The Radiator Cap

The
Radiator Cap
February 2020 Newsletter
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COMMITTEE MEMBERS
2019
Chairman Anne Richardson 09 425 6298 / 021 277 9010 ricanne@gmail.com
Secretary Peter Yarham 09 422 9685 pyarham@xtra.co.nz
Treasurer Dave Oliver 027 443 8046 ollie.d@gmail.com
Club Captain Paul Hodder 09 422 4067 / 027 473 4350 4hodders@gmail.com
CC’s Team Neil Cremer 09 425 4955 neilmtf@xtra.co.nz
CC’s Team Frances Ross 09 425 8737
Rep to ExCo Anne Richardson 09 425 6298 / 021 277 9010 ricanne@gmail.com
Hospitality Anne & Dennis A: 021 214 2267 annedenmac@gmail.com
Convenors McDonald D: 021 265 2466
Social Convenor Neil & Lucy Cremer 09 425 4955 neilmtf@xtra.co.nz
Property George Lloyd 09 425 7622 yorksandlancs@gmail.com
Supervisors Doug Hamilton 09 425 6139 doug.hamil@xtra.co.nz
Health & Safety Brian Payne 09 425 9262 banddpayne@xtra.co.nz
Vehicle ID James Lawrie 09 425 9928 gloria-james-lawrie@xtra.co.nz
Motorcycle Rep Dave Oliver 027 443 8046 ollie.d@gmail.com
Librarian Frances Ross 09 425 8737
Editor/Reporter Chris Harvey 09 422 2662 / 022 365 0171 chris.harvey@westnet.com.au
Badges Dave Oliver 027 443 8046 ollie.d@gmail.com
Add. Member Leon Salt 09 423 8122 / 027 423 8122 brendda@xtra.co.nz
Add. Member Brendda Salt 09 423 8122 brendda@xtra.co.nz
Branch address PO Box 547, Warkworth 0941
wellsfordwarkworth@vcc.org.nz
Bank a/c BNZ 02-0480-0047413-000 Visit our website at
VERO agency No. 0300159
www.vcc-wellswark.org.nz
VERO free phone 0800 658 411
The deadline for contributions to the Newsletter is the 23rd of the month.
The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily the views of the Branch.
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Wed 5 Feb
Sat 8 Feb
Thu 13 Feb
Wed 19 Feb
Thu 20 Feb
Sat 29 Feb
Sat 29 Feb
Wed 4 Mar
Sat 7 Mar
Thu 12 Mar
Sat 14 Mar
Wed 18 Mar
Thu 19 Mar
Sat 28 Mar
12:00 Midweek picnic at Brick Bay
10:00 Leigh School Summer Festival—display your vehicle
17:30 Club Night: BYO BBQ and salad to share
10:00 Cleaning & Coffee
19:30 Club Committee
06:00 Swap Meet in the morning and then go to …..
Waitemata Branch’s Sealed Hill Climb at Pakiri
12:00 Midweek picnic at Sullivan’s Bay
Pukekohe branch Swap Meet
17:30 Club Night
Are We There Yet Rally
10:00 Coffee & Cleaning
17:30 Club Committee
VCC AGM in Wellington
24-26 Apr Highland Fling Rally at Taihape held by BOP Branch
Sat 9 May
Waitemata’s Open Day at Kaipara Flats airfield: display your vehicle
Contact J C Brian Millett 09 425 5887 | 021 158 7065
Wednesday picnics on 5 Feb & 4 Mar
Cleaning & Coffee on Wed 19 Feb : please come help tidy up before the Swap Meet
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CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
I
do hope everyone has had a pleasant festive season and is ready to enjoy vintage motoring
in 2020. Perhaps you have a new year’s resolution to join in more of the club activities this
year? Unfortunately, I will be missing for all of February on Tourist duty with visitors from
the UK, but I do hope all is well in a busy month.
The Christmas lunch was cheerful with some imaginative secret Santa gifts. Lots of fun but 4 people
who had booked didn’t turn up. We had to pay the restaurant in advance so the club had to
cover those 4 as well as the subsidy the committee has paid for the last 2 years. If it was you, perhaps
you would contact Dave Oliver to cover your costs. Next year we will require payment in
advance which is more work for the organisers but essential to keep a healthy bank balance.
