br />
85A Wharewaka Road, Taupo<br />
Phone 07 377 4117<br />
Email watcher@pl.net<br />
NORTHERN REGION<br />
CHAIRMAN Glynn Williams<br />
24 Franklin Road, Freemans Bay, Auckland 1011<br />
Phone 09 378 7632<br />
Email glynngwilliams@yahoo.com<br />
SECRETARY Susie Williams<br />
37 Maxwelton Drive, Mairangi Bay.<br />
Phone 09 626 4996 or Mobile 021 367 683<br />
Email suehowiewilliams@gmail.com<br />
CENTRAL REGION<br />
CHAIRMAN Roy Tilley<br />
204a Waiwhetu Road, Lower Hutt<br />
Phone 04 566 0850<br />
Email rmt@xtra.co.nz<br />
SECRETARY Martin Taylor<br />
24 Rangiora Avenue, Kaiwharawhara, Wellington<br />
Phone 04 470-7666<br />
Email Porsche@globe.net.nz<br />
SOUTHERN REGION<br />
CHAIRMAN Michael Midgley<br />
RD 1, Culverden, Nth Canterbury 7391<br />
Phone 03 315-6445 or Mobile 0274 148 145<br />
Email midgleym@xtra.co.nz<br />
SECRETARY Tom King<br />
191 Sparks Road, Christchurch 8025<br />
Phone 03 339-8309 or Mobile 0275 880 767<br />
Email the.king@xtra.co.nz<br />
THE NEW ZEALAND ROLLS-ROYCE & BENTLEY CLUB (INC)<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Bentley</strong> badge and <strong>Bentley</strong> name are registered trademarks of<br />
<strong>Bentley</strong> Motors Limited.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> badge and <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> name are registered<br />
trademarks of <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> plc.<br />
Membership<br />
MEMBERSHIP of the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> & <strong>Bentley</strong> <strong>Club</strong>, <strong>Inc</strong> is open to anyone with an interest in these two<br />
distinguished marques, whether or not they are the owner of a <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> or <strong>Bentley</strong>. Your Membership SUBSCRIPTION<br />
includes the <strong>Club</strong> Magazine (6 issues annually), the right to attend all <strong>Club</strong> events and activities, and to partake in <strong>Club</strong><br />
management.<br />
FEES: Registration Fee $ 10.00 (once only)<br />
Membership Fee<br />
$115.00 (annual, reduced to $100 for prompt payment)<br />
Family membership $ 5.00 (annual)<br />
CONTACT Membership Registrar NZ <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> & <strong>Bentley</strong> <strong>Club</strong>, <strong>Inc</strong><br />
Rob Carthew, 85A Wharewaka Road ,Taupo<br />
Phone: (07) 377 4117 Email: watcher@pl.net or www.nzrrbc.co.nz ,<br />
then APPLICATION FORM<br />
<strong>Club</strong> Shop<br />
BOOKS<br />
From the Shadow’s Corner by Cal West, Product Support Manager, <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> Motors <strong>Inc</strong>, USA. A compilation of<br />
technical articles, specific to the Silver Shadow and its derivatives, reprinted from <strong>The</strong> Flying Lady. We include a set of<br />
reprints of Know Your Silver Shadow from the <strong>Club</strong> magazine in recent years. $80 per copy including P & P.<br />
Silver Cloud/S Series Reprints 1955-1966: A compilation of technical articles from <strong>The</strong> Flying Lady specific to these<br />
cars. $20 per copy including P & P.<br />
CHASSIS RECORDS<br />
<strong>The</strong> Company’s Construction Records, which accompanied every <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> and <strong>Bentley</strong> chassis (since 1931)<br />
through its production at Derby or Crewe, are a valuable resource for subsequent owners. <strong>The</strong>y detail the original order,<br />
any special equipment, and the results of tests and inspections prior to dispatch. <strong>The</strong> records for all cars over 10 years<br />
old are held by the RREC in the UK, and copies are available to members of that <strong>Club</strong>. <strong>The</strong> number of pages for early<br />
cars may be up to 20 or more. Records for a Silver Shadow can amount to even more pages and cost around $NZ150.<br />
To obtain a copy of your car’s records, contact the <strong>Club</strong>’s Post WW2 Technical Liaison Officer, Roy Tilley, on 04 566<br />
0850 e-mail rmt@xtra.co.nz<br />
ADVERTISING – pages 19 to 24<br />
Classified advertisements pertaining to <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> and <strong>Bentley</strong> are free to Financial Members who do not deal<br />
regularly in <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> or <strong>Bentley</strong> cars or services. All classified advertisements must be submitted to the Editor,<br />
Tom King, Phone 03 339 8309, e-mail the.king@xtra.co.nz 191 Sparks Road, Christchurch 8025. Commercial<br />
advertisements will be the subject of a charge to the advertiser. Colour advertisements are charged at $220 per half<br />
page and $300 for full page, payable to the NZRR&BC <strong>Inc</strong>.<br />
Sister <strong>Club</strong>s<br />
Many of us belong to several motoring clubs, ranging from the Automobile Association to perhaps the<br />
Zundapp Fanciers’ <strong>Club</strong>, and including along the way the Vintage Car <strong>Club</strong> of <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>; the oldest<br />
established British clubs, <strong>The</strong> Veteran Car <strong>Club</strong>, <strong>The</strong> Vintage Sports Car <strong>Club</strong>, and <strong>The</strong> <strong>Bentley</strong> Drivers’<br />
<strong>Club</strong>; and our sister clubs, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> Owners’ <strong>Club</strong> of Australia, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> <strong>Enthusiasts</strong>’<br />
<strong>Club</strong> in Britain, and <strong>The</strong> <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> Owners’ <strong>Club</strong> in America.<br />
All these clubs produce excellent magazines, and your editor is lucky enough to receive our sister clubs’<br />
publications on behalf of our <strong>Club</strong> on a quid pro quo basis. <strong>The</strong>y are held in the bit of the library which<br />
is at 191 Sparks Road, Christchurch 8025, and SAE will have copies speeding to anyone interested.<br />
Otherwise, the current strength of our dollar might make membership of other clubs more practicable than<br />
usual, and membership of RREC is £87 annually, plus £30 one-off joining fee.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> Owners’ <strong>Club</strong> in North America has made the following announcement, through Sabu<br />
Advani, the editor of the RROC’s <strong>The</strong> Flying Lady.<br />
“Digital Memberships - <strong>The</strong> Virtual Way to Go! Members outside of North America are NOW eligible<br />
to join the <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> Owners’ <strong>Club</strong> as an International Digital Member, at less than half of the cost of<br />
traditional club members—just $US30. This eliminates two key obstacles for overseas recipients of the<br />
magazine: shipping cost and transit time.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> exact details of this new programme are still being evaluated and may change once we have a better<br />
idea of what people desire. Meanwhile, contact RROC HQ www.rroc.org to sign up—and do tell your<br />
friends who might be interested in this new option but would have no way of learning about it unless you<br />
tell them.<br />
“In addition to <strong>The</strong> Flying Lady as a PDF file you will receive <strong>The</strong> Event Lady and the Luxury Travel Guide<br />
by email, and you will have full access to the RROC’s www.rroc.org website including the Discussion<br />
Forum which gives you instant, 24/7 access to advice and feedback from members worldwide on how<br />
to repair and restore your motorcar. Last but not least, this level of membership will also give you the<br />
opportunity to vote in RROC elections by email.”<br />
From the <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> Owners’ <strong>Club</strong> of Australia we have received “Overseas Subscription for Præclarvm:<br />
Præclarvm is pleased to announce that it is now able to accept subscriptions directly from Overseas <strong>Rolls</strong>-<br />
<strong>Royce</strong> and <strong>Bentley</strong> enthusiasts. <strong>The</strong> cost is $A99 per annum worldwide (postage inclusive).<br />
All enquiries should be directed to: RROCA Præclarvm Overseas Subscription, the Treasurer, John<br />
Hiscox, 74 Rose Avenue, Wheeler Heights, NSW, Australia, 2097 or email: treasurer@rroc.org.au<br />
CLOSING DATE FOR NEXT MAGAZINE: Deadline for receipt of all material for Issue 11-6 is 22 November 2011.<br />
Front Cover: Lee Howell’s photograph of the new <strong>Bentley</strong> Continental GT, surrounded by its elders,<br />
during its Australasian launching at Queenstown. See David Thomson’s report on Page 4.<br />
Back Cover: Some images from the <strong>Bentley</strong> Motors factory at Crewe. More images and an account will appear in 11-6.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 2
Mainland Comment<br />
During the past year down here there have been so many nights of interrupted sleep, and therefore plenty of opportunities for (to the tune<br />
of Michel Legrand’s “<strong>The</strong> Windmills of Your Mind” from the film “<strong>The</strong> Thomas Crown Affair,” the original one with Steve McQueen<br />
and Faye Dunaway, and the very nifty <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> Silver Shadow fixed-head coupé Mr Crown drove) “<strong>The</strong> Squash Courts of Your<br />
Mind” as the thoughts bounce off the inside of the skull. <strong>The</strong> ideas are harder to get down on paper in the cold light of dawn, but one<br />
which seems worthwhile is for a series of articles or pieces about the eminent people in the car world with whom we have come into<br />
contact.<br />
When we joined the various car clubs we were the young ones, and it often seems as if we are still in the younger age group, so it is<br />
important to record our memories of people whose achievements and personalities live on, and to get it right.<br />
This magazine has already printed an article on Ian Maxwell-Stewart; obituaries for Willis Brown, Edgar Ridgen, Ken White and<br />
George Wright; Scott Thomson’s history of his father “Tommy” Thomson; while Jim Sawers has given us an article about Lucy Wills,<br />
and now one about her brother-in-law, Bill Hamilton.<br />
Your editor’s list, in no particular order, would include Sybil Lupp, Lionel Archer, Ron Roycroft, Euan Sarginson, Dave Bowman,<br />
Selwyn Jackson, Andrew and Mollie Anderson, Bill Clark, Bob Turnbull, Bob Beardsley, Wallace McNair and Ann Thomson, Ron<br />
Hasell, Percy Bull, Dick Messenger, Arthur Dexter, Jack and Leith <strong>New</strong>ell, Geoff Owen, Gavin Bain, Bruces Winder and Pidgeon,<br />
Leon Witte, Allan Bramwell, and Geoffrey Williams in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>; in Australia “Jumbo” Goddard, George Green, Fred Fowler,<br />
Romsey Quints, Barrie Gillings, and George Brooks; in America Henry Austin Clark Jr, Briggs Cunningham, and Henry Manney III;<br />
and in Britain David Scott-Moncrieff, Harry Rose, John Rowley, Stanley Sears, Forrest Lycett, Cameron Millar, Elizabeth Nagle, Tim<br />
Carson, Peter Hull, John Stanford, Cecil Clutton, William Boddy, Denis Jenkinson, Sandy Skinner, Barbara and Nev Farquhar, and Bill<br />
Morris. Those names will bring others to our minds, and many of you will have memories of some of these heroes and heroines. Your<br />
contributions, ideas and suggestions are most welcome.<br />
Our stalwart Central Region member, Ed Boyd, wondered what he could do to help the citizens of Christchurch, and he put his<br />
thoughts into action by arranging for the donation of a Rover 3500, its restoration by local Wanganui Vintage Car <strong>Club</strong> members, and<br />
its raffling. Four thousand tickets were sold, and the proceeds have been forwarded to the Vintage Car <strong>Club</strong>’s National Chairman for<br />
distribution. Many thanks, Ed. As a surely unrelated occurrence, we notice that the V.C.C’s National Chairman has recently bought an<br />
S1 <strong>Bentley</strong>.<br />
This magazine is a little larger than usual; with so much material of high quality to hand, it seemed a good opportunity to present the<br />
historical black and white images in the centre pages, and our printers, H & A Print of Wanganui, have generously offered to process<br />
the extra four pages at no extra cost.<br />
David Neely, one of our members from<br />
<strong>New</strong> South Wales, took this splendid<br />
photograph of Jim Sawers at Hicks Bay,<br />
during our First Light Rally in 2007. It<br />
captures Jim’s essence very well,<br />
and your editor would like to take this<br />
opportunity to thank Jim for yet another<br />
fine historical article, which appears in this<br />
magazine on Page 11. <strong>The</strong> keen eye may<br />
notice that Jim is wearing Joan’s <strong>Club</strong><br />
name badge, and this is poignant, since<br />
Joan died unexpectedly earlier this year,<br />
leaving a very large gap in Jim’s life.<br />
To the Editor<br />
Dear Tom,<br />
<strong>The</strong> story of Tommy Thomson by Scott was a wonderful read for me. Often, when<br />
travelling from Timaru to Dunedin in the Continental, we called on Scott’s parents at their<br />
home, high on the hill west of Palmerston township. If he saw us coming Tommy would<br />
be standing to attention on the front lawn, saluting the arrival of BC61C.<br />
With a BSc in Physics from Otago University he was also accomplished in music, as was<br />
