I can remember a Metropolitan living along the road from us in the late fifties or early sixties, bright yellow and white with venetian blinds on the back window and lots of other 'extras' in bright chrome attached to it. Must have been someones pride and joy. Funny thing I can recall it being parked in a very short driveway in front of this house, but I don't think I ever saw it driven.
This is about books, but is not a book review so decided to put it on here rather than sully Steves' thread. Books ain't dead yet even though the computer generation whizz kids would have you think so. I was going to say you can't take a computer to bed with you to read , but of course you can now. Like lots of car spotters I have rummaged through dusty old second-hand book shops looking for an elusive title. There seems to be a huge array on cooking, the Royal family, rugby, cricket, and gardening, but try to find a good motoring title and you had better not be holding your breath. So I decided to turn to the English dealers in these things, and here I was spoilt for choice, BUT, the problem is that because books are so heavy, they can be very expensive by the time they arrive in NZ. I usually get them sent Airpost otherwise the wait for the parcel can be interminable, especially as I am by nature a very impatient fellow. I suppose the best example of a high price for a book in my experience was 'Ford v's Ferrari, the battle for LeMans' by Anthony Pritchard. My 1st edition,by the time it landed at my doorstep, set me back $250, and a similar edition of Duncan Hamiltons' 'Touchwood' was comparable. I dont regret buying them, and this was 15 years ago, so I suppose this isn't too bad a value for money. What I think may not be good value for money is race programmes, and I have a 1953 LeMans item that I hesitate to tell you that I paid a dealer in the UK 95 pounds for, about $250 in NZ$ at the time. Whew, I must have been flush, or something, as I have bough a few since and none have reached those dizzying heights. The 1953 programme is nice in that the buyer, an Englishman I presume, who bought it that weekend at the track, wrote all sorts of little asides and observations in it and was careful to keep the loose lap-scoring chart with it. Some of the French spelling is a bit different to say the least.......how about..'STAWTHOM' for Mike HAWTHORN. Never mind the Frogs are funny people.....got a good race though. So, my " Programme Officiel des 24 Heures Du Mans, 13 et 14 Juin 1953", sits in a prominent position on display, if only because it's worth it's weight in gold!!!
I'm loving these stories guys, and have read every one. This is now the most viewed thread on The Roaring Season!
A bit different to AMCO72s book story, this is one of my bargain buys. In the mid seventies I called into a bookshop in Palmerston North (it was the big one, now a Whitcoulls) to see what motoring books they had. Sitting on the shelf was a pristine copy of Automobile Year #1 from 1953/54 with the Indy car drawing on the cover, I had not seen it there on previous visits so it may have been found out the back in the storeroom, the price on it was $8. I grabbed it quickly and took it to the counter and suggested that since it was such an old book the price seemed a bit high! I was allowed to buy it for $5. Many years later when a bit short of cash I sold it in the UK for well over 100 pounds, I wish I still had it though.
Talk about selling TO the UK instead of buying FROM the UK, and the sort of shuffling around that I used to do. About 15 years ago I purchased from Eion Youngs' Motormedia establishment in the UK a copy of Christian Moity's 'The LeMans 24 hr Race 1949-1973 at a cost of 125 pounds.....say $300NZ at the time. It was in good order, but a corner of the dust cover was missing, a fact that Mr Young alerted me to, but as it was quite a rare book I decided that I could put up with that small defect. I had had it for about 6 months when I found a copy here in NZ at a second-hand bookshop in Devonport....'Hard to Find'. The price on the NZ copy was $100.....a third of that which I had paid on the English one, and the dust wrapper was intact. After a quick think, I purchased it, having decided that would try to sell the earlier copy back to a dealer in the UK, not NECESSARILY to Motormedia. I had been dealing with another chap there who I had bought some stuff from, posters, prints and other memorabilia, and I asked him if he was interested in the LeMans book, and if so how much would he give for it. He said he would credit my account to the tune of 200 pounds a figure that I accepted, and I proceeded to spend that amount with him. Now I know that he was doing alright out of the deal, but then again so was I ,so I think everyone was happy, and for the price I originally paid for the UK book ended up with quite a bit of extra stuff. One of my better deals I think.
