NEW ZEALAND’S FOREMOST HISTORIC MOTORING MAGAZINE No.No. 258258 OCTOBER/NOVEMBEROCTOBER/NOVEMBER 20022002 PRICE $4.50 INCL GST Beaded Wheels Balcairn Trials Action 9 418979 000012 bw258.indd 1 10/10/2007 10:36:53 PM John Pauling has supplied these photographs which Beaded Wheels were obtained from Alex Sudesen in Feilding. Nothing NEW ZEALAND’S FOREMOST HISTORIC MOTORING MAGAZINE further is known regarding the whereabouts and date. Submissions of photographs for this page are welcome from Beaded Wheels readers. Please send original photographs of historic interest with any available Are any readers able to provide information that might information to Beaded Wheels, PO Box 13140, Christchurch. help identify these? Laserprints and photocopies are not suitable. Photos will be returned as soon as practicable. 2 BEADED WHEELS bw258.indd 2 10/10/2007 10:37:06 PM Beaded Wheels Publisher THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB OF NZ (INC.) The Historic Vehicle Authority of New Zealand ISSN 0113-7506 Vol L No. 258 Editorial Committee Beaded Wheels Kevin Clarkson (Chairman), Judith Bain, Issue 258 October/November 2002 Rosalie Brown, John Coomber, Chris Stevens, Barry Thomson, Robin Wells, Lindsay Wogan. Material for Publication Reports of restorations, events, road tests, historical and technical articles etc should be forwarded to PO Box 13140, Christchurch, FEATURES typed or neatly printed, double space on one side of paper only. Email of text only 4 Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud acceptable, do not email pictures/graphics. No payment is made to contributors. The opinions or statements expressed in letters or articles in 15 VCCNZ Annual General Meeting 2002 Beaded Wheels are the author’s own views and do not necessarily express the policy or views of The Vintage Car Club of NZ (Inc). 17 John L Goddard Trophy Award 2002 E-mail [email protected] Bill Datlen and son wallow in the 18 Just Desserts Advertising Address mud at this year’s Balcairn Trial, Classified and Display Advertising to: page 4. PO Box 13140, Christchurch. 22 Gordon-Crosby Country – Targa Phone 64 3 332 3531, Fax 64 3 332 3531 Rate schedule available on request. 24 Tasmania on two wheels – Cover Feature Back Issues Available on request to PO Box 13140, Christchurch. 26 Think Pink – Les Boddington’s Nash Metropolitan Correspondence & Subscriptions Beaded Wheels subscribers change of address 28 Red Ruby Rally - Manawatu Branch to PO Box 13-140, Christchurch. Phone 64 3 332 3531, Fax 64 3 332 3531 Annual subscription (6 issues) $27.00 inc GST 50 The Fourth Rear Wheel Brake Rally Australian subscription (6 issues) NZ$42. Other countries QSM for Bruce Hutton’s (6 issues) airmail NZ$62, seamail NZ$36. photography, page 18. 52 Behind the Wheel - 1929 Alfa-Romeo Production Beaded Wheels is typeset and printed by Wyatt & Wilson Print Ltd, Christchurch. COLUMNS Closing Date for Next Issue Editorial Copy 23 October 2002 6 President’s Message Advertisements 10 November 2002 6 VCC Events The Vintage Car Club of New Zealand (Inc.) 7 News from the National Office National Office Phone 64 3 366 4461 Fax 64 3 366 0273 9 The Way We Were Email [email protected] Postal Address 10 New Zealand Federation of Motoring Clubs report PO Box 2546, Christchurch, New Zealand. Address 11 Mailbag 12 Aberdeen St, Christchurch, New Zealand. Website 30 Marketplace www.vcc.co.nz This 1927 Chrysler is just one of Beaded Wheels is the voice of The Vintage the superb range of vehicles for 37 Technical Tips Car Club of New Zealand (Inc.) and our sale in Marketplace, page 30 branches whose efforts are fostering and ever widening the interest in this movement and 37 Swap Meets & Rallies to form rallying points for that constantly increasing band of enthusiasts. It is to these 41 Idle Torque people, who appreciate the fascination of age, the individuality and the functional elegance of vehicles from a bygone era, that 49 Obituaries this magazine is dedicated. Beaded Wheels – It is a very apt and well- COVER known title however readers may wonder at the origin of the name. By way of explanation Canterbury motorcyclists enjoying the open roads of beaded edge wheels use beaded edge tyres Tasmania. Front to back, Lyndsey Sanders 1951 Norton that are kept in place by reinforced rubber beads, which fit into the rolled edges of the Dominator, Ian and Marilyn McKinlay 1955 BSA B33, wheel rim. This style of wheel was a distinctive Mike Glenday 1956 Triumph Thunderbird, page 24. feature of early motoring being used on early bicycles, many pre-1924 cars and most Photo Moving Images, Tasmania motorbikes until 1927. The VCCNZ adopted the title Beaded Wheels for their quarterly club magazine in March 1955 which was the