their beautiful daughter Jill who died so tragically following a short illness. Though the<br />
smiling hospitality continued, how they must have grieved.<br />
He was never happier than when working on the <strong>Rolls</strong>. Immaculately attired in jacket,<br />
collar and tie he was always so clean. How did he do that? All alloy heads corrode so<br />
require the standard treatment of heating, welding and drilling, with straightening and<br />
machining to remove heat distortion. But not for Tommy Thomson; instead he drilled<br />
out each water hole to take a tapered threaded hollow alloy plug which simply screwed<br />
into place. No heating, so no distortion. When he submitted his detailed drawings and<br />
specifications to <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> they were mightily impressed, replied with thanks, and<br />
commended him on his enterprise.<br />
For a few years he enjoyed conducting the local high school choir. How privileged<br />
they were to have him. Quietly spoken he had a way with words, but at times needed<br />
so few. When I told him how by pure chance I had discovered the left stub axle on the<br />
Continental was seriously cracked resulting from an early bearing seizure, his comment<br />
was memorable, “Oh dear.”<br />
He once put me in the <strong>Rolls</strong> driving seat while he sat beside me quoting from that<br />
incredible notebook, in which he had recorded so much detail on the performance of the<br />
<strong>Rolls</strong>. From it he could quote chapter and verse. One example described how at a given<br />
time on a given date the <strong>Rolls</strong> had topped the famous Kilmog hill north of Dunedin at 45<br />
mph in third gear with five people on board. Impressive.<br />
A staunch Dunedinite, so accomplished yet so humble, always with that twinkle in his<br />
eye; he was a lovely man with a lovely car.<br />
Cheers,<br />
Jim Sawers.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 3
<strong>New</strong> Car: the <strong>Bentley</strong> Continental GT<br />
Otago Daily Times Motoring Editor David Thomson Reports on the<br />
<strong>New</strong> Car and its Australasian Launching at Queenstown<br />
Photographs by Lee Howell/Kaptured Photography<br />
“Think of an elite athlete going on a training programme to get<br />
tighter, fitter and faster.”<br />
That’s the analogy Robin Page, head of <strong>Bentley</strong> Motors’ interior<br />
design, offers as he describes the second-generation Continental<br />
GT to a group of four journalists – two Kiwi and two from<br />
Australia – who are sharing a coffee with Page at the Amisfield<br />
winery in the Wakatipu Basin.<br />
We are gathered here because Central Otago has been chosen<br />
by <strong>Bentley</strong> as the venue for the Australasian launching of its most<br />
important model. It’s an exclusive event, with only one car on hand<br />
to share around the small cadre of a dozen writers who assemble<br />
in groups of four over three successive days to learn about, and<br />
sample, the new machine.<br />
<strong>Bentley</strong> would not be the success it is today without a massive<br />
investment by its current owner, the Volkswagen Audi automotive<br />
group, but with design and manufacturing centred at Crewe,<br />
England, it remains a determinedly British brand.<br />
‘Britishness’, in fact, is something that Page and others in the<br />
<strong>Bentley</strong> design team discuss before any major project. <strong>The</strong>y look<br />
at it in a heritage context (something that’s easy to do when your<br />
company has been producing quintessentially British luxury sports<br />
cars since the 1920s) and from a modern perspective.<br />
“We look especially at crafts such as furniture and jewellery<br />
making, and consider how the leading contemporary exponents<br />
have captured a Britishness that is rooted in heritage, but is utterly<br />
modern,” Page explains.<br />
That blend of heritage and the modern is what the stylists have<br />
sought in the latest Continental GT. Page’s explanation of the<br />
design of the new car’s nose gives a clue as to how it has been<br />
achieved.<br />
Heritage <strong>Bentley</strong>s such as the iconic R-Type Continental of<br />
the 1950s featured very crisp crease lines on the front wings.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se lines were created by traditional hand-beaten construction<br />
of aluminium panels, but largely disappeared from car design in<br />
recent decades as they were not possible to produce with machinepressed<br />
panels.<br />
Crisp creases return with the new GT thanks to Aluminium Super<br />
Forming, an advanced process that involves heating aluminium<br />
panels to 500 degrees and shaping them by precisely controlled air<br />
pressure. As well as producing sharper crease lines this process,<br />
which comes from the aerospace industry, allows larger panels to<br />
be formed, eliminating welding and panel joints such as those that<br />
ran across the line of the headlights of the previous model.<br />
Other changes about the nose include making the <strong>Bentley</strong> grille<br />
lower but more upright. This, in tandem with the panel creasing,<br />
emphasises the length of the car’s bonnet. <strong>The</strong> car’s headlights also<br />
change, with a more obvious size difference between the finely<br />
detailed outer and inner lights. As well as echoing the headlight<br />
layout of classic <strong>Bentley</strong>s, this helps give the nose a more modern<br />
look.<br />
Sharper lines are evident elsewhere on the exterior too and,<br />
along with a higher waistline, a widening of the car’s track, and<br />
a move to standard 20-inch wheels (the older GT sat on 19-inch<br />
rims), give the car a tauter overall look that is right up to date.<br />
<strong>The</strong> elegance that flows from simple clean lines embodies Page’s<br />
view that the design is complete “when there is nothing left to take<br />
away.”<br />
It’s an approach obvious in the interior, which was Page’s key<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 4
area of responsibility for the new GT. <strong>Bentley</strong>’s winged emblem<br />
has continued to serve as the inspiration for the dash and centre<br />
console design, but in a revised and more dynamic form with the<br />
new car.<br />
By moving the seatbelts from the seats to the sides of the car,<br />
Page and his team have been able to create lighter, thinner front<br />
seats, which as well as saving weight, liberate additional rear<br />
legroom. Despite this, the GT remains a 2+2 rather than a full<br />
four-seater, with the rear seats best suited to kids or small adults<br />
on short trips.<br />
<strong>The</strong> other key challenge facing <strong>Bentley</strong> has been upgrading the<br />
cabin to cope with the latest in information and entertainment<br />
technology. An 8-inch touch screen is fitted along with a 30GIG<br />
hard-drive and there is seamless integration between the screen,<br />
the premium 11-speaker Naim sound system, and iPods and other<br />
portable devices.<br />
Though a new, 40% more fuel efficient 4.0-litre V8 engine is on<br />
the way, the Continental is launched with an improved version of<br />
the hand-assembled 6-litre twin-turbo W12 seen on the previous<br />
model. Thanks largely to engine management changes, peak<br />
outputs have increased to a mighty 423kW of power and 700Nm<br />
of torque, and this combined with a 65kg weight saving produces<br />
a six percent improvement in the car’s power to weight ratio.<br />
Borrowing largely from features introduced on performancefocused<br />
special editions of the previous model, the new Continental<br />
GT adopts a standard 60:40 torque split between the rear and<br />
front wheels (the old model split 50:50) and features steering and<br />
suspension modifications designed to improve driving feel. <strong>The</strong><br />
suspension uprights have also been re-designed to reduce unsprung<br />
weight, and the wheels produced by a new hollow casting process<br />
to achieve the same.<br />
<strong>The</strong> car’s paddle-shift 6-speed ZF gearbox has been modified<br />
to achieve faster (200 millisecond) downshifts and can now<br />
skip third gear to make a rapid downshift from fourth to second.<br />
Changes have also been made to the electronic stability control<br />
system to enable enthusiastic types to better explore the car’s<br />
traction envelope.<br />
Climbing into the driving seat, I notice immediately that the<br />
crisper exterior panel lines improve definition of the outer<br />
extremities of the car. <strong>The</strong>re’s also something re-assuring about<br />
the traditional approach to the car’s main instrumentation – yes,<br />
those white-on-black dials with numbers and letters in classic<br />
<strong>Bentley</strong> fonts remain.<br />
A press of the starter button brings the engine burbling to life<br />
and arouses a sense of grand anticipation, but also substantial<br />
responsibility, especially as within a minute or so I will be nosing<br />
up onto the Crown Range and seeking a driving rhythm that allows<br />
me to cross it in a smooth but spirited fashion.<br />
Truth be known, the initial part of the climb is tighter than is<br />
ideal for such a substantial car, though it is still remarkably nimble<br />
given its size and 2.3 tonne weight. However, recent re-sealing of<br />
the road in smooth asphalt showcases the exceptional refinement<br />
of the car on decent surfaces.<br />
As the corners open, the car gets into its stride. Acceleration out<br />
of bends is stunning, which is hardly surprising given <strong>Bentley</strong>’s<br />
official figures of a 0-100kph sprint time of 4.6 secs, and a 0-<br />
160kph time of 10.2 secs. <strong>The</strong> Continental GT’s top speed is –<br />
conservatively I suspect – listed as 318kph (198mph).<br />
While one never tires of the car’s accelerative push, nor its<br />
phenomenal grip, it makes its most marked performance stride<br />
over its predecessor in its handling. With the majority of torque<br />
now going to the rear wheels, the new Continental GT is easier<br />
to balance and adjust on the throttle. Improved steering feel also<br />
makes the new car easier to place into bends, and increases the<br />
sense of engagement with the driving experience.<br />
<strong>The</strong> only real criticism is that the car’s seats are quite broad<br />
across the top, and so do not provide optimal support for occupants<br />
of a slender build; adjustable pneumatic side bolsters would<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 5
offer <strong>Bentley</strong> a potential solution for the<br />
future.<br />
Moving on to more open highways<br />
it makes sense to re-set both the<br />
transmission and the suspension from<br />
sport to normal modes. <strong>The</strong> biggest local<br />
regret with this car is that <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>’s<br />
speed limits are substantially lower than<br />
the 130kph+ limits and above that the<br />
<strong>Bentley</strong> – as a European luxury grand<br />
tourer – is designed for; it could happily<br />
take cruising at twice our legal speed<br />
limit in its stride.<br />
Such considerations applied equally to<br />
the previous Continental GT, and did not<br />
prevent <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> from being one of<br />
the top markets for the car on a per capita<br />
basis. <strong>The</strong> only thing likely to stand in the<br />
way of similar levels of enthusiasm for<br />
the new model is current economic times,<br />
though one can still expect strong interest<br />
in a car which takes <strong>Bentley</strong>’s rich grand touring tradition forward<br />
in such a decisive and stylish way.<br />
AT A GLANCE<br />
<strong>Bentley</strong> Continental GT<br />
Price: $395,000<br />
Engine: 5998cc twelve-cylinder twin turbo petrol, max power<br />
423kW@6000rpm, max torque 700Nm@1700rpm.<br />
Transmission: Six-speed automatic with paddle shift controls,<br />
four-wheel-drive.<br />
Brakes and stability systems: Disc brakes front and rear with<br />
ESP and ABS.<br />
Wheels and tyres: alloy wheels, 275/40 ZR20 tyres.<br />
Fuel and economy: Petrol, 16.5L/100km on EU test combined<br />
cycle, capacity 90-litres.<br />
Dimensions: Length 4806mm, width 1944mm, height 1404mm.<br />
Re-designing an Icon,<br />
by David Thomson<br />
How does one go about re-styling a car that has already become<br />
a design icon? That’s a question I put to senior <strong>Bentley</strong> designer<br />
Robin Page (pictured at left) at the Australasian launching of the<br />
new Continental GT.<br />
Page is certainly well-qualified to answer. Prior to joining <strong>Bentley</strong><br />
he commenced his design career at Jaguar, starting out as a<br />
company apprentice while completing fine arts study at the same<br />
time. His history with <strong>Bentley</strong> dates back to 1995, and he has<br />
headed the interior design team for all of the company’s recent<br />
new models, including the original 2003 Continental GT, the<br />
Azure, the Brooklands, and the new Mulsanne.<br />
“For this [new GT] car we were told by customers not to start<br />
again in design terms,” he explains. “<strong>The</strong> original GT was already<br />
a design icon, so we had to do a [Porsche] 911; do a loop in styling<br />
terms and reinvigorate the look.”<br />
Some initial thinking around the look of the new GT was done<br />
