Concours d'Elegance 2008

This annual event is held at the Ellerslie Race Course the main race track in Auckland there are several large buildings one of which housed the Rare Classics and Performances cars plus various outlets selling car magazines, pictures, and a cafeteria selling very expensive food.

This year the event was hosted by the MG Car club who aimed to have 100 vehicles on display I think they made about 60. Many clubs had displays there not all were entered in the special judging class for best vehicles, which I believe was slightly modified to take in account the drizzly weather during the early morning.

Our club has not gone for a few years which is probably why we were given a spot right at the end of the show next to the fence where the Car Fair is usually held on Sundays, this was completely hidden by a row of trees. The officials came along several times during the day and apologized and said they will do better if we go next year.

As this was our official outing for this month and car and passenger got tickets to go in for free, which unfortunately did not materialize until the Monthly meeting, and as lot of people went to the Galaxy of cars no one had them, so I took them to the event to give out to members arriving, however only Dennis had phoned to enquire about going. While I was standing waiting to give out the tickets I got to see all the cars coming in either driven or on trailers. So from this you can gather we only managed to get two cars to display, Dennis in his 1946 Ford 10 and Bud and Thelma in their 1950 Prefect.

During the day a few people came to look at the cars and we have one prospective member in Hamilton with a Cx who took a magazine and a subscription form. Martin and Roy were talking to us over the fence and Delia and Paul came along in the afternoon, Paul managed to lock his keys in his vehicle in the car park but the AA opened it up for him.

I walked around about 5 times looking for a vehicle I saw come in on a trailer from Hawera which appeared to have a Prefect badge on the back. It was a van but I could not find it, I think it had gone it was a very distinctive colour of bright yellow and green. The show was closing down at 4.30 as we made our way out, in the light drizzle which had started falling again, most of the day had been fine.

Kumeu Hot Rod Event

For many years now members of the club have been taking their cars to the club car display on the Sunday of this two day event. In the early days a lot of our cars went and people made it a picnic day out, however over the years the numbers attending have declined but we always have a few there.

Next year we are going to make it an earlier start as there are now huge numbers attending and we were in the actual arena this year along with a great number of other cars but it is a little out of the way for the public to walk so the foot traffic was a lot smaller. But we could see the entertainment quite close up. This was a stunt outfit doing crashes and jumping over ramps etc, and a tank running around squashing things. In the last act of a car driving up a ramp and jumping over a line of cars the driver was apparently hurt. (They do not use roll cages or bars) as a ambulance came later and he was taken to hospital.

The sheds had the usual highly painted Hot Rods some are works of art. There are lots of unrelated stalls and others of automotive content. Swapmeet items and vehicles for sale in various states of restoration (or non as the case may be). A band plays most of the day and Mr. Whippy does a good trade along with other food outlets.

This year it was warm and dusty as we were next to the trotting track and the wind was quite strong. They have a prize giving but I did not hear who won as we were too far to hear the address system, but I do not think any of our vehicles had the entry forms up on the windscreens.

We went home about 2.30pm, along with the Chaplin’s, John had gone about 12 noon as he had something else to do. So as you can see the club had three cars there John in his Tourer, Peter in his Prefect and Bud and Thelma in their Prefect, also with us were 2 Cortinas driven by members of the Chaplin family who are trying to start a Type of Cortina Club.

I saw no other members there this year, one person who had a friend wrecking some cars near Wellington said he may donate some parts but he has made no further contact.

Galaxy of Cars 2008

This annual event hosted by the New Lynn Lions held at the Museum of Transport and Technology has been the clubs venue for the past few years where we have also held our February Committee Meeting.

This year however it was decided to hold our monthly meeting back at the parts shed to enable members to access our wealth of spare parts which previous February’s they could not. But knowing the event is a very good source of contact with the public for promotional purposes a token representation of members attended the function.

The weather was a little kinder on the day with less heat than the previous few days. On arrival although we had our usual spot we found that the plane hanger had been moved with the aircraft parked temporarily on the grass. This condensed space was beneficial to us as the public were obliged to pass all around our displayed cars to access the railway station and to view the aircraft. Therefore more than ever comments were heard such as "Oh I learnt to drive in one of those things" and my father owned one etc.

Lots of questions were asked us re the pros and cons of English Side Valves which made it a quite satisfying day for the club. It seemed to be more busy, or more so, than other years, with the swapmeet sites doing a brisk trade.

