SCZZEC Magazine September 2001

Thought I would let you all know how we are getting on across here in Adelaide.
It was great to catch up with so many South Canterbury members at the Palmerston North Convention at Easter.
Time has certainly flown since then and I have now been here for nine months by the time you read this.
We are both well and enjoying the change we have made in our lives.

Merilyn has just spent the last two weeks in New Zealand, mainly to visit our son Peter, and his partner Barbara who had a son, named Jack Barry, on 17 July.

We are still investigating the possibility of bringing the MkI convertible over to Adelaide. There are no problems importing a car more than 15 years old into Australia. You just need to get an import license and when it arrives and is cleared by customs, take it to the motor registration checking station for them to check that he chassis number matches the license.
There is no mechanical check prior to registration. You do, however, have to pay 10% GST on the assessed value of the car before you can take delivery of it.

You may be aware that I was 'elected' the treasurer of the Zephyr and Zodiac Owners Club of South Australia at their AGM. It is the type of job I am familiar with, having been Secretary/Treasurer of the South Canterbury club for its first five years.
The S A club has just over 90 members - that includes wives/partners compared with about 130 for SC as a comparison.
We have a number of members here from out of Adelaide and inter-state, with many taking advantage of the Historic Registration membership which reduces the vehicle registration by 75%, meaning it only costs around $140 to register a Zephyr for a whole year, but you must be a club member to qualify.
There are limitations on vehicle use and a logbook must be kept to verify use. I think the usage allowed is something like 90 days each year, more than two a week which is pretty good.

The club organises social events on a regular basis, has some club runs and members participate in many of the events/runs organised by other clubs in the area.
A recent event was a 'Cavalcade of Cars' at a Cornish Festival held about 150km north-west of Adelaide.
This event is held every two years and attracted 850 vehicles. I have entered The Bay to Birdwood run on 30th September, also run every two years
This event is only open to vehicles made between 1945 and 1971 and will attract more like 1600 vehicles - quite a convoy. I have heard of one other Mark I convertible that has just been refurbished about 80 km from here, and has also entered the event.

We have just spent the last weekend on a houseboat on the River Murray. A great experience with 7 others from the SA Zephyr Club.
We met up on Friday night and spent the night on the boat moored to the bank.
On Saturday morning, after a big breakfast of bacon, sausages and eggs etc we headed up the river.
The houseboat had 5 double bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, lounge/dining/kitchen at the front, was on 2 levels with only 2 50hp motors to power it. It cruised at about 6 - 8 knots on the smooth river which averages about 100metres wide.
We cruised until 3.45pm, moored to a couple of large bluegums and settled in for the evening.
The evening meal consisted of T-bone steaks, baked spuds, salad etc and apple crumble for dessert.
We sure did not go hungry.

Sunday morning saw another huge breakfast followed by a leisurely cruise down the river back to Mannum, from where we had started, arriving at 5.00pm.
Great fun, food, company, interest and thoroughly recommended as a way of easing the stress of daily living, just a pity it was not a lot longer.

This coming weekend (24 - 26 August) we are off to Meningie, a lakeside town about 160km south-east from Adelaide for a vehicle run organised by one of the local clubs.

Winter here has been mostly overcast with the occasional rain or drizzle with temperatures around 14 - 16 degrees during the day and down to 4 - 8 at night, quite a lot warmer than the temperatures in South Canterbury!

We would love to here from anyone who has email access - our address is - [email protected]

Regards
Barry and Merilyn Goddard

This month has been a relatively quiet month with only one run on - the Night Rally which ten members took part in with varying success.
The rally finished at the Pleasant Point Hotel for supper, socialising and watching the Tri-nations rugby between Australia vs South Africa.
During the month some members went on a four wheel drive "Winter Safari" - three 4 x 4s
and one Model A Tourer. It was a great weekend - lots of mud, rocks and water. I was amazed where these old cars can go (Henry would have been proud).
I have heard we may be getting a Oz report from Barry Goddard, so will keep you posted.
Hope you can all make the next run on 9 September- "Poker Run" to Oamaru.
Also, an invitation to other Zephyr owners to join us at either Alexandra or Akaroa on 22/23 September. All welcome.

Happy Zephyring.
Bob Stevens,
President.

August 18
26 people and eight cars set out from Pak 'n Save for the night trial. After a few wrong turns, everybody ended up at the Pleasant Point Hotel for supper. Prizes to J. Bower for completing the full course; M. Rose for covering the longest distance.
September 9
Southern Get-Together and Poker Run. Meet at South end of Timaru by Caltex, King Street at 1.15pm. Drive to Waimate then on to Oamaru Racecourse to meet Southern members about 2.45pm. Then a Poker Run around the places of interest in Oamaru, finishing back at the layby at the Racecourse for a BYO afternoon tea.
Please follow at a reasonable distance apart to allow other traffic to pass. Also watch your rear view mirror to make sure no one is left behind.
September 21, 22, 23
Akaroa and Alexandra Weekend trips. Any members of our club or other clubs who would like to meet South Canterbury teams at these events for the weekend or just a day trip, please contact Phil Rooke, 686 1812.
October 20,21
Ashburton Weekend and Day Trip from Ashburton.
Itinerary: Saturday - suggested accommodation Taylors Motel, East Street, Ashburton.
6.00 pm meet at the MSA Club for drinks, dine & dance.
Sunday - 10.00 am for day travellers and weekenders, meet at the Town Clock. 10.30 am leave for Lake Coleridge Lodge via Rakaia Gorge for lunch (cost $15.00 per head), then tour of Power Station.
Keep these days free to use those Z cars.