in 2006 and 2007, but the design programme started in earnest in<br />
2008, with the most concentrated period of work running for close<br />
to a year. Page describes the process as having three stages.<br />
<strong>The</strong> early months were spent working on initial designs, and the<br />
next six months spent refining the look and getting it exactly as the<br />
designers wanted it. <strong>The</strong> final couple of months involved what he<br />
describes as “protecting the purity of the design” as it was subject<br />
to final sign-off by <strong>Bentley</strong> engineers and, ultimately, the Board.<br />
While computers play an integral part in the modern car<br />
design process, there is still plenty of room for traditional design<br />
techniques: designers love to sketch on paper, and the initial<br />
computer design is created in foam, which enables what Page<br />
describes as “all the obvious schoolboy errors” to be identified.<br />
<strong>The</strong> serious modelling takes place using clay, which can be<br />
finely worked to capture every nuance of panel form. While the<br />
models are produced indoors, all of the serious viewing takes<br />
place outdoors, so the design can be seen in natural light. <strong>The</strong><br />
final clay model is captured three dimensionally by computer for<br />
translation into production.<br />
Page says there is a healthy tension between the exterior and<br />
interior designers on a project like this. <strong>The</strong> former want a low<br />
roofline and high waistline to produce a sporty look, but the latter<br />
prefer the opposite to provide a roomier, more airy feeling cabin.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 6
Lee Howell’s picture of a man happy in his work; Robin Page at the wheel of the new <strong>Bentley</strong> Continental GT at the Australasian<br />
launching in Queenstown.<br />
Interaction with <strong>Bentley</strong>’s traditional craftsmen, who are<br />
specialists working in leather and wood, is a vital part of the<br />
interior design.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>y can come in and look at the design, and tell you if it<br />
is actually possible to translate it into what you want using the<br />
materials you have identified,” he says. <strong>The</strong> design ideal is when<br />
the craftsmen’s lines – for example the stitch lines between leather<br />
panels – run along the stylists’ design lines.<br />
“Seat design,” he says, is especially challenging; while working<br />
towards a particular styling effect you are also trying to provide<br />
something that is comfortable and supportive for a range of<br />
physical shapes and sizes and which – because of the need to meet<br />
stringent safety standards – must be designed around a number of<br />
structural hard points.<br />
<strong>Bentley</strong>, Page believes, is especially fortunate in that all<br />
design and engineering is concentrated at one site. This allows<br />
far more interaction between the stylists, the craftsmen and the<br />
engineers than would ever occur with a mass-market car, which<br />
could typically have its exterior and interior designed in different<br />
continents, and production occurring at multiple plants around the<br />
world.<br />
Another tenet of the contemporary <strong>Bentley</strong> approach is that<br />
what one sees in terms of a surface finish is what one gets. Thus,<br />
if it looks like leather, it is (painstakingly selected from mainly<br />
Scandinavian herds and laser-scanned for possible flaw prior to<br />
cutting), if it looks like wood grain it is, and if it looks metallic,<br />
then a cold feel to the touch will tell you it is too.<br />
One of the biggest challenges Page and his team face is<br />
integrating a car’s interior design (and underlying technology)<br />
with modern information and communication technology; a key<br />
issue is the disposable nature of that technology, as exemplified<br />
by the ever changing external electronic devices such as phones<br />
and iPods that customers expect their new <strong>Bentley</strong> to interface<br />
with seamlessly.<br />
While modern technology may cause headaches, it also<br />
has advantages; touch-screens, for example, allow a level of<br />
customisation in terms of vehicle settings not otherwise possible<br />
without dozens of buttons and switches.<br />
Working as a designer for <strong>Bentley</strong> brings unique opportunities<br />
beyond the obvious satisfaction that comes through working with<br />
quality materials and expert craftsmen, while at the same time<br />
meeting the challenges of new technology.<br />
Page, for example, was closely involved in the interior design of<br />
the two Arnage-based State Limousines produced by <strong>Bentley</strong> for<br />
the Queen on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 2002.<br />
Page says the Palace rejected the initial design because it had<br />
too much wood grain, and adds that there were several unique<br />
requirements that had to be met. For example, the Queen’s seat<br />
had to be height adjustable so she would never be sitting lower<br />
than the person beside her (the design team worked with a lifesized<br />
cardboard cut out of the Queen – complete with crown<br />
– to ensure ample headroom). <strong>The</strong> upholstery for it had to be in<br />
Lambswool Sateen brushed wool cloth not leather, and a special<br />
storage compartment was required for Her Majesty’s blanket.<br />
Page admits to finding it quite a thrill to see the car being used<br />
at this year’s royal wedding and, when asked, to be able to tell<br />
his family that he had been responsible for the interior design.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 7
Britain by <strong>Bentley</strong> 2011,<br />
by Richard Hadfield, with Lois Hadfield’s photographs.<br />
Lois and I had the most marvellous tour of Britain this year, and<br />
our only regret was that more of our friends could not be there<br />
with us to enjoy it. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Bentley</strong> Drivers’ <strong>Club</strong> also known as the<br />
B.D.C. is seventy five years old this year and partly by way of<br />
celebration of this an inaugural tour of Britain was organized.<br />
<strong>The</strong> B.D.C. have run tours of Portugal and Jordan and Switzerland<br />
and all sorts of, to us, exotic places but never had they run a tour of<br />
Britain. I suppose that because most members have been based in<br />
Britain, the main thrust was to run touring events in other places.<br />
In 2011 it became clear that more and more members were based<br />
in places other than Britain and so the idea of a tour of Britain was<br />
devised.<br />
Crazy architecture<br />
It was planned to showcase the best of Britain and in that respect<br />
it succeeded magnificently. Starting at the newly re-furbished<br />
Savoy hotel in London where the “<strong>Bentley</strong> Boys” used to play<br />
up in the 1920s. It is truly a magnificent venue, and Lois and I<br />
enjoyed it very much.<br />
As you can understand, it is not possible to get fifty rooms in any<br />
hotel which are all the same, so the organising committee devised<br />
a rating system of their own, whereby hotel rooms were graded<br />
from one to three, and then they made sure that if someone had a<br />
rate one room in an hotel they would not draw the same grade next<br />
time. This worked very well. However, our room in the Savoy<br />
set the tone for the event as we had a bedroom large enough for a<br />
king sized bed and a writing desk and a couple of arm chairs all<br />
with room to spare. Next to this was a full bathroom with room to<br />
swing several cats and then a sitting room as big as the bedroom<br />
with a three piece suite and a dining table and six chairs. Is that<br />
good enough? Well no actually because we also had a butler!!!<br />
Actually the butler was really a glorified form of room service but<br />
boy oh boy it was impressive and in my time I have seen a few<br />
hotel rooms but never anything like this.<br />
Of course it couldn’t last and we were soon brought down to<br />
reality; having said that, our room at the next hotel was extremely<br />
nice, and would give no cause for complaint in the best of<br />
company.<br />
This next hotel was in a small town called Lavenham, a picture<br />
post card village with everything you expect from Olde England<br />
complete with half timbered buildings all leaning and out of level.<br />
I’m sure you could not get a building permit for the likes of that<br />
in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>,<br />
<strong>The</strong>re were around fifty <strong>Bentley</strong>s on the tour. It varied a bit<br />
because some cars joined and left at various intervals – mainly<br />
locals as most overseas entrants did the whole tour. About two<br />
thirds were “W.O.” vintage machines and half the balance were<br />
from the thirties and fifties with a smattering of moderns.<br />
Lois and I had planned to take our 1952 Mk VI Park Ward<br />
convertible but, come shipping date and despite two years of<br />
preparation, we could not make it run to our satisfaction. In the<br />
end, it was just as well because I was quite ill for much of the<br />
time and, apart from driving out of London for the first morning,<br />
Lois drove the rest of the three thousand miles so the Arnage was<br />
a good thing.<br />
Obviously, with fifty <strong>Bentley</strong>s, most of them quite valuable<br />
vintage ones, it would not be reasonable to park them outside<br />
“Joe’s Dodgy Motel” on the wrong side of town so most of the<br />
accommodation was in country houses now converted to golf<br />
hotels and spas and the like. While not like the Savoy, they were<br />
all superb and gave no cause for complaint.<br />
<strong>The</strong> route took us up the eastern side of England and into Scotland<br />
for our fifth stay. I should say that only one stop was a one night<br />
stop with all the rest either two or in one case three nights. This<br />
meant that we were not driving everyday although there were lots<br />
of options for the ‘non driving’ days. From Edinburgh we crossed<br />
Scotland to Loch Lomond where we had a trip on the loch and<br />
were piped into the dining room for an address to the Haggis and<br />
another superb meal. At almost every stop we had a pre-arranged<br />
dinner on the night of our arrival so cars arriving later did not have<br />
the chore of sorting out dining arrangements – very well done.<br />
Down to the English Lake District which is a most beautiful<br />
part of the country where Wordsworth enthused about daffodils<br />
and the like. Now came the only bit of Motorway driving to get<br />
the cars through the industrial areas of Lancashire and across to<br />
north Wales and Llandudno. I should have said that at most of our<br />
stops, we had entertainment laid on. Here in Llandudno we had a<br />
forty member male voice choir to sing before and after dinner.<br />
At the London dinner we had a famous singer (so famous that<br />
I can’t recall her name) but she is featuring in one of the big West<br />
End shows. In Yorkshire we had a brass band which I enjoyed<br />
Hotel in the <strong>New</strong> Forest<br />
very much (especially as they came from Lancashire). At Loch<br />
Lomond, we had the piper and some Scottish country dancing.<br />
From Llandudno we went back east to Cheshire and the highlight<br />
here was a three hour tour of the <strong>Bentley</strong> factory followed by lunch.<br />
Four of our own members, Hilary and Tom King, Glynn Williams<br />
and Michael Midgley, broke into their own visit to Britain to join<br />
us here, and for the dinner at our hotel. <strong>The</strong> next day we<br />
drove to Buxton in the Derbyshire hills for two nights’ rest before<br />
pressing on to Stratford on Avon for our only three night break.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is so much to see and do in Stratford that three days are<br />
hardly enough but we had the thrill of another visit to a member’s<br />
property for lunch. This time it was to the fabulous home of Terry<br />
& Margaret Lister whom we had met on the ‘Down Under Tour’<br />
in 2005. Terry has a great collection of <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong>s along with<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 8
Peter and Mary Morelli’s 8-litre YX5114 outside Crewe Hall<br />
the odd E Type, a gull wing Mercedes and an Aston Martin or<br />
two. <strong>The</strong>y put on a great buffet lunch for the whole gang. <strong>The</strong><br />
following day we visited the B.D.C. club house near Banbury for<br />
the 75th birthday celebrations and the annual rally and concours.<br />
From there we went to Bath and had a mayoral reception and a<br />
guided tour round the city and the Roman baths and hot springs.<br />
Special parking was arranged for us opposite the royal crescent<br />
which made easy access for the town centre. It’s not far from there<br />
to Torquay in Devon and another day of rest. <strong>The</strong> entertainment<br />
on the first evening was that the dining room was filled with all the<br />
side shows from a Victorian seaside resort. What a novel idea and<br />
what a lot of fun we had.<br />
On most days, we followed the route until we got bushed and<br />
then we reverted to tom tom for assistance. In Britain, the post<br />
Inside Crewe Hall, Kiwis Glynn Williams, Hilary King, Lois<br />