I remember the first Automobile Year. My brother found one second hand, must have been early 1960's. It had a soft cover, and the translation to English, from French perhaps, was distinctly quaint. I presume he still has it, buried in a Sydney basement somewhere.Originally Posted by pallmall
Bloody hell Bob, you are lucky to still be alive after the characters youv'e hung around with. You being a little guy and all. !!!!
I like it.
Bob, there is no such thing as 'off topic' on Yards and Yarns. Speak your mind man, or otherwise hold your peace,or piece, whatever. I don't remember the cigarette lighters, not being a smoking man, probably didn't take much notice, but the WATCHES.....yeh right. The muscles on the left arm were twice as big as the right with all the extra weight dangling there. What is it about a big watch.....maybe was easier to see when the countdown had started, and the Boys were moving in to take over a patch. And it was always certified accurate to a depth of 50 meters. Could be handy when your feet are encased in concrete and your sinking to the ocean floor!!!!! Thinking of the ocean and motoracing......think Monaco. What did Somerset Maugham say about Monaco.........a sunny place for shady people. Next post, a bit about my friend John at 'Bookish', and Bob I have a VERY bad memory.
OK.....John Gamby....'Bookish'....buying and selling, oldish, rarish, and otherwise interesting books. What started me thinking about John, was Bobs mention of cigarette lighters as big as an Aladdins' lamp. John was a HEAVY smoker and I'm afraid it got him in the end. He was one of lifes' gentlemen and his interest in old books was unbounded, and his 'library' as he called it, was just like Aladdins cave. I mentioned in the' Bovine on the Bonnet' post [178] that we had a bach on the Thames coast....Thornton Bay, well John lived a 100 meters one side of me, and Les Rydes lived a 100 meters on the other, they were permanent residents. I was never short of someone to talk to too.....John about books and Les about cars. We will get to Les.........John was what I call a professional gala day, bring and buy, car boot sale, Church stall attender, and the stuff he used to collect for his 'library' was amazing. In this day and age these sort of events get pretty well picked over before the public has a look despite what the organisers will tell you, but every now and then a gem slips through and John is on hand to snap it up. He really wasn't into 'car books' as such but he knew that I was interested and seemed to keep a weather eye cocked for suitable titles. One thing I prize very highly is a complete collection of 'Larry' cartoon books that I was able to purchase from his Wife after he died. He wouldn't let me have them while he was alive and seeing them siting on my shelf now brings back those days when we would have a good natter, not just about books. I also got a No1 Popeye comic from him which I believe is worth a couple of bob today....it's not for sale. Now, Les. A more different bloke to John you couldn't imagine. I doubt that Les had ever read a book of any sort but he was a real salt of the earth guy. In his working days he was a bushman, mostly truck driving, or pulling logs with one of those 'skidder' contraptions behind a bulldozer. He had also done some commercial fishing so he knew a thing or two about hard work. He had a delightful Wife who had had a severe stroke, and Les was a very caring looker-after. The stroke had mainly affected her speech and all she could say was......'tenidernider' Now I have looked in every dictionary printed in every language and nowhere can I find 'tenidernider' Amazing!!!! Of course our kids, especially Angus picked up on this, and anyone today who is a bit 'challenged' is....tenidernider [say...te-nider-nider] Aren't kids little buggers. Les was very keen on Renaults, you know those funny foreign jobs. He had a very nice Renault 16, which I have to say went rather well, but he was always tinkering with it, imagining problems that I don't think were there, but it gave him something to do in his old age. Les is gone now too I afraid. When his wife died he moved into a little unit in Thames and died because he had nothing to keep his mind active, and he missed the great view that he had across the Firth of Thames. So, cheers to both you guys, you certainly livened up my days at the beach.
