Yards And Yarns

[AMCO72]

Ron Roycrofts' garages at Glen Murray used to be a mecca for all racecar/sportscar enthusiasts back in the 60's and 70's and probably beyond. Not sure whether Ron had a dealers licence or not but he certainly bought and sold a lot of cars...interesting cars. When I first visited him in 1967 I was driving a Fiat 1500 Crusader, and the first thing Ron said to me as I got out of the car was 'at least you know what a good car is' !!!!!!! I had recently traded a Morris 1100 in on the Fiat, otherwise he might have thrown me out if I had turned up in something else. At the time I was looking for an early SS Jaguar to restore and I knew that Ron had the only 1932 SS1 coupe in the country. It was mostly complete except for one rather essential item....the engine. Apparently it had been repowered at some stage with a Chev 6 motor.....the original having disappeared. Lots of SS cars were repowered, often with Chev 6 motors; OHV and far better than the dreadful sidevalve Standard lump that was part of the SS deal Lyons had with Standard. The lack of engine didnt faze Ron one bit, and he suggested all sorts of things that could be installed. Ron was a great Chev enthusiast and I suspect that he had bought the SS to get the engine for one of his projects. Anyway the job was too big for me, and even at $150 decided not to buy it. Ron eventually sold it to some turkey in Hamilton, who in a fit of enthusiasm proceeded to strip the car to the last nut and bolt. The last time I saw it, the body was in the guys vegetable garden and the chassis propped up against the fence. Eventually I think it all went to the tip....should have bought it, a very rare car nowdays. Sometimes Ron was very hard to converse with as he was very deaf, probably through testing aircraft engines and race car driving, and his hearing aid was either not turned on or the batteries had gone flat! Unlike Sybil Lupp, Ron wasnt too concerned about how his cars looked....some were pretty rough, he was more interested on how they went. I will say this though, all of Rons cars were under cover, the old Jaguar engined RJR was parked in an old bus body out on the roadside, while the rest were in various sheds, old and new on the property. I feel very lucky to have met and chatted with Ron on a number of occasions which says much for this modest man that he was prepared to speak to someone as insignificant as me. I didnt attend the auction of his collection when he died, but I always had my eye on his very early 1923 Bentley 3 litre...think it went overseas.

[AMCO72]

Charlie Conways motor emporiams, first down the Gt North road, then Symonds street were always good places to check-out when I went to Auckland. He had nice showrooms with lots of desirable machinery to look at, and he owned a Cooper single seater race car as well, so his connection to motor racing was sound. I purchased a Triumph TR6 from Charlie in 1981 and while I enjoyed driving it, it had the bad habit of not starting if left standing for more than a few days. Good old Lucas fuel injection was the culprit. Another case of the Poms getting it almost right but not quite. There was some pretty sloppy workshop practices at BL [or what ever it was called then] and I remember Triumph 2.5 PI saloons in Jan Wilds' Triumph dealership in Cambridge, undergoing warranty claims, after having done only 1500 miles, having their injection pumps overhauled. Something about swarf not being cleaned out prior to assembly! My cars problem was the fuel pump itself which always struggled to get up enough pressure. It was powered by a glorified wiper motor and overheated regularly. I guess owners today have the problem sorted out.....a bit like the Triumph Stag from the same source whos V8 gave trouble in the early days. Angus actually repowered a Triumph 2000 Estate with a Rover V8....a tight fit especially getting the extractor exhaust to fit. It went very well and the Rover engine was actually lighter than the original Triumph motor. Wonder if it is still around. Back to Charlie. I only met him a couple of times so there must be someone out there that can do justice to this entrepreneur.

[Steve Holmes]

Gerald, your stories are amazing. This thread is one of the most popular on the forum. How many cars have you owned? Must be hundreds? How many do you know the whereabouts of? You must have a few regret stories of cars you shouldn't have sold?