Hadfield and Michael Midgley frolic.<br />
for a beautiful lunch in the grounds of his house deep in the <strong>New</strong><br />
Forrest. David had also arranged for a Dixieland jazz group to<br />
play for us throughout the afternoon. <strong>The</strong> weather was idyllic and<br />
the day perfect.<br />
Our last drive took us across the rest of the south of England to<br />
Kent and an evening at Leeds Castle where we toured the house<br />
and were then entertained by the nephew of Glenn Miller who has<br />
his own band playing in the exact style of his uncle. Sitting in the<br />
courtyard with a drink in hand and watching the sun go down over<br />
an historic house before our meal was a great way to end what I<br />
can only say was the finest rally I have ever taken part in.<br />
We saw so many more fantastic sights and places and did<br />
such amazing things that it made the mind boggle as to the work<br />
the organisers must have put in to getting everything just right.<br />
Congratulations to them!!!<br />
Lois driving the Arnage to the <strong>Bentley</strong> Works, Richard navigating. It seemed rude to ask this Australian 6½ litre <strong>Bentley</strong>’s chassis<br />
codes are far more specific than we are used to and generally they<br />
number, but isn’t it splendid?<br />
refer to an exact property, especially as in the case of large hotels.<br />
This meant that a post code would take you to the front door<br />
of the place you wanted. I had looked up on line to download<br />
the maps for the U.K. onto my tom tom but found that the cost<br />
was £104 and a quick call to our son told us that we could buy a<br />
complete unit loaded with maps for £109 so we held off until we<br />
were on the road. Lo and behold we fell over a discount house<br />
similar to our Super Cheap Auto which had new units on special<br />
at an unbelievable £89.99. I didn’t plan to rely on it for all our<br />
navigation but on bad days when we became absolutely lost, we<br />
used it to get us out of the doo doo.<br />
After Devon we followed the south coast of England to the <strong>New</strong><br />
Forest for two nights at Rhinefield House. This is a positively<br />
enormous place first built as a wedding present for a rich man’s<br />
daughter. We have no concept, despite what our politicians keep<br />
telling us, of the difference between the rich and the poor. <strong>The</strong><br />
wealth in those days must have been beyond our dreams. On the<br />
rest day, we drove to the house of another member, David Hughes,<br />
<strong>The</strong> Swan, Lavenham, Suffolk.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 9
<strong>The</strong> Six-Pot Group Hears the <strong>New</strong> St Matthew-in-the-City Organ<br />
by Bob Barbour, with Philip Eilenberg’s photographs.<br />
Philip Smith at the new organ, St<br />
Matthew-in-the-City, Auckland.<br />
Human artefacts represent the range of creative output of both<br />
individuals and groups. When well executed they embody<br />
the aspirations of a society and stand, in their highest forms as<br />
exemplars, raising the sights above the mundane. Churches<br />
provide spaces that lift the head and eyes, expanding the mind<br />
and spirit in participation with other people. As places of worship<br />
in the western tradition became larger, keeping the singing<br />
harmonious required suitable accompaniment. Church pipe organs<br />
provided the volume and variety of musicality that pleased the<br />
human ear, raised the quality of the singing and lifted the spirits<br />
of congregations. While today there is considerable variety in the<br />
styles of musical accompaniment in churches, a competent organist<br />
and a well-founded church pipe organ still meet the traditional<br />
requirements. <strong>The</strong> uniquely skilled organ builder is a rare person<br />
and the management of the construction and maintenance of these<br />
instruments is entrusted to but a few companies among which is<br />
Henry Willis and Sons Ltd. Following the link below will provide<br />
further information about the company and the building of a new<br />
organ.<br />
http://www.willis-organs.com/auckland_general.html.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Six Pot Group recently attended the St Matthew-in-the-<br />
City new organ event during which we heard about the new<br />
pipe organ and listened to a number of demonstration pieces.<br />
<strong>The</strong> evening was introduced by David Wyld of Henry Willis &<br />
Sons Liverpool UK, and was hosted by Philip Smith, B.Mus,<br />
ARCM (Hons), LTCL, AWACM Parnell Cathedral Organist and<br />
Acting Director of Music. At the stage of our visit, the organ was<br />
a work in progress but a good indication of the high quality of<br />
the work can be heard in Michael C.W. Bell’s (resident organist)<br />
demonstration at: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=<br />
10150316641868326&saved.<br />
We were treated to an experience that included a full range of<br />
bright instrumental performance. <strong>The</strong> gifted organists showed<br />
that this pipe organ could be approached with both delicacy and<br />
gusto, and that listeners would find the experience satisfying. In<br />
the base range, we felt that the church structure was vibrating in<br />
sympathy with the deep sonorous rumble of the largest pipes.<br />
<strong>The</strong> ‘choir pipes’ included a range in which the brightness of the<br />
sound of pipes allows the listener to identify individual voices. In<br />
the mid-range the pipe organ produced a mellow rounded and all<br />
encompassing soundscape that was warm and welcoming.<br />
Discriminating listeners would be well advised to consider<br />
where in the body of the church they might find the locations<br />
that offer the experience they are seeking knowing that the pipe<br />
organ and the church interact in very complex ways given the<br />
location of the organ pipes and the complexity of the acoustics at<br />
St Matthews. Each new location opens new voices, mutes others<br />
and enhances the unexpected, truly a complex soundscape that<br />
rewards exploration.<br />
In summary:<br />
Did the clean and enviable space of St Matthew-in-the-City and<br />
the new pipe organ meet the requirements of lifting the spirits,<br />
expanding the mind and challenging the ear?<br />
This new pipe organ is one that will reward the most discerning<br />
listener, easily meeting expectations of a traditional experience<br />
as well as having sufficient distinction, in skilled hands, to fit the<br />
special character of St Matthew-in-the-City’s unique role.<br />
Technical Matters: How My Mark VI Regained its Smooth Idle<br />
by Glynn Williams<br />
From bitter experience I may be able to assist those members<br />
with post war 6 cylinder cars that will not idle smoothly. My<br />
Mark VI B29NY drove me to distraction with popping from the<br />
exhaust, rough idle, and petrol overflowing from the carburettor<br />
float chambers.<br />
About 10 years back we had problems with the supply of SU<br />
petrol pump parts. At that time several of us changed to the then<br />
available electronic conversions to the original petrol pumps.<br />
<strong>The</strong> engine went onto five cylinders, and then down to threescary<br />
when you are crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge in<br />
rush hour. My so-called expert advised that the carburettors<br />
were worn and needed overhauling. This was done by Weber<br />
Specialties, but the car would still not run properly. Eventually<br />
I took the car back to Weber Specialties and they got it running<br />
OK, but after two days it lost its tune and went back to rough<br />
idle. Back to Webers; this time they checked the pressure the<br />
pump was delivering- 6 PSI. It should be 2 PSI. <strong>The</strong>re is now a<br />
pressure valve in the fuel line limiting delivery to 2 PSI and my<br />
Mark VI is a much smoother and happier car with no popping<br />
from the exhaust.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 10
“Billy” Hamilton by Jim Sawers<br />
Early photographs dated 1910 show Billy Hamilton aged 11<br />
returning from a successful goose shoot or messing about with<br />
boats, his first being a galvanized wash tub powered by a double<br />
ended paddle. Later he produced a light weight bamboo/calico<br />
canoe in which he used to shoot down the flooded Opuha River.<br />
<strong>The</strong> problem of how to transport the canoe back to the point of<br />
entry was easily solved, by training the family’s brown retriever<br />
to tow a boat trailer Billy built from old bicycle wheels, so as a<br />
young boy he was clearly an innovator. Born at Ashwick Station,<br />
near Fairlie, South Canterbury, on 26 July 1899, Charles William<br />
Fielden Hamilton grew up with a love for all the outdoor activities<br />
which were so freely available on a large sheep station, and<br />
believed that formal schooling was better delayed until 7 years<br />
of age, Bill had ample opportunity to begin to develop his quite<br />
unique interests on the Station. Educated at Waihi Preparatory<br />
School, Winchester, South Canterbury, he found the world of<br />
academia not to his liking, especially history which he loathed.<br />
However, when obliged to spend a few weeks in isolation due<br />
to measles, his non academic skills were certainly appreciated,<br />
when Bill repaired not only the Headmaster’s bicycle but also his<br />
watch. While still at Waihi School at age 13 he built a dam on the<br />
Station, from which a water wheel produced sufficient power to<br />
provide electric lights in the homestead, as well as for his lathe<br />
in his newly built workshop. Mounted on the veranda of the<br />
homestead was a tennis net reel, which, when<br />
wound slowly each evening, released water to<br />
activate the water wheel and provide lighting.<br />
Slowly being the active word, to avoid a sudden<br />
surge of power to blow all the light bulbs. Bill<br />
was later educated at Christ’s College, but was<br />
obliged to leave to help manage Ashwick Farm<br />
when his older brother Cyril was killed in action<br />
in WW1.<br />
In 1921, with borrowed funds, Bill purchased<br />
the 25,000 acre Irishman Creek Station near<br />
Tekapo for £16,000, so from then on was fully<br />
occupied developing it to meet his own high<br />
standards. At that time the Station ran 6,000<br />
ewes and countless wild cattle. At the same time<br />
Bill bought a Bugatti with funds advanced to<br />
him by Pyne Gould Guinness, who had financed<br />
the purchase of the Station. <strong>The</strong> Bugatti was sold<br />
in 1923.<br />
Aged 9 Billy Hamilton took this photograph in front of Ashwick Homestead 1908. From the left,<br />
Mother, sister Kitty, Father at the wheel of the new Darracq, brother Cyril, Carl Olsen and sister<br />
Leila.<br />
Billy: “Do have a ride in my canoe. I’ll hold it while<br />
you get in.”<br />
boating was one of them. At this stage of his life Billy began to<br />
dream of a boat which could carry him both up and down the swift<br />
flowing shallow rivers of his homeland, a dream which would one<br />
day come true.<br />
Ashwick Station, which had been owned by the Hamiltons<br />
from 1899, was subdivided in 1912, so from then on the family<br />
remained on the smaller Ashwick Farm. Because his mother<br />
Billy at the Middle Hut, Ashwick, 1910.<br />
Because Bill’s father was stricken with cancer<br />
he was taken to England in 1923 for an operation<br />
not then available in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>.<br />
Sadly he died there. While in UK with<br />
his parents, Bill purchased a 1913 4<br />
cylinder 3.3 litre Isle of Man Sunbeam,<br />
one of only four cars specially built in<br />
1913 for the 1914 Isle of Man Tourist<br />
Trophy. More importantly, while in UK<br />
in Oct 1923 he married Peggy Wills,<br />
who during WW1 had worked in a<br />
munitions factory and was the older<br />
sister of profoundly deaf Lucy Wills. In<br />
due course Bill and Peggy returned with<br />
the Sunbeam, to begin their life together<br />
at Irishman Creek Station. Sadly each<br />
had lost an older brother killed in WW1.<br />
Until the Sunbeam arrived Bill used<br />
the family Hudson, which he often<br />
described as a ‘gutless wonder’. In spite<br />
of its lack of power, under Bill’s capable<br />
control it astounded many of the locals<br />
by the way it could cross flooded rivers<br />
when no others would take the risk. By picking a down stream<br />
course Bill made good use of the current to push the ‘old girl’ to<br />
the other side.<br />
Once the Sunbeam arrived, Bill with the help of Stan Jones of<br />
Jones Motors, Fairlie, set about maximising its performance and<br />
using the local roads as a test track, much to the disapproval of<br />
many locals who were genuinely perturbed. Some said, “He will<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 11
(Clockwise from top)<br />
Bill at Irishman Creek,<br />
1922<br />
<strong>The</strong> Sunbeam at Muriwai<br />
1925.<br />
Bill and Peggy<br />
deerstalking,1924.<br />
there at 109.09 mph. A few days later he won the Waikouaiti<br />
Beach Race. During that time Bill’s brother-in-law Matthew<br />
Wills, who came to <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> in 1925 and bought Opawa<br />
Station, Albury, raced a straight 8 Sunbeam at Muriwai in 1926<br />
and 1927.<br />
Bill Hamilton in the<br />
Sunbeam in England,<br />
