The Stokell Story 2 Executive : Messrs N

~~ o CAR STANDS *All STEEL TUBULAR CONSTRUCTION * MAXIMUM lOAD 1TON PER STAND *HEIGHT FROM 11 ~"to 17 ~1I * 7 HEIGHT POSITIONS * UNDER $10'00 PER PAIR 5 6 7 Vintage Car Club of N.Z. [lnc.] VOL. XIV, No. 86 NATIONAL EXECUTIVE February-March '74 President: Mr N. C. Skevington (Canty) Club Captain: Mr A. D. Storer (Canty) Club Vice-Captain: Mr M. H. Femer (Wgtn) Hon. Secretary: Mr J. S. D. Wallis (Canty) IN THIS ISSUE Club Registrar: R. W. Sarchett, 597 Madras Street. Christchurch I. Ph one 66-5I I. The Stokell Story 2 Executive : Messrs N. A. Dewhurst (Auckland), R. J. Hasell (Canty), L. J. D. Priest (Hawkes Bay). Restoring a 1929 Chev. Roadster 6 L. B. Southward (Wellington) On the trail of the great Whatisit 7 CLUB OFFICE Denny De Dion 10 Phoenix House, Blackwell Motors' 50th 82 Hereford Street. Christchurch Telephone 74-003 Anniversary 12 Hours 12-4 p.m. Layman's Guide to Vintage Motoring 16 CLUB CORRESPONDENCE Club correspondence, including members' changes of 'Autoparts' Historic Cars Event 18 address, must be sent to More about Six Wheelers 22 The Vintage Car Club 01 NZ. (Inc.) r.o. Box 2546. Rally West - Australia 28 Christchurch. All Beaded Wheel s correspondence to r.o, Box 13140 More about Rotary Aircraft Engines 29 BEADED WHEELS EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Branch Notes 31 Chairman : Tom Clements Committee : Gavin Bain, Geoff Hockley, Bruce Pidgeon, Letters to Editor 36 Bob Scott, Paul Gieseler Material for publication is the responsibility of this Classified Ads 37 committee and should be forwarded to p.a. Box 13140, Christchurch, typed or neatly printed. double spaced on one side of paper only . Reports of restorations, events, road tests. historical and technical articles welcome. No payment made to contributors. The opin ions expressed in letters or articl es in Beaded CLOSING DATE Wheels are the authors' own views and do not necessarily C opy for Apr./May issue closes MM. 6th express the policy of the Vintage Car Club of N .Z. (Inc.) PRODUCTION Beaded Wheels is published bi-monthly by Purse Willis COVER PHOTO & Aiken Ltd, Chnstchurch for the Vintage Car Club 1930 Broo kla nds Riley owned by Lindsay W oga n of N .Z. Inc .. at its editorial office, p.a. Box 13140, was the winne r of t he first Lad y W ig ram Trop hy Christchurch. Race in 1949. See n he re in the pits prio r to Mailed free to all members. Annu al subscription $2.00. competing in the 'Autopa rts' Histor ic C ars Event Indi vidual copies and back numbers 4Oc. a t W igr am on Ja nuar y 20th, 1974 . -Photo by Derek Stewer r. ADVERTISING Reg istered a t Post O ffice Hea d q uarters We lling to n Rate schedule available on request to Advertising a s a Mag azine. Manager. p.a. Box 13140. Christcburch. Phone 67-346. The Stokell Story In the tranq uil surroundings of his boy hood home in a sma ll Canterbury to wnsh ip. an elderly gentleman, alert and with a lively interest in the motoring past despite the burden of his 85 ye ars. recently rolled bac k the curtains of the ye ars and disclosed a fascinating vista of the m otorcycling past to a couple of vastly interested visitors. through whose enterprise I'm privileged to pass on to " B.W." readers the highlight s of a memora ble interview. I hope they'll find it as int erestin g as I did! Shand's Road, in the bustling such annoy ing incidents. Padd y time ago so I shall onl y dwell little modern community of evidently decided tha t something briefly on my visit, which was too Hornby, situated on the Main would have to be don e abo ut it sho rt to gain more than a hurried South Road some twelve miles (the thought of putting him self im pressio n of the place or to from Christchurch, is as well in the care of Alcohol ics Ano ny question Mr Clement Stockell kno wn to the inhab itants of the mou s doesn't seem to have very closely as to his associatio n township and its environs as occurred to him. or perhaps that with the early mot orc ycle scene. Ca thedral Square is to Christ valuable institution didn 't exist in I can recall the sprawling old church dwellers or as Que en tho se da ys) and he finally came building which housed a remark Street is to Aucklanders. It wasn't up with the rather drastic solu