Whew, Bob, .....that was a close shave. I was begining to think that Yards and Yarns was going to end up on page 3....with you know what!! Those big cigarette lighters you saw on the sales desk were probably made by Ronsen.....they had several rather distinctive designs, one of which was fashioned after the shape of Aladdins Lamp. Talking about reposessing goods. For a bit of 'fun' I occasionally went with an aquaintance who did deliveries for the local whiteware store, gone now, and we would present ourselves at the door of some poor solo mother or what ever, to remove a fridge or washing machine that she had 'forgotten' to pay the HP on for 3 or 4 months. Well there was usually a flood of tears and a phone call to WINZ, and we would be told just to leave the item where it was and THEY would sort it out. My friend Graham who did this, fancied himself as a bit of a rally driver and the shop van would get a good workout on our pick-up sorties....no oiled up plugs on those adventures and a good run in the country to boot. He usually took someone with him if only because sometimes things turned ugly, especially if the boy-friend was at home, and we needed to beat a hasty retreat, not that I would have been very useful in a confrontation, I wasn't very brave in those situations. In fact we were told never to get into arguments with the offenders, and if necessary someone higher up in the food chain would deal with it. Stirling Moss had something rather interesting to say on the subject of bravery in racing drivers.......Bravery isn't hard to find. Skill is something else again. Drivers who only have courage don't last for long.
Thinking about the 1500 engine fitted to my Anglia started me thinking about how I got it home after purchasing it off Ron Rutherford in Chch. Rallying had just kicked off and a meeting was held in Chch to form the Canterbury Rally Panel which was to oversee the sport in the central South Island area and a car load of us went over the hill in in Rick Beirnes fathers PC Cresta to attend it. After the meeting we picked up a number of rental cars to return back to Jim Kennedy and Greymouth Motors and I drew the short straw and got stuck with a Mk2 Cortina. We all fueled up at Rons placeabout 10pm and loaded the engine into the back of the MK2 and then set off in convoy behing Rick's car as he was setting the pace to make sure that some people didn't thrash / race the rentals back to Greymouth. Unfortunately for Rick because of the fog he missed the turn off to the shortcut that bypasses Darfield but I didn't and neither did the 4 others who were following me.
Naturally I thought that Ricky was still on our road and skipping along a bit quick in the fog so thought that it was best I catch up on him and decided to press on a tad. The others followed. By the time the fog had cleared we were on the Springfield straights and 1600cc plus the weight of an engine found me slipping to the tail of the field on those long uphill drags toward Porters Pass. It was a little slippy on the white stuff the otherside down towards Lake Lyndon and I managed to get the best of a couple of them there finally taking the lead coming down the Craigiburn Cutting. If we thought that it had been on prior to then well this set a whole new standard as it was flat from there to Greymouth, ice, snow, fog, fords that were iced over, wet seal and gravel with a few rockfalls and slips thrown in for good measure it was a magic nights run accross the Island.
Next morning washed the car and dropped back off to Ricky at Greymouth Motors, told him he was an idiot for going that fast in the fog as we could not keep up with him and all was well, that is for about 2 hours until they went to refuel the Cortina as it only took about 4 gallons before fuel started pouring into the boot. A rock had punched up the bottom of the tank and a gearbox mounting lug had punched a hole the top of the tank.
My story of a slip coming down beween his car and mine lasted until the next Friday night at the Aussie.........
Mention of woodys Mustang on the 70's/80's thread brought back memory of an incident in the wrecking yard, It was around the time that a suitable means of crushing cars was being investigated nationwide & IIRC the Govt of the day was inviting suggestions & offering to subsidise anyone prepared to set up a facility. Woody got this idea in his head to use an old dragline with a suitable heavy weight to squash the cars, gotta admit that I had my doubts about the suitability of this setup long term, but he went ahead & got the thing, mounted a 'huge' swage block from a defunct engineering firm in place of the bucket & set to., Now 'we' had one guy on the payroll who wouldnt 'operate' this thing under normal daily circumstances, but was busting his gut to have a play, soo one dinnerhour he asked me to man the phone etc as 'he' had something to attend to, no problem. I finished my lunch, answered a couple of phone calls etc & as things were fairly 'quiet' went for a bit of a wander out in the yard. I could 'hear' a diesel engine working quite hard & 'something' caught my eye as it 'flashed' past a couple car bodys piled about three high, then there was a real loud crashing sound. I ran up the hill thinking there must have been a prang on the back road behind the yard but NO.