1923<br />
break his neck, that car was built for the track, not <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong><br />
roads.” One local lady remarked, “Ever since Billy brought that<br />
car out here I daren’t go on the road, and I don’t know what I<br />
would do if I met him on a bridge.”<br />
Quite soon, while at Irishman Creek, Bill began his engineering<br />
career by designing a water pump, sand yacht, saw bench and a<br />
water wheel which generated enough electric power to supply<br />
lights as well as some electric heating in the homestead, in addition<br />
to later powering his workshop, which he built with timber from<br />
Ashwick Farm. A major undertaking was the building of a dam<br />
to provide an adequate water supply for the Station and feed the<br />
water wheel as required.<br />
Clearly an innovator, Bill developed a highly efficient scoop,<br />
which in addition to a home built excavator proved its worth in<br />
the construction of the dam. 1n 1927 his sister in law Lucy Wills<br />
who was staying at Tekapo, was one of many who operated such<br />
machinery in the construction of the dam. Bill’s scoop was so<br />
successful he later took it to England in 1936, where it was used in<br />
the construction of the Chingford Reservoir near London. In order<br />
to further develop the scoop’s use, Bill bought four International<br />
crawler tractors and was soon a very busy contractor involved in<br />
the construction of aerodromes at Wigram in Christchurch, Gore,<br />
Haast, Okuru, Wainakarua, Keri Keri, and Great Barrier Island.<br />
Later he built the four mile stop-bank at Karamea.<br />
Not surprisingly Bill became interested in racing his Sunbeam,<br />
the first car in Australasia to reach 100 mph, so a few days before<br />
the 1925 Muriwai Car Races, he with Stan Jones in the Sunbeam,<br />
together with Stan’s partner Andy Irving in the Brescia Bugatti,<br />
set off for Auckland. Camped in the scrub beside the beach they<br />
worked hard on the cars. Bill won by a quarter mile the 50 mile<br />
NZ Motor Racing Cup at Muriwai at 81.5mph, as well as the one<br />
mile Australasian Speed Record at 100mph, in each case beating<br />
the favourite, an Australian owned 30/98 Vauxhall. That same day<br />
Andy Irving won the 50 miles Light Car Cup in his 1.5L Bugatti.<br />
Little wonder the spectators were so impressed with two winners<br />
from a far away small town called Fairlie. In 1926 at Muriwai<br />
Bill had to retire his Sunbeam with a collapsed bearing and in<br />
1927 was similarly unsuccessful, but in 1928 ran second in the<br />
NZMRC, and later that year won the 24 mile and fifteen turns<br />
Dominion Speed Cup at Oreti Beach, as well as the Flying Mile<br />
(Above) 1922 Sunbeam GP. This is identical to the Sunbeam which was<br />
owned and raced by Bill Hamilton’s brother-in-law Matthew Wills.<br />
(Below) 1922 Sunbeam GP engine room. (Photos Tom King)<br />
Auckland Press cutting 22 February 1925.—<br />
<strong>The</strong> Bugatti which won the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> Light Car Cup of fifty<br />
miles and put up such a creditable performance in doing the<br />
distance in 41 minutes18 seconds averaging 72mph was driven<br />
by the owner, A. Irving of Fairlie, South Canterbury.<br />
This is the first occasion on which cars have come from so far<br />
south, and the win was a most popular one. <strong>The</strong> Bugatti was<br />
never seriously troubled at any time during the race.<br />
<strong>The</strong> winner of the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> Motor Racing Cup of fifty<br />
miles, the Sunbeam, also hailed from Fairlie, being driven a<br />
particularly fine race by C W F Hamilton. At first it looked as<br />
though the <strong>New</strong> South Wales car, the Vauxhall piloted by Hope<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 12
(Left) A year’s supply of coal,<br />
flour. sugar. oatmeal and tea<br />
arriving at Irishman.<br />
(Below) Bill adjusting the<br />
excavator at Irishman.<br />
Bill’s scoop in action building the Irishman dam, 1927.<br />
Bartlett of Sydney, would have a chance, but the Sunbeam in the<br />
last twenty five miles increased its lead and won by a quarter of<br />
a mile.<br />
In 1927 came the big freeze at Irishman with a massive snow<br />
fall, when daytime temperatures were as low as -15 degrees. As<br />
the power supply dam froze to below the intake level, there was no<br />
power generated. A bottle of lime water which burst in the kitchen<br />
was still there in the perfect shape of the bottle three weeks later.<br />
A four ton lorry loaded with coal crossed Irishman Creek without<br />
breaking the ice. <strong>The</strong> steam from the kettle froze on the ceiling<br />
and looked like rivets. Peggy’s sister Lucy Wills who was staying<br />
at Tekapo House, arrived on skis hoping for a bath. “A bath?” said<br />
Peggy, “You may clean your teeth if you like.” So the first job for<br />
Bill driving the <strong>Bentley</strong> at Brooklands, 1930.<br />
“No.” Shouted the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>er, “He’s a <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>er.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> following extract from the Georgeson/Wilson book ‘<strong>The</strong><br />
Leading Edge’ A life in Gliding, provides a fascinating view of the<br />
scene at Brooklands on that famous occasion.<br />
‘He and Peg went to England in 1929. Bill wanted to see how<br />
he would get on racing against the top English drivers, and they<br />
carefully selected a second hand 4.5L unsupercharged <strong>Bentley</strong>,<br />
which Peg bought. This would be a good car to race, as well as a<br />
fine touring car for <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> conditions. With characteristic<br />
colonial insouciance, Bill decided to hazard his luck at the great<br />
Brooklands Easter Open Meeting. Here he’d be lined up against<br />
Sir Malcolm Campbell, Sir Henry Birkin and all the great names<br />
of motor racing. He prepared the engine himself at the <strong>Bentley</strong><br />
garage, grinding the valves to his own specification with infinite<br />
care. “That’ll do,” said a mechanic looking over his shoulder,<br />
“they look pretty good to me.” It wasn’t good enough for Bill.<br />
He increased the clearance of the pistons so that they were looser<br />
in the cylinders, preparing the engine well beyond <strong>Bentley</strong><br />
recommendations. He entered the car for three races, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Bentley</strong><br />
Handicap, <strong>The</strong> Sussex Long Handicap and the Bedford Long<br />
Handicap.<br />
‘<strong>The</strong> day came. Sir Malcolm Campbell called out to Bill in<br />
the pit with scornful amusement, “You won’t do any good in that<br />
thing!” Bill quietly carried on, draining all the oil from the gearbox<br />
and differential and replacing it with separator oil, a low viscosity<br />
extreme pressure lubricant. <strong>The</strong>n, so that the engine would be<br />
performance-hot to start the race, he covered the radiator to bring<br />
the water to the boil. Onlookers fell about with laughter and jeers<br />
as he steamed and bubbled out of the pit. “Here comes the Stanley<br />
Steamer car!” Unperturbed, Bill lined up. <strong>The</strong> cover was snatched<br />
off the split second before the flag fell.<br />
‘For the first time at Brooklands and to the astonishment of the<br />
organizers, participants and crowd, Bill and his <strong>Bentley</strong> won every<br />
race he entered; the first time that all three races on the one day had<br />
been won by the same driver. Moreover his name was completely<br />
unknown. <strong>The</strong>re must have been some dismay at the prospect of<br />
one magnificent sterling silver trophy after another disappearing<br />
to the colonies with this stranger. Bill’s <strong>Bentley</strong> was the fastest<br />
unsupercharged <strong>Bentley</strong> ever to race at Brooklands, but it wasn’t<br />
just the car; he was a driver of rare judgement and ability and<br />
knew with the instinct of a true engineer how to handle it. Coming<br />
off the Byfleet banking on the final straight of the last race, he<br />
could see he’d just pip Campbell before the finish and shot past<br />
him with satisfaction. Offers, coveted in the racing world, came to<br />
Bill from European car makers to race for them. <strong>The</strong>y must have<br />
been bewildered by his replies that he was just a sheep farmer in<br />
Bill was to lower the intake pipe in the power supply dam.<br />
In 1929 when they visited UK, Peggy purchased a near new 1928<br />
4.5L <strong>Bentley</strong> tourer HF3198, which Bill raced very successfully<br />
at Brooklands, to win the fastest lap time for an unsupercharged<br />
<strong>Bentley</strong> at 109mph. In one day there he won three races. Having<br />
noticed how the roughness of the track was the biggest factor<br />
limiting the performance of the cars, and having been granted the<br />
use of the <strong>Bentley</strong> workshop, Bill spent many hours improving the<br />
suspension of his <strong>Bentley</strong>, thus ensuring his success over the other<br />
competitors, who worked frantically instead to squeeze more<br />
power from their engines, but to no avail.<br />
On that occasion a bystander was heard to comment, “That<br />
man has won three races today hasn’t he?”<br />
“Yes.” replied a nearby <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>er.<br />
“Australian isn’t he?” said the bystander.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5<br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>, and that was his life.’<br />
13
(Left) <strong>The</strong> original small workshop<br />
at Irishman.<br />
(Below)<strong>The</strong> workshop at Irishman<br />
during WW2.<br />
Once back in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>, although he became well known<br />
to the local Traffic Officers on a few occasions, he was never<br />
actually prosecuted for any motoring offence. On one occasion<br />
when Vyvian LeCren was stopped for speeding in his wife<br />
Marjorie’s 3 Litre <strong>Bentley</strong> CH1063 (later trucked), the Traffic<br />
Officer greeted him with, “Mr. Hamilton I presume.” On another<br />
occasion, seeing Bill speeding down the road in a cloud of dust,<br />
an elderly gentleman remarked to his son, “<strong>The</strong>re goes that mad<br />
Billy Hamilton.”<br />
Another interest was flying, and Bill as passenger was fortunate<br />
indeed to survive, according to the following report of an accident<br />
at Rongotai Aerodrome in Wellington.<br />
C.W.F. Hamilton was involved in an air accident on 18 February<br />
1936 when the Miles Falcon 6 of Union Airways, had been<br />
chartered to fly from Wellington to Hamilton and back. In view of<br />
the deteriorating weather on the return flight, the original pilot, S/<br />
O Jury, was replaced at Palmerston North by a more experienced<br />
pilot, Union Airways Service Manager, Squadron Leader Malcolm<br />
McGregor, MC, DFC and Bar, who had served in the Great War<br />
with distinction. As Rongotai Aerodrome was approached, the<br />
southerly wind was gusting to over 30 knots, and visibility was<br />
no more than 100 yards. <strong>The</strong> aircraft’s starboard wing clipped the<br />
anemometer mast and sheared off, causing the aeroplane to flip<br />
on to its back. S/L McGregor, a tall man, suffered head injuries<br />
and died later in Wellington Hospital, while C.W.F. Hamilton,<br />
being of much smaller build, was dazed but unhurt. This is based<br />
on the account Scott Thomson noticed in Union Airways by J.W.<br />
Johnston, Christchurch 1985, and <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> Aviation Tragedies<br />
by John King (Grantham House Wellington 1994.)<br />
After such a narrow escape from this accident Bill was ever<br />
aware of the hazards of flying in small planes. Although always<br />
interested in flying, Bill later resisted the temptation to buy a plane<br />
for his frequent trips back and forth between Christchurch and<br />
Irishman, mainly due to the constantly tricky flying conditions at<br />
the Station.<br />
At Irishman Creek Bill established an engineering workshop<br />
which in 1939 was very busy making bulldozers for ‘International<br />
Harvester’, but when war was declared began manufacturing<br />
munitions. In conjunction with Jones Motors of Fairlie he<br />
built a small factory in Fairlie where they made 2 inch mortar<br />
bomb casings. At its height the workshop at Irishman employed<br />
seventeen people producing weapon components etc, Later<br />
‘Hamilton Engineering’ was established in Christchurch in 1945,<br />
but for some time Bill remained at the Station, where he ultimately<br />
developed and perfected the Hamilton Jet unit.<br />
Dick Georgeson, an orphaned nephew of Bill Hamilton, was<br />
nurtured and brought up with the Hamilton children by the ever<br />
caring Peggy and Bill at Irishman Creek, and spent his very happy<br />
working lifetime with CWF Hamilton Ltd. Later Dick and Bill<br />
became heavily involved in Gliding. For some years Bill and son<br />
Jon drove the <strong>Bentley</strong> to tow gliders at Christchurch Aero <strong>Club</strong>,<br />
a highly skilled operation, as it required the driver to first of all<br />
accelerate hard to get the glider airborne, but once a certain altitude<br />