[AMCO72]

I hope folk are enjoying all this rubbish. I tried to keep the stories relevant to the thread title but I sometimes get a bit carried away, and the more I sit down to write of my experiences the more I remember. I didnt just want to have dry old stories, as threads have shown that this hobby of ours is more than just about nuts and bolts. I have a little book by me called 'Tuning and Maintenance of MG's' by Philip H. Smith, A.M.I.Mech.E. which I purchased on the 12th of August 1960. In the back on the fly-leaf pages I have listed all the cars, good and bad, that I have owned, starting with the singer in 1957 and counting. I am up to about 65, but I think there may be a few that that I have forgotten about probably because they were wrecks and I got them free. Unfortunately I have lost track of most of them though they seem to turn up on odd occasions...FF52 for instance, the black 3.8 Jaguar which is at Lyall Williamsons at the moment. There are quite a few that I wasnt sorry to see the last of....the Sunbeam is one which I will write about next, but I am usually a bit careful when rubbishing cars as there is always somebody out there that thinks they are OK. So good on them, go-for-it. As for cars I wish I HAD kept, well there have been a FEW. Funnily enough the 6 Jaguars have been the only cars I have actually sold for more than I paid for them, and I wouldnt mind having anyone of them again. Iv'e still got a few stories to tell, particularly about my Dad who seems to have featured here quite a lot, as his interest in cars, picked up from HIS father, my Grandfather, has rubbed off on me, and in turn has rubbed off on Angus. I still have a magnificent old 'King of the Road' bulb horn that came from my Grandfathers 1920 STAR.....a very large and expensive touring car which my Father learned to drive in. God, here I go again.

[bob homewood]

[thunder427]

...Car Yard on the Cnr of Salisbury St and Colombo, which I sure 'AMCO72' correctly refers to as Salisbury Motors was prior to this name, called 'Autodrome',owned by a 'Suave' Gentleman (read 'Ladies' man) with Cary Grant looks whom used to have an appartment on Colmbo St just Nth of the Car Yard and cruzed around in a Black and White Nash Metropolitan.....Because the Ladies thought it was 'Cute!!!!

Don was a real nice guy,sorta understood teenagers with dreams and very little money (read, No Money!!)..I purchased from him a real 'Cool' green /lowered/with spats/12ft ariel/white Wall Tyres/'Starfire' Hubcaps/'38 Chev Coupe........the look on Don's face when I turned up with 5 other 'great pretenders'..."6 in a coupe????.....suppose that'll work,sign here"!!!.........but AMCO72 is correct ,that Yard always had some thing that would make you hang at the fence for hours,Dreaming!!!!!!!!!!!

1960/61 my father drove out to Burnside High...."Leave your Bike in the Bike shed and come with me,got something you might like to see"...I knew better than to ask.."What"???......we arrived at Autodrome/Salisbury Motors and sitting there was A REAL LIVE 1960 CORVETTE....RED ....well this just about did it for me ,this was the most Beautiful car I had ever witnessed at this time in my life..it was red inside and out with White concave's and White Hardtop..LHdrive...Don's latest "TOY!!!!.....Go for a ride,but my Father was quite happy to let me just Look,I seem to think he may have not been keen with the left steer thing........but a singular moment in time I have never forgotten.
....sorta got the 'bug'......my Son and I own a '63 roadster/327/4speed, '78 aniversary/one owner,'74 4speed/two owner (they only produced 3490 manuals that year production of 35000 odd units) and the usual 'collection of other projects......but that trip into Christchurch town to look at the 'Vette.........well, that did it!!!......................regards thunder427/MJ

[AMCO72]