Here was my workmate in the cab, had worked out most of the controls, but had got it in the 'slew' mode & the thing was rotating anti-clockwise on its base, the swage block now out on about a 30° angle & demolishing everything in its path, plus as the swage block etc passed the cross wise position on each side it was lifting the opposite side of the base so the swage block was dipping & rising at those points, our wannabee operator was now becoming somewhat concerned & yelling out ...how....the....F***... do...you...turn...this...thing...off spread over several revolutions, he didnt really have to worry as with each revolution the swage block was taking a bigger bite of terra firmma & the whole deal eventually ground to a halt.
The second 'funny' bit was when a couple of 'suits' from the govt turned up to 'view' the operation, full of importance & complete with shiny briefcases they went up the yard to view this masterpiece, didnt stay long & said very little as they were leaving, man I would love to have had a remote microphone in their car as they headed back north, it would have been priceless
That's fantastic - had a good laugh at that.
There are not many similarities between University students and race-car fans except one perhaps.....the fondness for a pint or 3....maybe a celebration, maybe not, but never-the-less enjoyed by all participants. This yarn has as a thread running through it, a particularly popular beverage consumed in large quantities by sports fans and students alike.....beer, and in Canterbury, at the time I am writing about, 'Dominion Bitter' was King. Every year at University capping time, when degrees and diplomas are conferred at a posh ceremony, there takes place during the week before the serious stuff, a series of pranks so the students can 'let their hair down', in other words, misbehave!! Some outrageous feats have been performed over the years, although I think now OSH has stepped in and the accent seems to be only on drinking.. The people of Christchurch used to take all of this in good humour, well most of it, but occasionally things got out of hand and discipline followed. The capping 'procesh' was a big drawcard through the streets of ChCh....a bit like 'Boobs on Bikes' but definately NO nudity, and a lot of money was collected. The collectors party wound up the week where huge amounts of beer would be consumed.....no designated drivers then, the least pissed person got behind the wheel. The whole object of the week did have a serious purpose, that to raise money for a deserving charity, and in 1961 that charity was IHC, and usually a considerable sum was raised. That year our class of 20, decided to do something really spectacular, and to keep up the image of drunken louts, decided we would roll a 40 gallon barrel, wooden and empty, the 100 miles along the Great South Road, as it was then called, from Timaru to Christchurch. Someone had access to these things and we conducted a series of test to check the feasability of such a stunt, and found it was almost impossible to roll a barrel and keep it on course for 100 meters let alone 100 miles!! So we decided to cheat a little bit and fashioned a handle connected to a water-pipe axle through the barrel. This transformed the handling and we could get along at a good clip, depending on the fitness or otherwise of the pushers...always 2. The week of celebrations approached, and to keep our stunt within the law, we approached, with some trepidation, the transport dept for permission. Amazingly they were OK about it with a few conditions......no pushing during the hours of darkness; no pushing on the 7 or so bridges on that stretch of road, and a pilot vehicle 100 yards behind the pushers to alert traffic. No problem. I was lucky that I got the job of pilot vehicle driver, probably because I was useless at sport, and the other guys decided that they, the fit ones, would do the pushing. The pilot vehicle chosen was a 1928 Whippet roadster, and belonged to a fellow student Alister Hopkinson. Hoppy was a top rugby player, was in the Lincoln team and went on to represent Canterbury in the Ranfurly Shield, and eventually was a coach of the team. The old Whippet didn't seem to mind idling along all day and was great for me as I drove along in relative comfort while everyone else was busting gut shaking collection tins, and taking turns at barrel pushing. We probably had some spiritous liquor concealed in the rumble seat of the car, ready to boost flagging energy! We decided that one barrel would not make the entire journey without falling to bits so had 2 spares on the back of an Austin A40 ute just in case. In fact the first barrel made the whole distance without any bother, mainly because we were pushing on the grass verge on the side of the road. We started at Washdyke, just north of Timaru and finished at Hornby just south of ChCh, when these places were just small villages. The whole episode went remarkably, almost disappointingly smoothly, and even had some good Canterbury farmers wives keeping our spirits up with hot scones and pikelets. We split the journey into 2 days over a weekend, averaging about 6 mph, and with plenty of advertising on the Whippet and the A40, got a good reception....a bit like todays 'BASH'. I cant remember how much we collected but it was a sizable sum and the IHC benefited accordingly. So rather than being branded as useless drunken lay-abouts, our beer barrel roll came in for some praise which was a bit of a plus for us. Like a lot of things we did then, would be unlikely to happen today......probably would have to get resource consent or some other nonsense. Oh dear! Is interesting to note that the 100 miles of piloting in the Whippet stood me in good stead when 45 years later I did many 100's, indead 1000's of miles piloting for a roadside mowing contractor, upgraded a bit to a new Toyota Ute!