The Swap Meet is approaching fast. The club cleaning on 19 th is our chance to make sure the
rooms are spick and span when visitors come in for refreshments and a look around, so please
help. It is our only real fundraising event of the year and allows us to keep the club rooms in good
order, subsidise some of our activities and keep the branch subscriptions down. We would love to
see more members getting involved. Leon Salt is leading on the roster for volunteers and it is
published in this Newsletter. There is still be time for you to contact him if you have not been included,
(or can’t manage to do your allotted time) so come and join in. Please don’t leave it until
the day: that will be too late to be sure all the tasks are covered. It is a good way to catch up with
people you haven’t seen for a while or to make new friends. Hopefully this year’s new members
will want to get involved. As well as manning the gate, car parks, and stalls spaces, there are also
refreshments, sausage sizzles etc to provide. Also bring your club eligible car for the Display. You
may also hear from Doug Hamilton who is arranging the signage etc.
Manning the gate sometimes has one or two awkward moments. If you as a club member are
helping or displaying a car then you and any under twelves get free entry. If you want to sell stuff
from your garage/shed from a stall or the boot of your car then it is $10 even if you are a member
(unless you give the proceeds to the club?). If you want to buy or browse then life gets complicated.
We want to encourage all members to join in, but really you should pay $5 entry each
because this is a fund-raiser. Just being a member doesn’t really count and those on the gate will
not know every member either: do you? I hope you understand that the committee is trying to be
fair, so everyone contributes in some way, and to help those who do the difficult job of taking the
money at the gate. That all sounds a bit directive, but I hope you understand it is better for it to
be said rather than have unpleasant misunderstandings. We are all club members but use our
club in different ways. Let’s keep the freedom to participate as we wish, while respecting those
who are doing the work to the benefit of all members! Don’t forget that the car park (unless you
are displaying your car) is near the gate and a bit of a walk to the club rooms.
The Calendar will keep you up to date with our activities. Paul has included lots of information in
his report.
All the best for 2020.
Happy and Healthy Motoring, Anne.
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CLUB CAPTAIN’S REPORT
H
appy New Year everyone. Well, here we are at the start of a new year of a new decade. So
pump up the tyres, prime the carburettor and lets get right into it.
There seemed to be a blur of events at the end of last year beginning with the Posh Picnic on 24th November.
This was held at Leon and Brendda’s place. Many thanks to them for letting us use their grounds
and preparing them so well for the day. Seven picnic settings were displayed providing some fine competition.
After much scrutineering and deliberation, our judge awarded the top prize to Carrick & Margaret.
Next on the list of events was the Christmas parades weekend. The Wellsford Santa parade was held on
30th November. A fine day dawned, much to the relief of the organisers and the parade got under way on
time. Around 20 various floats made for what I thought was a fine parade, including a bright red Mark 3
Zephyr pulling Santa’s sleigh. Only 2 cars from our club participated, but maybe we’ll have a better result
next year.
The very next day was the Warkworth Santa parade. Again, this was a hot and sunny day with a couple of
unusual floats. There was one particularly unusual one from a local chiropractic centre which was made
up of 22 separate supermarket trolleys in line astern, dressed up to look like a spinal column. It was a very
flexible spinal column indeed, to make it around the corners the way it did! Our club had a better display
in Warkworth with 4 vehicles entered.
Christmas lunch at the Salty Dog on the 15th December was a lovely event. We had an excellent turnout
with 40 people attending. Thanks to Anne and Dennis for getting that organised.
The first event of 2020 was a midweek picnic at Scandrett’s Bay. This was a magical setting for a reasonable
turnout of members considering it is still holiday time.
As to upcoming events…
• 5th February is the Wednesday midweek picnic at Brick Bay at midday.
• 8th February, Saturday is the annual Leigh School Summer Festival. We have been invited to put our
cars on show at the Leigh school at 10:00am.
• 13th February is our first Thursday club night for 2020 at 5:30 for a BBQ dinner. As usual, BYO meat
and drinks and a salad to share.
• Saturday 29th February is our club’s annual Swap Meet. This is a big event for our club starting from
7:00am and winding up midday-ish. Please let Leon know if you are able to help out on the day,
Also on 29th February, the Waitemata branch are planning to hold a Hill Climb event out at Pakiri Beach.
We do not know the exact location yet. It looks like it will be possible to attend the Swap Meet first and
then the Hill Climb event, and more details will follow. If you are keen to have a go, you will need a crash
helmet, overalls, a competition license and a logbook. These last two items cost $23 & $12, respectively,
available on the NZVCC website.
Here’s hoping you all had a great summer break and looking forward to an exciting new decade.