Montelle Motors in Hamilton a couple of doors down from Fleetwood Motors was one of the many tiny yards that seem to have been prevalent in the 60's and 70's. The proprietor had a liking for sportscars and seemed to have a regular turnover, so when a series 3 Sunbeam Alpine for $1500 turned up I decided that I would have to act swiftly to secure the deal. It had originally been a bright tourquoise colour and someone had squirted a coat of dark blue over it to make it somewhat more saleable. I had a very low mileage MG 1100 to trade on this vehicle, and the only criteria that I used to decide whether or not to buy, was that a pushchair had to fit into the boot as we had a young family at the time. Our two small children were carted about in this contraption, Angus over the back, and Belinda in one of those funny little canvas car seats that clipped over the passenger seat. This was completely useless in the event of a crash, as the front seats hinged forward to allow access to the back, and would have catapulted Belinda through the screen like a medieval trebuchet!!!! When I see todays toddlers strapped into their seats like fighter pilots I wonder how we got away with such a blatent disregard for safety. The under pinnings of the Alpine were the Hillman Husky van...hardly the most obvious start for a successful sports car. Something must have been right because they did OK in international events especially in Tiger form, but it was without a doubt the worst car I have ever owned. Even the old Singer was at least fun and challenging to drive. The Alpine had the most terrible diff whine that was even more obvious when the hood was raised so when I eventually sold it made sure the hood was down.....starting to sound like a used car salesman!!!! It also had an alloy head which over the years had become very corroded, so with lots of Bars-Leaks in the system found an unsuspecting enthusiast to take it off my hands. Whew! I will say one thing though. At some stage the drain plug had fallen out of the Sunbeams gearbox allowing all the oil to escape, and I drove the car a lot of miles before the gearlever started to get very stiff and I found the cause. Must have been one tough box.

[thunder427]

..If Autodrome/Salisbury Motors was on the west side of Colombo St,when heading north,opposite,on the East cnr was a small 'servo' Garage/Workshop, this was the home of Mullins Tune Services,Proprietor Mr Jim Mullins,the local Mini specialist,back up Columbo St heading towards the City (southernly direction),right hand side was 'Barry Brown Used Cars', Barry was a real nice guy,not the typical 'carsales Type,would go out of his way to make a deal,also a very passionate Mini Racer in his own right,solid Canterbury Car Club Member,as AMCO72 pointed out it was a net work of Cant.Car Club people that made up the Car trade......................regards thunder427/MJ

[AMCO72]

Ah, thunder427........Barry Brown Car Sales.......theres a name that I had forgotten. Just give me a little time and who knows what I might dredge up on that yard! Cant remember Mullins Tune Services, but as a Mini man now of course I know of him, and as I will relate later, I was not into Minis in those days.....just couldnt get my head around them....funny little cars. Well they were in comparison to an XK!!

[AMCO72]

After thunder427 had jogged my brain cells into action, I sat down by the fire and was thinking about Barry Browns' and sports cars, etc etc and I knew there was a family connection there somewhere. Ah yes, not me but my Mother. At the dinner table some nights we would be discussing what we had done during the day....as you did in those pre telly days.... and I mentioned that I had checked out the 'BBC'. My Mother, a fan of the REAL BBC said 'what are you talking about..how can you checkout the BBC.' I pointed out that BBC was my abreviation for Barry Brown Car sales! ....laughter all round, as you did in those days. Anyway, years later, like about 10, my Mother with help from my Father of course bought a little jewel of a car from BBC...a Lancia Fulvia 1.3 Rallye 'S' , a car with very illustrious international motorsport connections. I reminded my Mother of our dinner time conversation all those years back but she couldnt remember, never mind. Do you know, that car was shod with those new fangled Michelin X tyres like Wally Darrell had got me for the TR2, and this was a car ideally suited to that rubber. My Mother still had the Lancia when my Dad died in 1977, and we as a family decided that she couldn't maintain a sports car like that without help, so we persuaded her to sell it....bad decision!!! She bought a new Honda Civic EB1 from Archibolds, a firm my Dad had had a lot of dealing with. The Civic was a great little car but hardly in the Lancia class. Bad decision because I would have inherited the Lancia when she died instead of the Honda! The Honda had only done 30,000 kms in the 10 years my Mother had it...she only used it to go shopping down at Redcliffs, a village in the news these days after the earthquake. Anyway unlike my earlier effort with the Mercedes 190SL where I offered the car back to the dealer from whence it came [and I have a ps. on that story too!] we advertised it in the Press and it sold immediately to a Lancia enthusiast. I think the selling price matched the purchase price of the Honda..$5520...as Im sure we did not raid any bank account for any extra. Cant imagine why I had forgotten about Barry Brown...couldnt see the wood for the trees...as his yard must have continued for some years and would have been a regular stop for the 'yard cruisers club'...me and my school mate John Sergel. John had had polio as a child and was a member of the Sergel family that owned Southwell School in Hamilton, so tons of money. John went on to be a successful rally driver..Heatway etc, more about him later as he also had his own yard selling hot stuff, sometimes literally, down Addington road.