One popular attraction was a "White" steam car that "chuffed" around the field of parked classic cars always with a following of people. Motat seemed to lay on all its fleet of trams ferrying passengers back and forth to Motat 1 via Auckland Zoo. There were three Auckland ones dating from 1904 to 1937 a Wellington "Fiducia" type and a Melbourne tram, also an early steam tram that standing passengers shared the foot plate and coal box , whilst the driver cum fireman, and conductor shoveled coal in to the fire box, all very exciting and interesting to a big kid like me any way.

All too soon time passed and by about 3.30pm the fields of classic cars had vanished home leaving lots of empty space until next years event, this year we had three Prefects, a Prefect Ute an Anglia Tourer and a "Y" on display. Those members with cars were John and Janice with daughter Caroline, Harvey, Paul and Delia, Dennis, Bud, also seen there were many other of our members some at other display sites or just strolling about.

Cornwallis Beach

I looked at the prescribed starting time with some trepidation as our local knowledge says that the car parks will be full there on a fine Sunday and so on arrival at the Ranui Clubrooms I emphasized a prompt departure.

A nice surprise awaited us, Brian and Bev Coutts newly restored 1938 Anglia was in attendance resplendent in Maroon. This was their second attempt at a club event as their motor had shed its timing sprocket at Whitford en route to the recent Gymkhana at Maraetai.

Not far along the way Bud chewed his distributor drive in an attempt to catch the three fast Fords disappearing over the ranges in front and its just as well Paul and Delia had their modern there that day, as they were the shepherds at the back and were able to return to the parts for a replacement distributor and shaft so with these fitted the Prefect arrived at Cornwallis without too much time lost, followed by Paul and Delia.

If I hadn’t been in such a hurry I would have adhered to the Model A Club's policy of watching the car behind you. Anyway the weather stayed glorious and the tide was right in and the parking we got could have been worse as cars were stretched all the way up the roadside when we left.

Those in our group who had managed to secure a covered and sheltered barbecue table held it for a remarkable long time before being chased off a spear point by the natives (they had two tables but as not many came relinquished one). Harvey and Val went swimming and sunbathing (on the sand) while Thelma and Bud caught up with their daughter Annette and son in law Roy with their adopted daughter Caitlin in a pleasant setting under a tree, these two are kayak enthusiasts and disappeared far and long (Caitlin goes with Dad).

Present on the run were Brian and Bev (Anglia), Bud and Thelma (Prefect), John and Janice (Anglia Convertible), Ant and Karen with grandson Hayden (Modern), Paul and Delia (Modern), Harvey and Val (Y) - scribe.

Postscript:
Bud and Thelma were not trying to catch up, the engine just got slower and slower until it ceased in a big cloud of Smoke from the exhaust accompanied by a large bang.

Paul who was behind helped Bud get it off to the side, it was on the steepest bend of the road, the bonnet came up and Paul checked out the fuel etc, they then turned it around and decided to see if it would start freewheeling down the hill. They got to the bottom of the winding road with out any luck, while Delia and Thelma followed in Paul’s car.

Paul then worked out what was wrong by, them slowly turning over the crank handle, the drive was in two pieces luckily the broken piece was in place and was able to be removed. Paul put in the new one and away it went.

Big thanks to Paul for diagnosing and fixing the car.
Thelma.

Christmas Outing

This year the committee decided to go to South Auckland so people in that area would find it easier to attend so they decided to go to the Gengis Khan Restaurant in Ti Rakau Drive, East Tamaki. This was situated in a group of other restaurants, and bars; along side there were shops and factories that had plenty of parking in front. One of the members could not find parking in front of the venue, and he had brought his club car, so he decided not to come as he did not want to have his vehicle out of sight.

This is what is called a Mongolian Restaurant, there is various options for dining you can have soup, entrees and salads if you want or all three but the main meal is cooked by a team of cooks on a huge hot plate, they are cooking about eight meals at once. You keep moving around and when it is cooked it goes on your plate.
You get a bowl and go to a area where all the food to be cooked is and select the combination that you want out of pork, meat and chicken, add the various vegetables that you would like in your stir fry along with a selection of sauces and oils then you move along to the cooking area.

If you don’t like what you have created when you get it back to your table you can start all over again. There was a bar available for those who wanted it. Afterwards for dessert there was a pancake hot plate in operation, and you added the toppings you required. Quite a number of people in our group had several helpings of things they liked.

The secretary Delia had booked a long table for everyone but not as many turned up as expected so some was removed. Those there were Janice and John, Brian and Bev, Bob and Gwen, Chris and friend Mel, Paul and Delia, Karen, unfortunately Ant could not come as he was indisposed, Thelma and Bud. Those who attended seemed to enjoy themselves.
Thelma.