Cheers, Paul
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SWAP MEET ROSTER - 29 FEBRUARY 2020
Gate:
6.00 – 7.00 Dennis McDonald Nigel Hawkes Doug Hamilton
7.00 – 8.00 Dennis McDonald Nigel Hawkes Brian Mason
8.00 – 9.00 Dennis McDonald Karl Stachel Brian Mason
9.00 – 10.00 Dennis McDonald Karl Stachel Steve Paddison
10.00 – 11.00 Dennis McDonald Randolf Baxter Steve Paddison
11.00 – Volunteers as required
Parking:
6.00 – 7.00 Ray Spick Nigel Robinson George Lloyd
7.00 – 8.00 Len Miller Nigel Robinson Randolph Baxter
8.00 – 9.00 Lynn Jones Dave Wenzlick Len Miller
9.00 – 10.00 Lynn Jones Rex Thompson Dave Wenzlick
10.00 – 11.00 Rex Thompson Jim Honeybone
11.00 – Volunteers as required
Display Car Parking:
7-00 – 8.00 Neil Cremer Murray Dingle
8.00 – 9.00 Murray Dingle John Garea
9.00 – 10.00 John Garea James Flewitt
Stall Site Allocation:
6.00 – 7.00 Leon Salt
7.00 – 8.00 Dave Coop
8.00 – 9.00 Colin Colburn Dave Coop
9.00 – 10.00 Colin Colburn
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SWAP MEET ROSTER—CONTINUED
BBQ: Sausages:
6.00 – 7.00 Sharon Stott Phylippa Davy
7.00 – 8.00 Sharon Stott Phylippa Davy
8.00 – 9.00 Sharon Stott Phylippa Davy
9.00 – 10.00 Sharon Stott Brian Payne
10.00 – 11.00 Sharon Stott Brian Payne
BBQ Bacon Butties:
6.00 – 7.00 Brendda Salt Graham Buchs
7.00 – 8.00 Brendda Salt Graham Buchs
8.00 – 9.00 Brendda Salt Rick van Barneveld
9.00 - 10.00 Brendda Salt Rick van Barnveld
10.00 – Brendda Salt Carrick Oliver
Roving Assistants/Back-up:
Megaphone: Paul Hodder
People Mover: Jason Morrison/Doug Hamilton/Leon Salt (if someone can loan us a people mover)
Club Stall: None this year (unless there is a volunteer to set it up and run it)
Cash Float: Dave Oliver
Record of Stall-Holders: Leon Salt/Dave Oliver
Reserves:
James Lawrie, Lee Middleton, Grahame Power, Chris Harvey, Maarten Bubbert, Brett Houston, Alan
Lupton, Brian Becroft, John Badham.
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CLUB CAR OF THE MONTH
JACK & KATHY’S 1930 FORD MODEL A TUDOR
M
y first encounter with old vehicles goes back as far as I can remember. My Dad and his brother
always had them around long before quad bikes ever hit the scene. Rugby and fourcylinder
Chevs seemed to be the ones I can remember. As a 13-year old when my parents
went away one day, and Uncle Steve went to the cricket, I had two cobbers staying and we took Dad’s
little 1925 Chev that was made into a villainous little truck for a turn around the Sandspit motor camp and
burned up and down there. Brakes? Well, virtually none. Exhaust? Not much use. Funny that Dad should
get a phone call …
And so when I was 17 and needing to get to work at Matakana, Sharp’s Road having just been metalled
about a year before, Dad and I went up to Whangarei and I drove a 1930 Model A Roadster home. From
then on I was a converted Model A fan.
In 1970 I bought a 1927 Austin 7 Chummy and with the help of El Jackson, a panel beater who lived in
Snell’s Beach, it was roadworthy and driveable by mid 1978. In 1979 we founded what is now the Wellsford-Warkworth
Vintage Car Club. At that time we were the Lower North sub-branch of the Northland
VCC.
The baby Austin was too small for our family so I bought a 1924 Dodge 4 Tourer and a couple of years later
a 1920 Chevrolet. I moved up to Rawene in the Hokianga on 5 th April 1990 and a week or so later joined
the Far North VCC which at that time was still a sub-branch of the Northland VCC. The trip to Hokianga
8

JACK & KATHY’S 1930 FORD MODL A TUDOR
and then a rally or a run followed by dinner at the club rooms and then a drive back to Rawene in a 1924
Rugby Tourer with headlights of two candle power was hard work, so we bought a 1930 Ford Model A
Tourer. Since then I have had a 1928 Roadster pickup, a 1929 Tourer, a 1928 Tudor which is
now owned by another member of our club, a 1928 Tourer, and now we have this 1930 Tudor which we
drove up from Oamaru.
The car was advertised ‘as good as it looks’ with several photos. A few phone calls later we had a deal. We
flew down to Timaru and the owner drove it up from Oamaru to meet us at the Timaru airport. He said
the steering was a bit stiff and thought it was the bronze bush: I don’t know where he got that idea.