always a roa d, however, and how tion of blazing a trail across the ab le array of machine tools-a it achieve d this sta tus is perhaps huge old lath e, with a bed which wo rth relating, even though it looked to be at least fifteen feet has only an ind irect bea ring on By Geoff Hockley long, a sma ll treadle lathe, an this little sketch of ea rly motor ingenious mechanical hacksaw ing days in the district. In the wilderness from the main road fab ricated from old ag ricultural early [900' s the little hamlet was turn-off to the Shand domicile machiner y part s, a hand-operated a sca ttered collection of a few quite a chore in those pre-bull shaper, a boring and grinding houses and farmlets dispe rsed dozer da ys, but after some grue l attachment fo r the larg e lathe, a over a typical Ca nterbury tus ling sessions with a plough the forg e, anvil and num erou s sock-dotted plain. Among the Hornby landscape boasted a track accessories. And our interv iewers residents was one Padd y Shand. across the tussock s so clearl y report that everything is still there defined that even the dumbest of a local "character" who se pro in this year of grace 1973-even Dobb ins had no difficulty in pensity for lingering in the var " Mr Clem" him self (his brother foll owing it. Thus was evolved ious pubs between Hornby and Gerald passed on some time ago). Christchurch during his visits to what for many years was kn own Gone, however. were some of the the big city per his sole mean s as "Shand's Track". now Shand's mach ines over which I pored of tran sport-a horse and cart Road , and though . as I ha ve said, involved him in some embarras it onl y has an indirect bearing on du ring my all too sho rt visit back sing situations. He was kn own to this narrative. it is here that the in 1938- a hu ge twin-cylinder be unable to navigat e his way home of the Stokell brothers, who B.A.T. with a sideca r chass is home after a prol onged session figure prominently in it, is part ially att ached, and a four of ale-sampling on the long trek located. Here they were born, and cylinder F.N . of 1906 vintage, to from Christchu rch. It seems that even in their youth acquired a mention but two-to say nothing poor old Dobbin, afte r patiently reputation in the distr ict for their of engines, boxes of old mot or wait ing out side the various hostel self-taught skills, not only in cycle parts and oth er treasu res ries while his driver imb ibed, things mech an ical but in other amo ng which I co uld cheerfully fina lly plodded leisurel y home such diverse subjects as orchid have spent a week. However, it's ward while the latt er dozed un growing and the study of fresh encouraging to know that some stea dily on the sea t of the cart. of these items, including the F .N., water fish. However , it is in their and all went well until the main are now in the possession of a engineering prowess that we are road had to be for saken for the prominent V.C.C. member and trackless wildern ess where the most intere sted. of course. and will be preserved for posterity. Shand residence was locat ed Thi s especi ally in its application to However, enough of my person al a ppa rently ca used the long the ir mot orcycle doings. recollections-let's view the scene suffering equine to either wander It is roughly 35 yea rs since my as it is today. wearily around in circles or end first and only visit to the Stokell Th e Stokell homestead must up footsore and blown so me menage and I believe I have have been a Mecca for sur round miles off course. After several referred to this in " B.W." some ing owners of all kind s of motor PAG E TW O transport, particularly motor ing them out from a Ito dia models of the day and exceeded cycles, and indeed for any owners meter bar and then putting the that of quit e a few well-known of mechanical device s requiring stem through a hole in the anvil makes." repairs, in the early days. "We and forging the head to the The Stokell engine doesn't used to do a lot of work on bikes approximately correct diameter seem to have survived the march for friends and neighbours," Mr for machining. They stood up of time. which is a matter for Stokell told the interviewers.

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