was achieved he needed to ease up to avoid restricting the climb of<br />
the glider. Capable of 0-100 kph in nine seconds the <strong>Bentley</strong> was<br />
ideally suited to the task. In 1949 Bill bought a Ford “Fortyniner”<br />
which represented a huge breakthrough for Ford cars, being the<br />
first produced without cross springs front and rear. With that well<br />
tried and tested flat head V8 engine the “Fortyniner’s” acceleration<br />
was ideal for towing gliders.<br />
With Peggy a gifted pianist and Bill a fine piper, there was<br />
music aplenty at Irishman. In fact the family, together with a few<br />
workers on the station, formed the Irishman Creek Pipe Band<br />
which performed enthusiastically for visitors. Dick Georgeson<br />
appreciated Peggy’s fine touch on the piano. “She played the piano<br />
well; I loved the sense of encompassing security at night drifting<br />
off to sleep to the strains of ‘Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring’ and other<br />
favourite Bach pieces, Beethoven and folk songs.”<br />
One of Bill’s first inventions at Irishman was a type of rotary<br />
engine. Amazingly the hydroelectric plant he had built earlier was<br />
of sufficient capacity to supply all purpose power for the homestead<br />
(including heaters), and the expanded workshop, in addition to<br />
supplying lighting for the nine married couple units plus the single<br />
men’s quarters. Other inventions were a shingle loader, water<br />
sprinkler, hay-lift, air compressor, an air conditioning plant, an ice<br />
hockey rink and an ice scraper to produce smooth ice for skating.<br />
Although at times he approached problems in an unconventional<br />
manner, he always followed the best engineering practices in<br />
developing and building his many and varied machines.<br />
A self taught engineer, Bill taught many unskilled men how to do<br />
highly precision work. Some of the workers at Irishman were Jews<br />
whom Bill had assisted to leave Germany before WW2. When<br />
visiting England he was always saddened to see how tradesmen<br />
there were so reluctant to impart their skills to others, an attitude<br />
so foreign to Bill Hamilton, who all his working life had taught so<br />
many others the skills he had learned himself. Always so calm, he<br />
became a great tutor to his staff. If he saw one of his men using an<br />
incorrect technique he would say quietly, “I think you may have<br />
a problem if you do it that way.” One of his best pupils was his<br />
profoundly deaf sister in law Lucy Wills then living at Tekapo<br />
Station, and whom Bill had tutored so well she managed on her<br />
own to overhaul the engine of her 4.5L <strong>Bentley</strong>. “You can do it<br />
Lucy.” A rabbiter became a well trained welder. Alf Dick a fifteen<br />
year old cow boy on the Station was trained by Bill to become<br />
a highly competent engineer, who later became manager with<br />
responsibility for 350 staff. Only one qualified engineer George<br />
Davison was ever employed at Irishman. Bill’s staff were all<br />
trained on the job, and the workshop was always available after<br />
hours for any of them to use for private work. Naturally he was<br />
held in high regard by all staff members, who had absolute faith in<br />
his unique ability to deal with any problem at all. On one occasion<br />
when a staff member had a fish hook stuck in his back, Bill was<br />
the only person the victim would allow to ‘operate’.<br />
If there was one characteristic of Bill Hamilton which stood out<br />
it had to be his calmness under all circumstances. When being<br />
driven by his engineering student son Jon, Bill’s 4,5L <strong>Bentley</strong> was<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 14
First CWF Hamilton & Co. board meeting, held at Irishman Creek, 1946.<br />
Left to Right (Back row) Dave Small, Eric Chapman, Dick Georgeson, Jon<br />
Hamilton, Bill Geeves, Alf Hosken, Helmut Pappe, Bill Allport.<br />
(Front row) Lucy Geeves, Rhondda Chapman, Peggy Hamilton, Bill<br />
Hamilton, Dorothy Small, Vera Pappe.<br />
(Left) Peggy with Bill in 1949.<br />
(Right) Bill and Jon working on the<br />
reverse gear of the jet boat.<br />
(Below) <strong>The</strong> new homestead at<br />
Irishman.<br />
badly damaged in an accident in Christchurch. Bill Hamilton’s<br />
daughter recalls the phone conversation at Irishman Creek, when<br />
Jon phoned to advise his very placid father of the accident.<br />
Bill, “Hello Jon how are you?”<br />
Pause.<br />
Bill, “Oh not so bad.”<br />
Pause.<br />
Bill, “What happened?”<br />
Very long pause.<br />
Bill, “Anyone hurt?”<br />
Pause.<br />
Bill, “What’s the weather like?”<br />
With Bill Hamilton’s wife being a sister to Lucy Wills there<br />
has always been a strong association between <strong>Bentley</strong>s, the<br />
Vintage Car <strong>Club</strong> of <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>, and Irishman Creek Station.<br />
Over many years the long established annual Queen’s Birthday<br />
Weekend Irishman Creek VCC Rally has attracted many<br />
enthusiastic participants from far and wide, who initially used<br />
to be accommodated on the Station. Although they still visit the<br />
Station they now stay at other venues such as Fairlie or Kimbell.<br />
A huge loader/dozer developed in 1943 was so successful it was<br />
manufactured under licence in UK and Canada. A crane to be used<br />
in the Middleton Works was another achievement of the Irishman<br />
Creek workshop, as were angle dozers, a full range of hydraulics<br />
and an excavator which won a gold medal in 1945. Most of the<br />
equipment items for the new factory, including two 5 ton bridge<br />
cranes, were made at Irishman.<br />
After being established initially in a small rented building in<br />
Bath Street, Christchurch, in 1945, CWF Hamilton Engineering<br />
Works later moved to their 5,000 square metre factory on the<br />
10 acre site at Middleton, Christchurch. <strong>The</strong>re they built the 90<br />
feet long girders for the Kawarau Bridge (near Queenstown),<br />
which when assembled and erected on site had 1/8 inch clearance<br />
between the major components, the permitted tolerance being ½<br />
inch. In 1947 they built the first rope tow at Coronet Peak for<br />
Harry Wigley of Mount Cook Company, and in 1949 completed a<br />
similar tow at Mount Ruapehu. Among their many major projects<br />
was the supply of all the heavy machinery including intake gates,<br />
for the various Waitaki River hydroelectric schemes, as well as<br />
Manapouri. Some 40 feet long railway wagons were also built, as<br />
were chair lifts for various ski fields.<br />
After son Jon completed<br />
his training as<br />
an engineer, he became<br />
chief engineer<br />
and designed and<br />
built a 500 ton press<br />
for bending steel. <strong>The</strong><br />
many apprentices<br />
trained at the factory<br />
included some from<br />
Holland, Australia,<br />
Austria, Italy, Samoa<br />
and Canada, in addition<br />
to many <strong>New</strong><br />
<strong>Zealand</strong>ers, including<br />
George Calder of<br />
Christchurch. Dick<br />
was by then assisting<br />
Bill in his design<br />
work, and when Alf<br />
suggested that if the<br />
jet stream were discharged above the water instead of into it, a<br />
gain in speed and steerage would be achieved, Bill was initially<br />
reluctant, but ultimately very happy indeed to accept his junior’s<br />
advice, which produced a huge gain in speed and steering. “Out of<br />
the mouths of babes and sucklings--.” When being obliged to hold<br />
the high pressure fire hose during fire drill practice at Irishman, Alf<br />
had noticed the enormous power generated by a jet of water being<br />
discharged into the air. After this huge advance in design Bill then<br />
turned his mind to improving the power of the jet itself, without<br />
necessarily increasing the power of the driving engine. Instead of<br />
using the original centrifugal pump concept which required the<br />
water to actually change direction on its way to discharge, he<br />
switched to an axial flow unit which was so much more efficient.<br />
<strong>The</strong> final stage was refining and simplifying the axial flow unit for<br />
greater efficiency still, with reduced cost of production.<br />
With the development of a multi stage pumping system, the<br />
next boat, 14 feet long with a Ford Consul engine, was able to<br />
achieve the impossible in 1953, by travelling at speed either up or<br />
down stream in those shallow rivers into previously inaccessible<br />
areas. <strong>The</strong> ultimate test required the jet boat to turn in its own<br />
length. Many different rivers were used for testing and exploration<br />
purposes but the Waitaki was the main one. While the Benmore<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 15
Dam was under construction they raced with two boats through<br />
the two diversion tunnels. In 1953 the first Jet Boat was sold.<br />
Later a tour up the Wanganui River to Taumarunui attracted wide<br />
publicity for Hamilton Jet boats, which were soon operating up<br />
and down the river.<br />
In 1954 George Davison, a newly fledged Engineering graduate<br />
<strong>The</strong> camp site<br />
on the three<br />
day excursion<br />
on Wanganui<br />
River.<br />
(Hamilton)<br />
Bill and the second jet boat in the willows on the Waitaki River.<br />
from Canterbury University, became the first qualified engineer<br />
to be employed at Irishman. When he heard about the jet boat<br />
research he decided to spend six months working with Bill, and<br />
stayed for six years. Working day by day with Bill he frequently<br />
presented a problem to him at the end of the day. Knowing how<br />
Bill spent so much time at night at the drawing board, it was<br />
never a surprise when Bill greeted him in the morning with, “I<br />
think I have the answer.” And invariably he did. George Davison<br />
spent the remainder of his working career at Hamilton’s and<br />
became Manager of Hamilton Marine.<br />
Gradually the large workshop at Irishman became a research<br />
operation for the Hamilton Jet Boat which would require a depth<br />
of only 4 inches of water. <strong>The</strong> first boat had a 12 feet plywood hull<br />
incorporating a centrifugal type jet pump powered by a 100E Ford<br />
10 car engine. Before its initial trial on the Waitaki River in 1954<br />
this first jet boat was tested on the Irishman Creek dam and water<br />
race. Although painfully slow it was a huge success, so Bill then<br />
set his mind to improving its speed, power and efficiency. While<br />
Bill was busy wracking his brain for an answer to the problem, it<br />
came from the ex 15 year old cow boy Alf.<br />
With the first production jet unit being installed in the 4.8 metre<br />
wooden hulled boat of Matthew Wills, the Mk 1 Ford Zephyr<br />
engine produced a speed of 45mph. This was the Quinnat model<br />
of which seven were made in 1954. A year later came the Rainbow<br />
axial flow model of which 100 were made. Next came the Chinook,<br />
a two stage jet. In 1956 a three stage axial unit produced 50 mph<br />
so progress was rapid. Word of this wonderful newly designed<br />
jet boat proved to be spreading world wide, when a letter from<br />
overseas addressed to ‘<strong>The</strong> Hamilton jet boat inventor, <strong>New</strong><br />
<strong>Zealand</strong>’ found its way to Bill. By 1957 fibreglass was being used<br />
for boat hulls, and later aluminium, so these materials constituted<br />
a further advance in the world of jet boat design.<br />
During a visit from England to NZ with her parents, brother<br />
Matthew and sister Lucy in 1919, Peggy had loved travelling by<br />
boat from Taumarunui to Wanganui, so when Bill suggested a<br />
three day jet boat expedition up the Wanganui River she was very<br />
excited indeed. Camping on the boat for two nights and spending<br />
three days travelling, they accomplished the 234 km journey to<br />
Taumarunui in only nine hours, so were welcomed there by a crowd<br />
of 250 very enthusiastic spectators, who squealed with delight<br />
when Bill suddenly turned the boat in its own length, shot under<br />
the bridge and disappeared up the Ongarue River. <strong>The</strong> crowd loved<br />
it. Bill was<br />
having a ball.<br />
When<br />
t r a v e l l i n g<br />
down the<br />
R a n g i t a t a<br />
River at<br />
speed, Bill<br />
m i s j u d g e d<br />
some shallow<br />
water and lost<br />
control of the<br />
boat which<br />
caught in the<br />
overhanging<br />
snowgrass. <strong>The</strong> impact was so violent that it caused major damage<br />
to the boat but not to Bill, who remarked in his usual droll fashion,<br />
“A bit too fast I think.” On another occasion when boating on<br />
the Matukituki River he wrenched his arm badly when he scraped<br />
the boat along a cliff face, a seriously disabling injury which<br />
prevented his participating in the second and highly successful<br />
Colorado River expedition a few months later.<br />
From 1959 Hamilton Jet Boats were being made under licence in<br />
Indiana, USA, by Buehler Corporation, who persuaded Bill to try<br />
the boats in the Grand Canyon. Although the first such expedition<br />
experienced problems, a second using four boats and led by Jon<br />
Hamilton was highly successful, with boats not only negotiating<br />
up the rapids known as Vulcan Falls, but successfully negotiating<br />
them on the down river journey as well. This was a spectacular<br />