[Chris Kitzen]

Spears Speed Shop. A little before my time but I do have a vague recollection of it being in upper Albert St in central Auckland. Is that correct?

Gerald you need to write a book! Keep it up.

[Steve Holmes]

Bloody hell you guys! This thread isn't conducive to me managing to get any work done today! Am loving the stories. I guess I can always get back to work tomorrow.

Gerald, about ten years ago a garage I called on in the Wairarapa suddenly had a dark blue Alpine arrive in one of its bays. The owner of the garage had bought it from up north somewhere, and had plans to restore it. But it slowly disappeared under a pile of rubble over time, and the garage was eventually bought out by another company and torn down. I assume the owner took the Alpine with him, but wouldn't it be interesting if he happened to now have the worst car you ever owned?

[AMCO72]

Steve, as far as I'm concerned that is the best place for it. One pile of rubbish under another!!!!!!

[David McKinney]

Spears Speed Shop. A little before my time but I do have a vague recollection of it being in upper Albert St in central Auckland. Is that correct?

Wasn't it Bill Norrish's outfit?
Sometime Hot Rod reporter and future F3 driver Rob Wilson worked there for a while

[pallmall]

When Rob worked for Bill in 1969/70 the premises were on Gt North Road, can't remember if it had a shop front at that stage, and I don't think it was called Spears then. As I recall Bill moved into the Gt North Road premises after working out of his backyard workshop previously. Was Spears Speed Shop, Laurie Spears?

[bob homewood]

Bill Norrish originally worked out of his home in Te Atatu then moved into town we he out grew it ,he also later owned a BP service station in Williamson Ave
Steve Millen also worked at Supertune early 70's .I nearly worked there ,but ended up going back South
Spears Speed Shop was as Pall Mall said in the Laurie Spears building .Steve Horne worked there at the time of that photo,it was at the top of town Eden Terrace I think I used to call it ?

[bob homewood]

Maybe it should be in the Imp thread might answer a couple of questions that have been asked there ?

[pallmall]

Bill Norrish originally worked out of his home in Te Atatu then moved into town we he out grew it ,he also later owned a BP service station in Williamson Ave
Steve Millen also worked at Supertune early 70's .I nearly worked there ,but ended up going back South
Spears Speed Shop was as Pall Mall said in the Laurie Spears building .Steve Horne worked there at the time of that photo,it was at the top of town Eden Terrace I think I used to call it ?

Supertune, of course. Yes remember Spears being in the Eden Terrace area, another part of town with some much older motorsport connections, and a few car sales with Western Springs connections through the sixties.

[thunder427]

..and Christchurch had 'Hamco' Speed Equipment,Oxford Tce,down by the 'Bridge of Remembrance',this was run in the 60's by the most patient gentleman,Mr Bill Clarke,we would buy those 'Have to have' items ,such as racing mirrors,the English bullit shaped,the only came in 'Chrome',you would order two then buy one one pay day,then the other a fortnight later........'Hood Pins' with the plastic covered cables......'Stick-on' GT/Racing stripes,that went along the door just above the sill's...'Chrome' wheel Nuts,looked great on the Anglia/Cortina/Mk1 Zephyr after one had removed the 'Hubcaps'.....And the MOST purchased item was the Cortina GT badge,we put them on every thing,instant Gooooooooo!!.....as I said Bill treated us all equal,he was a great supporter of our many 'Kustom Car Club' activities.....always had time to listen to my 'Hair Brain' scheme's, but would always put a 'positive Spin' on his answer.