Peter Hunter
Club Captain

I had to redo all his work and some. Like replacing door skins that were full of bog and chassis repairs made from old Fisher & Paykel products.
In all about 18 months was spent by myself and Warren Flowerday (a young panelbeater I convinced needed the experience!!!) getting the body back to square one.
While this was going on, I had the chrome replated and stainless polished. I cleaned up and repaired a lot of small parts ready to be put back on.
The engine bay was painted along with the under sealing then the motor, gearbox, front suspension and diff were fitted. All in one week - things were really flying.
Big progress at last, it was on its wheels (well sort of). Wheels!! This was another time user.
Wire wheels look good but there is a lot of work stripping, rechroming, respoking and truing up. Especially when you have respoked two and find you have done it wrong. So pull them to bits and start again.
Wiring was restored and fitted by Mark (our son) and myself. While I was playing with wheels, the car was at Babbage & McCullough being painted in the bake oven by Dick Ballantyne, who made an excellent job.
After this the chrome and stainless were fitted - now it was looking like a car.
Then came step backwards when I backed it out of the workshop looking over my left shoulder and the driving door flung open and crunched against the house. Stone houses don't move!!
Three weeks later, after repairs and paint again, it was off to David Brown's for upholstery.

There was a time when almost every car on New Zealand roads was made in Mother England.
Cantankerous and unreliable, they made you wonder how the Poms ever won the war.
But British cars had character and many New Zealanders still drive them and adore them.
Their stories are told in a new book, The Cars We Loved.
Ahhh, the aroma of hot vinyl. The fumes wash over you as you settle into the passenger seat of John McCrystal's 1957 Mk II Ford Zephyr. Heaven knows what's in those fumes, but they play tricks with the mind.
We're off for a ride in the Zeph, and luckily it's a fine day. Its wipers are powered by vacuum from the engine manifold, so the faster the car goes, the slower the wipers become.
It is a beautiful car, and one still capable of making men of a certain age turn their heads and lick their lips.
Modelled on the 1954 Ford Thunderbird coupe, the Mk II was low and sleek with American styling cues in the fins, bumper over-riders and hooded headlights.
It was the closet New Zealand and other British colonies had to a dream car at a time when most models were blobular and upright like fat spinster aunties on wheels.
McCrystal fires up the 2.5 litre six, and we head off. Having heard so much about the legendary grunt of the Mk II, I'm surprised the car doesn't feel as if it's being moved by the hand of God and the Jap import van behind us appears to have no trouble keeping up.
Driving the Zephyr requires you to "accustom yourself to a different era of motoring", explains McCrystal. "You drive it
slowly because it prefers that, it cruises really nicely on the open road, but you wouldn't want to push it much beyond 100kph.
You don't fly into corners because you'll attract lots of attention with the squealing tyres.
"With an old car you think seriously about whether it's going to rain because the wipers aren't that good, you'll warm it up for five minutes before you drive it anywhere.
You won't park it at the supermarket because it'll get dinged by trolleys. You become a much better driver because you pay very careful attention to what everyone else is doing".
But for all that, the only way you'd separate McCrystal from his Zephyr is with a stick of dynamite. It was the same for most of the people he interviewed for his book.
Compiled over a year, it takes in some ordinary people with extraordinary stories and extraordinary cars.
There's Elva Shepherd, who at 100, can claim to be the oldest Austin A35 driver in the world. She still uses Bubba, the blue A35 she bought new in 1957.
There's May Wakenshaw whose husband forbade her to get a driver's licence. With the covert help of her sons, Wakenshaw not only obtained her licence, but bought a Morris 1300 which was stored away from the family home.
She still owns it.
Ray Win is pictured with the first Bradford he built as a young coachbuilder in the 1950s and Vic Morrison displays the Jowett R3 Jupiter replica he built from scratch.
Perhaps most remarkable is Ray Black, who is restoring a 1951 Ford Prefect. Nothing unusual in that, except that Black is blind. He assembles parts by feel, and even ground out a patch of rust in the boot.
Amazingly, he still has all his fingers.
As I climb out of the Zephyr, with its tappety rumble and swoopy steel dash, and into the office Toyota Echo, I wonder if this marvellously engineered but soulless car will every hold such associations.
Somehow, I doubt it.

Stefan Herrick