demonstration of Hamilton Jet Boat’s ability to operate successfully<br />
under such demanding conditions, where the temperatures can be<br />
as high as 120 degrees F, and signalled a dream come true for Bill<br />
Hamilton, whose boating career had begun in a galvanized wash<br />
tub powered by a double ended paddle.<br />
In 1962 at Irishman Creek a very late phone call woke Bill and<br />
Peggy. Following the completion of the call Peggy asked Bill,<br />
“What was that?”<br />
“Telephone,” replied Bill.<br />
“I know that. Who was it?”<br />
“Some chap, I forget his name, ringing from Dunedin.”<br />
“What for?”<br />
“A jet boat.”<br />
“Why at this time of the night?”<br />
“<strong>The</strong> King of Thailand wants a jet boat.”<br />
Bill Hamilton was deservedly awarded an OBE in 1961 “For<br />
very valuable service in the field of engineering and especially in<br />
the design and construction of jet propelled motor boats.”<br />
According to Guy Mannering, a close friend of Bill, “His real<br />
achievement was not so much that he gave us the jet boat, but that<br />
he showed us what to do with it.”<br />
In 1962 the NZ Jet Boat Association was formed with the<br />
Hamilton Trophy for annual competition and Bill Hamilton as<br />
Patron. When Bill died on 30 March 1978 his widow Peggy took<br />
over his role, and when she died in 1982 son Jon became Patron.<br />
Jet powered surf boats were in use for rescue work at Sydney,<br />
and in 1965 five 50mph Jet Boats equipped with Ford Falcon V8<br />
engines were supplied to India for river rescue work. In USA they<br />
were used for rescue work and were also used by the Church of<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 16
Nazarene, 600 miles up the Amazon<br />
River. In 1966 Jon Hamilton led a<br />
geothermal jet boat expedition in <strong>New</strong><br />
Guinea and in 1968 Edmund Hillary<br />
used them for village communication<br />
and transportation in the Himalayas.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se days jet boats of all sorts and<br />
breeds are commonly seen in action<br />
all over the world, and there seems no<br />
limit to the number of ways in which<br />
jet power can be applied to boats of<br />
all sizes. Little wonder the name of<br />
C.W.F. Hamilton is so revered in <strong>New</strong><br />
<strong>Zealand</strong>.<br />
Bill’s love of fast cars remained with<br />
him throughout his life. About 1951<br />
he purchased one of the first XK120<br />
Jaguars to come to NZ. His old friend<br />
Dick Georgeson recalls how much Bill<br />
enjoyed his Mk 7 Jaguar, which was<br />
in its time a very powerful large and<br />
fast car. “Grace, space and pace,” but<br />
evidently not as fast as his later Mk2 3.8 litre Jaguar, which had<br />
undergone a certain amount of serious enhancement. Dick recalls<br />
being a rear seat passenger on a very quick trip from Irishman<br />
Creek to Christchurch, when a speed of 140mph was achieved.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Hamilton <strong>Bentley</strong>, HF3198, photographed by John King at<br />
the 1963 Easter Vintage Car <strong>Club</strong> of <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>, Oamaru,<br />
when in Willis Brown’s ownership.<br />
Alf Dick using a jet boat for rescue work in a<br />
Christchurch flood. (Guy Mannering)<br />
Bill with the Douglas Badcock painting of the Shotover<br />
River presented by staff in 1970 to celebrate 25 years of<br />
CWF Hamilton Works.<br />
Later Bill owned an S Type Jaguar.<br />
Knighted in June 1974 for his “valuable service to<br />
manufacturing,” Bill continued to take a keen interest<br />
in not just jet boating activities but also in engineering<br />
in general. Always so modest, Bill Hamilton once said,<br />
“I do not claim to have invented marine jet propulsion.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 17
<strong>The</strong> honour belongs to a gentleman named Archimedes, who lived<br />
some years ago.” When complimented on his achievements he<br />
replied in typical modesty, “Well I had such a grand team of chaps<br />
with me.”<br />
Bill Hamilton died aged 78 on 30 March 1978. His close friend<br />
Guy Mannering said in tribute, “To have lived a life as full as his,<br />
and as generously shared with others, is an ideal most people can<br />
only hope to emulate. Spice, courage, humility and achievement<br />
were there in plenty.”<br />
Sources. ‘Wild Irishman’, by Peggy Hamilton. (AH and AW<br />
Reed)<br />
‘<strong>The</strong> Jet Boat’. <strong>The</strong> making of a <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong><br />
Legend, by Anne and Les Bloxham. (AH and AW<br />
Reed)<br />
‘<strong>The</strong> Leading Edge’, A Life in Gliding, by Dick<br />
Georgeson and Anna Wilson. (Shoal Bay Press)<br />
My special thanks go to Andrew and Mollie Anderson, George<br />
Davison, Dick Georgeson, George Calder and Tom King, for their<br />
assistance in compiling this story.<br />
(Above) Guy Mannering battling his way up Vulcan Rapid in<br />
Grand Canyon. (Hamilton)<br />
Bill and Peggy Hamiton at a NZ Jet Boat Association celebration<br />
in 1972. (Les Bloxham)<br />
(Below) Bill negotiates Ohau rapids in the first jet boat. 1954.<br />
(Hamilton Collection)<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 18
Southern Region Technical Morning<br />
(From Left) A general view of the machinery; Simple but effective<br />
means for balancing components; <strong>The</strong> white-metalling bay.<br />
For several years the Southern Region has held a Technical<br />
Talk, and this year Ramon Farmer organised a trip to the long<br />
established firm of M.S. Coombes Ltd. Most attendees came<br />
properly dressed, so that we had three Derby products and two<br />
from Crewe. After the worst snow fall in some years fell earlier in<br />
the week, Saturday 20 August was mild and sunny following the<br />
obligatory morning frost.<br />
<strong>The</strong> large family of Coombes brothers migrated north from<br />
Southland to undertake engineering apprenticeships, but when<br />
Maury, the youngest, suggested that he strike out on his own, it<br />
led to a sudden bout of unemployment as his brothers dispensed<br />
with his services. For some time he worked out of his garage,<br />
with a staff of five, but by 1964 the canning firm for which he<br />
made dies suggested that he work from a purpose built workshop<br />
on land they owned in St Asaph Street, within the original square<br />
mile of Christchurch, where previously workers’ cottages had stood.<br />
He soon expanded his operations to include engine reconditioning,<br />
and M.S. Coombes Ltd flourished in those days of rapid engine wear.<br />
For instance, the Bedford school buses run by the Education<br />
Department required reconditioned engines every 60,000 miles, so<br />
that during each Christmas school holiday period that work took<br />
place, to the detriment of staff vacations. Now fleet managers<br />
consider that they have been short changed if engines do not last<br />
for 1 million kilometres, and Maury’s daughter Jenny and her<br />
husband Clifton Whall, who bought the company after Maury’s<br />
premature death, have guided it through all the changes economic,<br />
political, fashion, and now geological, wrought upon it. As one<br />
example, the nineteenth apprentice since the Whall family became<br />
involved has just started, despite our being told a few governments<br />
ago that apprenticeships were no longer required. Yeah, right.<br />
Clifton Whall gave us a good account of the firm’s activities,<br />
which have included their being certified for De Havilland Gipsy<br />
Major and Gipsy Queen aeroplane engine reconditioning, for<br />
the RNZAF and Royal Brunei Air Force, and now the Croydon<br />
Aircraft Company at Mandeville. We then toured the works,<br />
where a variety of precision machines of ancestry ranging from<br />
Britain, through Scandinavia, to Asia have been accumulated to do<br />
any conceivable engineering task asked of them. <strong>New</strong> computer<br />
technology has been applied to existing machines, but it is quite<br />
obvious that, no matter how sophisticated the machine, the skill<br />
of the engineering staff is what makes the result an achievement<br />
of which to be proud. Crack testing and balancing are important<br />
factors in ensuring the longevity of the work done, and M.S.<br />
Coombes have facilities for these tasks. Even if a machine is used<br />
infrequently, it is still important to have it available, and in these<br />
days of “Just In Time” business philosophy it is good to see the<br />
more traditional attitudes and standards maintained. Much of the<br />
work now undertaken by the firm is marine engineering, for <strong>New</strong><br />
<strong>Zealand</strong> and overseas clients, and examples of connecting rods<br />
from Russian built Pielstick engines give a chap pause to think.<br />
<strong>The</strong> liquefaction caused by the earthquake of 22 February caused<br />
a great deal of damage to the workshop, and it was a month before<br />
they could even gain access to assess the damage, and another<br />
month to rectify it, and reset all the machinery.<br />
Another casualty of the initial earthquake last September was<br />
Old Tai Tapu Road, a gem of a drive on the south-western outskirts<br />
of town, but this has now been repaired, and we met for lunch at<br />
the historic Tai Tapu Hotel, another property then considered to<br />
be doomed. Repairs have meant that it is running again, and they<br />
serve an excellent lunch.<br />
Had there been sufficient work on hand to justify a Saturday<br />
opening of the spring-making firm Bellamy and East, we would<br />
have incorporated a visit there, but before lunch we enjoyed a talk<br />
about leaf springs given by Bruce McIlroy. <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> design<br />
incorporated cadmium plating of spring leaves, with the lubricating<br />
qualities of the plating further enhanced by molybdenum grease.<br />
<strong>The</strong> condition of the clamps which hold the springs together is<br />
important, as is the state of the leather gaiters which were part of<br />
original equipment on all Company products up until the end of the<br />
Silver Cloud and S Series cars. <strong>The</strong> gaiters are still manufactured<br />
by the original Wefco firm, and Bruce had an example for us to<br />
fondle as we resolved to Do Something to restore this usually<br />
neglected aspect of our cars. John Ferguson explained that, to<br />
establish accurate measurements of dimensions, thin wire wrapped<br />
around the leaves as installed will give the profile to be encased in<br />
the new gaiters to be ordered.<br />
We are very grateful to Ramon for organising the visit, to Clifton<br />
and his staff for demonstrating their expertise and to Bruce for<br />
sharing his knowledge with us.<br />
John Ferguson with Emily, his 25/30 Gurney Nutting Limousine,<br />
atop Porters Pass. See the report on Page 20.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 19
A year of earthquakes, 7,500 of them, has<br />
produced various effects upon the residents of<br />
the once relatively tranquil Canterbury. Even<br />
those who escaped the tragedy of loss of life,<br />
livelihood, or housing, have reacted in ways<br />
which vary from a wish to stay under the bed<br />
clothes until it all stops, to treating each shock as<br />
a sporting opportunity.<br />
On a fine Sunday, 4 September, one year and<br />
five hours after the 7.1 Richter Scale earthquake,<br />
those who were interested in having the<br />
geological processes explained by our resident<br />
geologist, Ramon Farmer, gathered at a café<br />
in Lincoln, with a full day of motoring and<br />
demonstration ahead of us<br />
We made several stops to observe traces of<br />
what is now known as the Greendale Fault which<br />
are still evident on the ground surface. <strong>The</strong><br />
movement in the alignment of trees, telegraph<br />
poles, fences, water race, roads and land surfaces,<br />
is still evident even after a year of re-working<br />
the land and roads. <strong>The</strong> most well known site<br />
is on Telegraph Road, formerly straight, where<br />
there has been a 4 ½ metre lateral shift, and a<br />
dramatic up-thrusting, as shown in the top right<br />
photograph.<br />
<strong>The</strong> next photograph beneath it shows our group<br />
outside the electricity sub-station at Ridgens<br />
Road, Greendale, close to the westernmost end<br />
of the “new” fault, and where the surface trace<br />
ran right through Bryce Alexander’s dog kennel.<br />
He is a mite touchy about this, as he is the Selwyn<br />
County Dog Control Officer. <strong>The</strong> structure of<br />
the sub-station survived well, but the gates were<br />
violently displaced in many directions. This<br />
has since been rectified. We joined Highway 73<br />
again, this being the main road to the West Coast,<br />
and stopped for lunch at Springfield Hotel, where<br />
there were 28 members and friends, in five<br />
<strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong>s and four <strong>Bentley</strong>s. Some departed<br />
then for other commitments, others joining us<br />
there, but the rally instructions guided us very<br />
well, with geological references abounding,<br />
over Porters Pass and into the spectacular alpine<br />
scenery available within an hour’s drive from<br />
Christchurch.<br />