Late 1969,Bill invited me to his beautiful old home/house, something to do with 'Autorama' which I was organising at that time,we meet in his garage out the back of the property,my memory still registers, WOW!!,in this workshop/garage was the Alfa,single seater ,1939/German Grand Prix Winner,in the final stages of restoration,this gentleman was there hand rubbing the Red Lacquer using 'Brasso'........(never 'ever' for got that tip!!!).........I believe Bill isnt so well these days,but if any Forum member is in touch with Bill, I would appreciate my regard being forwarded.........regards thunder427/MJ

[AMCO72]

OK, this is going to be a long one so get comfy.......One doesn't normally associate wrecking yards with motorsport connections but in the 'old days' we in NZ were at the forefront of the homebuilt special and much of the raw material for that special came from wrecking yards. Clever guys like Hec Green, Wally Darrell, George Smith, Frank Shuter, the Stanton Bros, the list goes on and on, sourced their engines...often but not exclusively flat-head V8's, frames, axles, and almost everything else from a wrecking yard. Actually Hec Green is probably the odd man out there as he was VERY clever and designed and manufactured a lot of stuff himself. By the time all these bits and pieces had been cobbled together, and a thing of beauty stood in the driveway, a lot of hours rather than money had been spent. I should say that most of these things were definately NOT a thing of beauty and the scrutineers of today would have a heart attack if such devices were presented for inspection. Never mind, they did the business and some were extraordinarily successful, and some are still racing today 60 years after their initial conception. I mentioned earlier that I had bought my first car from a wrecking yard, not to build a special, but as a means of escape! It was however engineless and that came from another Singer that had been 'trucked'...a sort of early ute....a common procedure in those days. This car/truck had been sitting in a dirt floored shed not far from where I lived on Mt Pleasant and over the years through non use had sunk into the soft earth floor. I had known about it before I purchased the car from the wrecking yard, and it's owner Bob Scott, who had parked it up after one too many fires in the engine room...Bob was frequently seen beating out the flames with a coal sack....agreed to sell it to me for 10 pounds. The deal was that he would get the motor going again. I thought, yeh right, thats going to take some doing, but no. After cleaning things up, it had a magneto for the ignition so no battery required, some fresh fuel in the gravity tank, and sparkplugs and leads checked, it didn't take too many swings on the crank to awake the old girl from it's slumbers. Was music to my ears and I can still hear it today! We jacked it out of the mud, pumped up the tyres, amazingly they still held air, and I drove triumphantly down the hill to my home. My Mother nearly had a fit when she saw it.....'what will the neighbours think'. Stuff the neighbours, I had my first car and everyone reading this site has been there and remembers it well. I kept the good bits from the 'trucked' machine, installed the engine in the car from the wrecking yard and went cruising. Well sort of. She was a cantankerous old bitch and I spent more time under the bonnet than driving, but hey I was free. The cause of the frequent fires that Bob had experienced became obvious one day when I was watching it running with hood open..a tiny pin hole in the fuel line was allowing petrol to drip onto the hot manifold and all the stray sparks from the magneto set it ablaze. As I related, my friend Stacey had an Austin 7 and we used to have races round McCormacks bay road on a traffic cop, and traffic free course. I was amazed that the Singer could not beat the agricultural Austin 7...my car had an overhead camshaft for goodness sake, and was rated one more horsepower...8, so should have been able to eat the Austin. But no, and dont worry I had the accelerator THROUGH the firewall [what an appropriate name for that car] Both cars could get up to about 45 mph, but I can tell you that at that speed with everything flapping, rattling and vibrating, and oil smoke issuing from places it shouldn't, you felt as though you were really getting on with the washing!!!!!! I eventually sold the Singer when I left home to go to Lincoln because my Mother said 'it lowered the tone of the neighbourhood and insisted that I 'get rid of that eyesore at the front gate'. Goodbye old girl, the car that is, you taught me a lot. All I have left are memories, photos, and the 4, ring and open ended Whitworth Sidchrome spanners that I bought you back to life with.