Club Corner: Auckland Veteran and Vintage Car Club

26 August, 2016

 

The Auckland Veteran and Vintage Car Club was established in 1954. The club is affiliated to the New Zealand Vintage Car Club, along with 35 other branches, and enjoys a nationwide membership of approximately 8500, with the Auckland branch having 658 members. The clubrooms are situated at 39 Fairfax Avenue, Penrose, and are open every Thursday from 7pm to 10.30pm, and every Saturday from 4pm to 7pm. The clubrooms are licenced, so a convivial atmosphere generally prevails. The third Thursday of the month is club night, and the club usually has an invited guest speaker. 

The club has a 30-year rule that allows all types of motor vehicles up to 1986 (30 years old) to participate in club events. Within the club, there are motorcycle, commercial, and stationary engine groups. 

Each month, there is a run to a place of interest, and, in addition, there is the option of attending events at other branches. Membership entitles you to six bi-monthly publications of Beaded Wheels magazine, and a monthly Auckland-branch bulletin. The club has an extensive library, with most books being able to be borrowed. 

Recently, the club has experienced an increase in later-model vehicles being introduced and used in club events, and its members sincerely hope this trend continues. 

This article originally appeared in the May 2016 issue of New Zealand Classic Car (Issue No. 305). Grab a print copy or a digital copy of the mag below:


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.”