Southern Region Earthquake Plus 1 Year Run<br />
(Above) Looking west along the previously straight Telegraph Road, showing the 4½<br />
metre offset.<br />
(Below from left) Bob Beardsley, Doug Barnard, Andrew McIlroy, Stuart Parish, Keith<br />
Huinter, Annie Henderson, John Ferguson, Helen Ridgen, and Ramon Farmer.<br />
(Left) Let no man come<br />
between a geologist and his<br />
hammer. One of the leading<br />
oil exploration geologists<br />
of his generation, Ramon<br />
Farmer has found the stuff<br />
in a veritable alphabet of<br />
countries, and now enjoys<br />
a very active retirement at<br />
home in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>.<br />
Alpine it may be now, but the limestone nature of the rock<br />
formations from Castle Hill, and the evidence of the incredible<br />
fracturing and warping which has produced this landscape makes<br />
one appreciate the small part a one year series of earthquakes plays<br />
in its building. We stopped at Cave Stream, and then Paddy’s<br />
Bend, to observe evidence of additional faults, and continued to<br />
have refreshments at Bealey Hotel. Alastair Scott and his friend<br />
Tim had to scamper back to town in the Silver Shadow, as Tim was<br />
reading the lesson at Evensong, and the last rallyists arrived home<br />
at 7:30 p.m. safe in the knowledge that the Lucas R100 headlamps<br />
on B173KU did not defeat the combination of generator, cut-out,<br />
and fuses this time.<br />
Thank you, Ramon, for another memorable day.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 20
Six Pot Group Visit and Pot-Luck Lunch<br />
Report and Pictures by Philip Eilenberg<br />
With the very wet and cold winter we have had this year, as well a number of the Six-Pot cars undergoing major engine servicing, we<br />
thought a social Pot Luck lunch would be the best way to beat the winter blues and catch up with fellow members. We were fortunate<br />
that David and Rhonda Dymock opened up their wonderful home just off the Southern Motorway at Manukau.<br />
Unfortunately, the wet weather arrived again during the morning, but this did not put off the hardy members of the Six-Pot Group. <strong>The</strong><br />
Dymocks are restoring the <strong>Bentley</strong> R-Type B179TO which used belong to John Williams, and David and his brother Lee are doing all<br />
the work themselves. As you can see from the photos, the body has been stripped and panels etch primed. David and Lee were showing<br />
off the polished wood-work, and the side and brake light lenses they had made from moulds. Meanwhile Rhonda and her sister-inlaw<br />
Jan were showing the ladies the proposed leatherwork and carpet colours – there was lots of discussion amongst us on this. Also<br />
everyone gave their two-pence worth of what the exterior colours should be as well.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re was a wonderful array of various delicacies including starters, mains and desserts which everyone had brought, along with tea<br />
and coffee put on by our hosts. It was nice to see Bob and Linda Barbour and Ted Worthington, along with Glynn Williams our Northern<br />
Region Chairman, and Michael Midgley our National Chairman (who had both been in Europe during the winter months). Also there<br />
were Richard and Lois Hadfield who also had only just arrived back in NZ from many months overseas including taking part in the<br />
<strong>Bentley</strong> Drivers’ <strong>Club</strong> Tour of Britain in June and July 2011. We are fortunate that club members are always willing to open their homes<br />
to our group. Thank you, David and Rhonda, for having us at your place.<br />
(Clockwise from Top Left) Six Pot Luck Lunch; ‘nuff said.<br />
“Just finishing the wiring, Dear, then I’ll be in to help you with the<br />
dishes.”<br />
Your editor believes that the Colour Police have been advising on<br />
paint finishes. From recent experience of august gatherings in<br />
Britain, there was not a Mark VI or R-Type Standard Steel Saloon<br />
to match those here. <strong>The</strong> Works devised the most harmonious<br />
schemes, and that did not involve the front guards being painted<br />
in the contrasting tone intended for the rear of the car.<br />
How nice to see the original permanent registration plates still on<br />
the car.<br />
David and Lee Dymock are restoring the interior trim woodwork<br />
themselves, to very good effect.<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 21
FOR SALE: 1960 <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong><br />
Silver Cloud II Chassis SVB331.<br />
Good condition, imported new,<br />
always garaged. Present owner for<br />
35 years. $40,000 o.n.o. For more<br />
details phone Merv Warner<br />
(06) 751 2414<br />
FOR SALE: 1936 <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> 25/30 HP Limousine by Rippon<br />
Brothers, Coachbuilders.<br />
Chassis GWN55, Registration AB8454. Owned by the late Lin<br />
Bowman from 1970. Full history, 87,000 miles, in V.G. condition<br />
with current registration and Warrant of Fitness.<br />
Expressions of interest to Lin’s daughter and son-in-law Gaye and<br />
John Lamb 399 Waotu Sth Rd<br />
R.D. 1 Putaruru, Phone (07) 8832 875 Fax (07) 8832 895 e-mail<br />
j.glamb@actrix.co.nz<br />
Doug Barnard’s photograph of the<br />
Earthquake Tour participants at Paddy’s<br />
Bend, 4 September 2011;<br />
See report on Page 20.<br />
THE REAL CAR COMPANY<br />
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Specialists in <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> and <strong>Bentley</strong> Motorcars, 1920 to 1970s.<br />
Around 30 to 40 cars in stock, ranging from restoration projects to<br />
concours.<br />
We are always looking to buy similar vehicles, especially pre 1950.<br />
Highly experienced in the Ocean Shipping of these important cars.<br />
Web: www.realcar.co.uk<br />
Phone: 0044 1248 602649 Please contact Bernie Snalam for further information.<br />
e-mail: bernie_snalam@hotmail.com<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 22
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NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 23
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NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 24
COLGRAY MOTORS<br />
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phone/fax: 09 414 1971 mob: 021 643 030 a/h: 09 444 3030<br />
We specialise in the maintenance and care of <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> and <strong>Bentley</strong> Motor Cars: servicing, repairs, overhauls and full restoration of <strong>Rolls</strong>-<br />
<strong>Royce</strong> and <strong>Bentley</strong> motor vehicles. Our Albany, North Shore workshop is fully equipped to carry out all mechanical, hydraulic, fault finding<br />
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<strong>New</strong> & Secondhand <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> and <strong>Bentley</strong> Parts • Motor Car Sales • Stockists of AutoGlym Car Care Products<br />
Customers & Visitors are always welcome. Friendly Advice Available.<br />
colin@colgray.com<br />
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Call me any time from 7.00 am to 11.00 pm<br />
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Call me any time from 7.00 am to 11.00 pm<br />
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204A Waiwhetu Rd, Lower Hutt. Ph 04.566.0850. E-mail rmt@xtra.co.nz www.royscars.co.nz<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 25
BENTLEY AUCKLAND<br />
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<strong>Bentley</strong> Continental GT Speed 2009<br />
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2004 <strong>Bentley</strong> Continental GT Coupe<br />
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NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 26
BRUCE MCILROY LTD<br />
Authorised <strong>Bentley</strong> & <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> Heritage Dealer<br />
FOR SALE: <strong>Bentley</strong> 3 / 4 ½<br />
Red Label Speed Model.<br />
Chassis No. 1215<br />
Sold new to B. M. Stewart,<br />
Dundee, Scotland in<br />
November 1925 and imported<br />
into <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> when he<br />
immigrated in March 1926.<br />
<strong>The</strong> current owner purchased<br />
the vehicle in 1960 and has<br />
rallied it extensively in <strong>New</strong><br />
<strong>Zealand</strong> and competed in the<br />
1988 Australian Bi-Centennial<br />
Rally. <strong>New</strong> gears were fitted<br />
to the gearbox and rear axle<br />
in 1996. <strong>The</strong> engine was<br />
rebuilt by the current owner<br />
4 years ago.<br />
Parts Sales Servicing Repairs Restorations<br />
A<br />
t Bruce McIlroy Limited we exclusively restore and<br />
service <strong>Bentley</strong> and <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> Motor Vehicles<br />
ranging from 1907 <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> motors and all <strong>Bentley</strong>’s to<br />
the present day. Our workshops are equipped with the<br />
latest technology to carry out hydraulic, mechanical and<br />
electrical work on heritage and modern vehicles. Our<br />
technicians are Crewe factory trained.<br />
On site we carry a comprehensive range of parts for sale and<br />
manufacture a large range of parts for vintage <strong>Bentley</strong> and<br />
<strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> vehicles.<br />
Cnr Racecourse & Alford Forest Roads, Ashburton 7776 - Phone 03 308 7282 - www.bentleyservice.co.nz<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 27
<strong>Club</strong> Calendar<br />
Full details are also contained on our Web Site www.nzrrbc.co.nz<br />
2012 National Rally and A.G.M Central Region are organising this event, to take place in the Manawatu at Easter, 6 to 9 April.<br />
Northern Region<br />
Sunday 20th November: 6.00pm onwards. Auckland area Christmas Dinner and AGM at Pt Chevalier RSA, Gtreat North Road, Pt Chevalier,<br />
Central Region<br />
Labour Weekend 22-24 October: A visit to Taranaki to look at rhododendrons had been planned, but the Rugby World Cup seems to have<br />
overtaken our plans. This event has now been postponed.<br />
Saturday/Sunday 19/20 November: our Central Region AGM weekend in Napier. <strong>The</strong> Meeting is at 4:30 p.m. at the Masonic Hotel. Anyone<br />
requiring a ride, please let Roy Tilley or Martin Taylor know soon, so that collection from Wellington Airport can be arranged.<br />
Southern Region<br />
Show Weekend Friday 11 to Sunday 13 November: Long Touring Weekend, details of which are being organised.<br />
Sunday 27 November: Southern Region Annual General Meeting, starting with morning tea at the Plains Museum, Ashburton, where there is a<br />
Steam Day. This is followed by lunch at the Ashburton Motor Hotel.<br />
November or December: Banks Peninsula event, possibly incorporating a picnic at Purau or Orton Bradley Park, and a meal at Governors Bay<br />
Hotel, and/or a catered gathering for our end-of-year function.<br />
VCC RALLY 2012 – SINGLE MAKE VEHICLE ORGANISED RUNS 23 JANUARY 2012<br />
“I write to your <strong>Club</strong>, inviting your members to join the Vintage Car <strong>Club</strong> entrants on the Single Make outing during the VCC Rally 2012 being<br />
held in Wanganui from 16-26 January 2012. <strong>The</strong> Organising Committee also agreed to offer to your members who wish to attend the opportunity to<br />
register for a participants’ rally pack at the cost of $105 per person (GST inclusive). <strong>The</strong> pack will consist of:<br />
• An entrant’s bag.<br />
• Free entry to the VCC Rally 2012 entrants’ village at Springvale Stadium on Friday 20 January through to the morning of Tuesday 24 January<br />
2012. This will give access to the food areas, as well as taking part in all entertainment that has been organised there for that period. All food<br />
will be at entrant’s own expense unless a <strong>Club</strong> organises its own meal through the Rally Organising Committee.<br />
• Free entry to Manfeild Race Track to observe the Manfeild Pomeroy Event for pre-1965 vehicles. <strong>The</strong>y will also see the demonstration laps<br />
of famous racing vehicles from the Southward Museum at Paraparaumu.<br />
• Free entry into the public day on Sunday 22 January 2012 at the Wanganui Race Course.<br />
• Free entry into the Trade Show which will be held at the stadium adjacent to Springvale Park from Friday 20 January to Monday 23 January<br />
2012.<br />
I attach a copy of an entry form that you can photocopy for your members’ use. Entry forms should be with the organisers by 31 October 2011.<br />
Please post to <strong>The</strong> Treasurer, PO Box 2012, Wanganui.<br />
Winton Cleal, Single Make <strong>Club</strong> Coordinator.”<br />
Copies of the Entry Form are available from Rob Carthew by e-mail; if you would like one, drop Rob a message at watcher@pl.net<br />
In June 2013 the <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> <strong>Enthusiasts</strong>’ <strong>Club</strong> is organising a Centenary Celebration of the <strong>Rolls</strong>-<strong>Royce</strong> success in the 1913 Alpine Trails.<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir Past Chairman, Tony James, writes: “If you or any of your colleagues would like further information, please contact the prime organiser of the<br />
rally, who is Len Meades - e-mail lenmeades@btinternet.com or Tel: +44 (0)1346 730 373.”<br />
NZRR&BC Issue 11-5 28