Anyway, we were there and had to get home so we set out. He wasn’t wrong about the steering. Those
big trucks and trailers on those narrow roads! However, I’d had a few Model As so I stopped at a garage
and put some oil in the steering box. What a difference! I greased the car at Oxford, put in a new starter
switch at Nelson and a new battery at Lower Hutt. Colin at Horipito did a small job on the gearbox and we
travelled from there to
home without any further
hiccups. Incidentally the car
used only about half a litre
of oil, which I was quite
pleased about.
The car has never been out
of registration and it was
restored professionally by a
restoration firm in Dunedin.
Somewhere I have all the
details and what it cost, and
who painted it, and who
redid the upholstery it but,
try as I may, I can’t find them.
We have had quite a lot of work done on the car and
used it a bit but my navigator can’t do that anymore,
however my grand-daughter has come and helped. I
had Errol McAlpine put in new guides and valves, and a
new fan and other bits and pieces, and Ross Bolton put
in new timing gear. I spent a day underneath with it
jacked up to set up the brakes and that’s a huge improvement.
The steering could be better but I’m fairly
happy with it now.
It’s a lovely car and I’m very pleased with it, but as for
being ‘as good as it looks’ - well …..
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POSH PICNIC ON 24TH NOVEMBER 2019
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MYSTERY MOTORS
C
an
anyone identify the English car parked behind the Ford in this photo which forms a large
mural in the dining room of The Chateau? It’s not a good photo, but a friend hopes to find out.
December’s Mystery Motor was the Tucker 48 which was the first really innovative car to be produced
in America after WWII. Unfortunately lack of funds, shortage of materials after the war, a hostile reception
from the Big Three and the lack of sufficient development doomed the car. It was designed to have
four-wheel independent suspension by rubber torsion tubes (no springs) with shock absorbers, disc
brakes, fuel injection (though these last two items were dropped) and safety features such as seatbelts, a
pop-out windscreen of safety glass, padded dashboard, a perimeter frame for crash protection, and a roll
bar integrated into the roof. It had a rear-mounted
flat-six engine of 334 ci / 5.475 L which was designed
for a Bell Helicopter. It produced 166 bhp / 372 lb ft
which was powerful for its time and gave it much
better performance than its competitors. Sadly only
51 cars were produced before the company folded.
See the movie/DVD ‘Tucker: The Man & His Dream’
11

LOOKING FOR A LIMO
T
his is from a friend of mine who is a Kiwi and lives in France for half of the year. He spends the
balance working for Sea Services in Auckland which supplies provisions and stores to cargo and
cruise ships.
“When I was about 18, around 1972, I bought a 1939 Austin 28 Ranelagh limousine which had once
been owned by Sir James Wattie. It was a big car and beautifully fitted out with a sliding glass panel between
the driver and passengers and additional drop-down seats behind the driver.
The car was a bit weary but drove ok. I had the guards removed and re-beaded and also ordered
rubbers to repair a leaking sun-roof. However, I lost interest in the car, bought a Triumph TR6 and after
about a year I decided to sell the Austin.
There was a classic car sale being held at a carpark at the top of Onewa Road in Birkenhead so I registered
the car and received some modest attention. One man and his two sons showed particular interest
and asked if they could take the car for a spin, which I readily agreed to—but I have never seen it since.
They had said they lived on Ewen Alison Avenue in Devonport but after door-knocking every house that
turned out to be a dead end. I reported the car stolen at the time and also contacted the Austin Club.
Life went on …
If the car is still in New Zealand I’d love to know what sort of shape it’s in. It would be a one-off here as
it was a pretty unusual car even in the U.K. I’m not trying to reclaim it or get some satisfaction for its
theft—that all happened too long ago and it has probably gone through a few owners since then. For me
it’s just a matter of interest so I can put the mystery to rest. I think I still have the original ownership
papers somewhere in a box in France.
Brian Hewitt, Auckland”
If you have any helpful information please contact The Editor at wellsfordwarkworth@vcc.org.nz
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NZ WARBIRDS AT ARDMORE
A
fter seeing the overwhelming piles of parts at Avspecs last September, you may want to follow
up and see the results of the dedicated work of aircraft restorers. At NZ Warbirds at Ardmore
open days you can get up close to the aircraft, talk to the pilots, arrange a photo of your vehicle
alongside an aircraft, and even go for an adventure flight in one of the two-seaters.
Open days are Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 to 15:00.
To find out more contact NZ Warbirds office on Tuesdays and Thursdays at phone 09-298 9207 or email
manager@nzwarbirds.org.nz
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Contact us today for a free quote!
Phone: 027 275 0080
09 425 8747 or 09 426 2314
Email: chemwash@rosscoltd.co.nz
14

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Sales.warkworth@guthriebowron,co.nz Tel 09 425 8187 Fax 09 425 8585
If undelivered return to PO Box 547 Warkworth 0941
ADDRESS
STAMP
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