successor to the monthly Guff Sheet. BEADED WHEELS 3 bw258.indd 3 10/10/2007 10:37:11 PM Peter Henry rutting in the “very rare” Austin 7 Cyclops. Flanders and Swan summed it up well in their immortal song. The muddiest Balcairn Trial ever provided the usual ingredients of laughter, mud, competition, mud, embarrassment, mud, family involvement, mud, frustration and skill, that we have come to expect. Bill Datlen, winner of the coveted Old Boot Trophy in Fools Circle. he Balcairn Trial is a series of climbs Morris Special and Bill Datlen’s invinci- undoing of many an Austin but provided up a range of slopes on a hobby farm ble Ford 100E/10 Bitsa. In fact, of the 35 success for the big cars with the notable Tthat would defeat most four-wheel entrants, 19 were based around the dreaded exception of the Daglish Studebaker drive vehicles. The climbs range from diffi- Austin, so entry criteria will clearly have to Dictator truck, which had the tow vehicle cult to devious to impossible, the intention be tightened up for next year. working very very hard. being to score a possible 20 for each of the Competition is usually intense amongst No one cleared Newell’s Nemesis, seven sections. To cater for the wide range half a dozen front runners, and this year and then it was on to Waterloo, the river of vehicles amongst the 35 entrants there Bill Datlen (Ford 10 Special) Avon Hyde section. This section has great spectator are deep rutted bits to catch out the low (Sunbeam Special) John Rogers (Chevrolet appeal, with a number of cars and drivers ground clearance Specials, twisty slippery Terminator) and Kevin Stevenson (Austin getting very wet indeed, although most of bits to catch out the big cars and Waterloo 7) were determined to wrest the coveted the front runners scored 20. After lunch, is the Kowhai River to catch out everybody. Old Boot Trophy from multiple past winner there was a new challenge, Fools Circle, a Increasingly Trials’ Specials are becoming Phil Mauger. But mud is a great level- short swampy very muddy section, which more popular, this years crop being based ler and no one scored 20 in the first two caused more hilarity than the rest of the round Austin 7s with the main honourable sections, Flemings Flanders and Scotlands sections put together. Mayor Garry Moore exceptions being John Rogers’ Chevrolet Joy. Section three, the Sandpit, involves a thinks of himself as a colourful charac- Terminator based round a Chevrolet tractor steep plunge into a pond, then a desperate ter, but a liberal coating of mud from the from the 1920s, Graeme Sword’s Reliant/ sprint through a rutted swamp, and was the mudguardless Mauger Austin turned him Three approaches to crossing the Kowhai River L-R Russell Yates, Austin 7 Special, Avon Hyde, Sunbeam Special, Gordy Routledge Austin 7 “Very Special.” 4 BEADED WHEELS bw258.indd 4 10/10/2007 10:37:12 PM Anne Rogers powers the family Chevrolet out of the “The Sandpit”. as grey as everyone else. The last section of the day, Mt Pisa, was the decider, with Bill Datlen roaring up to collect nearly maximum points and thus winning for the first time, The Old Boot. And so to the Sefton Pub where results were announced, complaints ignored, excuses made and mud removed. bw Results 1 Bill Datlen Ford 10 134 pts 2 George Kear Austin 7 114 pts 3 Russell Yates Austin 7 113 pts 4 John Rogers Chevrolet Terminator 112 pts Geoff Owen contemplates life as the cavalry comes to the rescue. A determined Earl Preston attacks Newell’s Kelvin Merrin meets his Waterloo in the redoubtable Model T. Nemesis. BEADED WHEELS 5 bw258.indd 5 10/10/2007 10:37:21 PM behalf of the membership for the coming PRESIDENT’S year. I congratulate them all on their re- election to the management team. Our affiliation to MotorSport NZ Inc. MESSAGE was ratified during the Executive Meeting and events are being planned to once again Well done Wairarapa ready for our chosen long-term rally. If you enable members to take part in Historic Branch on successfully would like to find out what, where or when Motor Vehicle Competition events. The organising our 2002 in advance, please refer to the National agreement will be re-visited annually and AGM and Conference Calendar of Events that all members will meetings between the two organisations will at Masterton. Branch members had gone receive. There’s nothing like anticipation to be ongoing to ensure a smooth association. out of their way to make sure delegates and add to the enjoyment of the occasion, not Tony and I joined Manawatu Branch fellow members enjoyed both the meetings to mention an incentive to have your resto- in their 40th (Red Ruby) celebrations and the fellowship at the Branch clubrooms ration completed by a certain date.