Vintage treasures on the side of the motorway

24 November, 2014

If vintage cars are your thing, then the North Shore Vintage Car Club’s annual swap meet was the place to be on Sunday, November 23. Held at the club’s impressive facility just off the motorway in Albany, Auckland, the event saw a great mix of machinery from days gone by.

The North Shore Vintage Car Club’s facility is located just off the motorway near Albany

Despite what seemed to be a lack of real promotion and various date clashes, a great number of vehicles — old and older — turned out, with the large grassed area out the front of the clubrooms serving double duty as both a show area and home to various swap sites.

Unlike most swap meets where you’ve got to be there before the sun is up to nab a bargain, there were still some great deals around towards the early afternoon, even though the event had started to wind down. From old books, to rare parts, to the bizarre and a little odd, there was a bit of everything on display — minus the household knick-knacks and preserves that seem to clutter most swap meets these days.

Plenty of old and rare car parts were up for grabs at the swap meet

As you’d expect, it was the vintage vehicles that took pride of place, however a great mix of hot rods, classic cruisers, and muscle cars were also present along with a few more modern classics. With the cars come the people, and as you can imagine, there was an interesting mix of young and old.

With a great location, plenty of interesting cars on display, as well as the ever-impressive NSVCC spare parts shed open for viewing, the event made for a relaxed, family-friendly day that everyone could enjoy. We know we’d happily head back along next year for another look, and suggest you do too.   

Racing Mazdas

Both Rod Millen and Ron Kendall were rotary racing kings, emanating from the North Shore of Auckland, where I grew up. And the ultimate rotary techno guru was Bill Shiells, who developed the engine into a rocket ship while working out of Gulf Mazda in Takapuna from 1969, and later in his own business, Rotorsport. He began to extract some phenomenal horsepower from the enigmatic rotary engine. Bill was one of the first to race the Mazda RX-2 Coupe in 1971 and achieved immediate success, causing others to sit up and take notice, particularly the North Shore’s racing elite. They included Robbie Francevic, Rod Millen, Ron Kendall, John Woolf, John Le Feuvre, and Rex Findlay.

Range Rover CSK — the original SUV

The Range Rover, thanks to Charles Spencer King, went into production in 1970 boasting an iconic shape that would last until 1996. The vehicle that would create the SUV moniker came about because Rover decided it was time to add a bigger four-wheel-drive vehicle, one with a 100-inch wheelbase, to the model range. Land Rover made a 109-inch wheelbase model but the standard vehicle had a 88-inch wheelbase.
The new model would be more suitable for road use than the existing Land Rover, which was considered to be predominantly for rural use. To make sure it could cope on any road it came standard with the Rover 3.5-litre V8 engine. The body design was originally sketched by King and went into production with only a few minor touch-ups by the Rover styling team.
According to King, “The idea was to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover. Nobody was doing it.”