A little bit of History wont go astray here as that is what we are into on this forum. The Whippet car came from the Willys-Overland Co, one of the more illustrious names in the auto business. Many people have never heard of, let alone seen a Whippet car, yet at one stage in America was selling in 3rd place behind Ford and Chev. Was only made for 4 years and didn't survive the great depression of the 30's It's name of course was derived from the dog of the same name....being small and swift. Many cars have been labeled 'DOGS' but not actually named AFTER a dog!! The car was famous for...'Finger Tip Control'. This was a button on the steering wheel which, switched the lights on when turned, sounded the horn when pushed, and activated the starter when pulled.! Was a complicated switch for it's time and in the left-hand-drive versions was responsible for a few engine fires. The wiring exiting the bottom of the steering column was exposed to fuel dripping from the carburetor.....didn't happen to the RHD NZ models. The company eventually went on to share production of a much better known vehicle.....the WW2 Jeep. The Whippet roadster we had at Lincoln was one of the better and more reliable machines at the campus, and I became quite attached to it. I would borrow it from Hoppy from time to time, when he was otherwise engaged in footy practice, to do 'messages'.......pick up a 1/2 G or two from the pub when Paddy McGrail wasn't looking. [see post 86 Y & Y] Is a very rare car today, and I have in fact never seen another roadster.....wouldn't mind it today.
Said I would tell the story about the Austin A55/60 fuel tank I used in the MK2 Cortina I built up as an OSCA saloon back in the mid 70's... Was having fuel surge/lack of problems & decided that it needed a pickup on each side that would then drain down into a small common tank from which the Holley electric pump would draw from..[ Tank was mounted up between the rear wheel arch's behind back seat area...Yeh I know height-weight etc, but I didnt know as much as I do now back then].... anyway the tank had to come out to do this so was drained of fuel, blown out with compressed air at home, garden hose left running in it on the front lawn for 20 minutes, then I took it to work & stuck the steam cleaner in it for another 10/15 minutes, then filled it with water again, drained it out, blew heaps of compressed air thru it, took it into the w/shop & drilled the holes for the pipe fittings, sat it up on a couple of trestles in order to weld the two fittings into it.... light up the oxy acetylene & think to myself....perhaps I should wave the flame over the filler neck just to be really safe before I sit down & weld these fittings in........... WHOOMPH.... the tank goes up & hits the rafters in the shop [~ 6 meters ] comes back down, flattens a 2 gallon pour a can on the floor, then dissappears out the side door of the w/shop still with a flame about four feet long exiting the filler neck... I am left standing there in disbelief at what has just happened after taking all those precautions beforehand. Having gathered my thoughts I head outside expecting to find a totally useless fuel tank... but apart from a couple of kinks on the swage lines etc it appeared OK... take it back in ... light up the gas again for take two & proceed to weld the fittings in.... all done, used the hammer & dolly set to dress out the kinks etc , check it all out for any leaks & back home to fit it all back in the car...with some effort now as its not quite the same shape anymore... All good, fit up the new fuel lines etc & fill up the tank....bonus, it now holds about one more gallon
That was a long time ago & I have learnt some 'new' tricks along the way.... The safest way I now know of to 'De-Gas' a fuel tank is to simply empty it, stick a hose from the filler neck onto the tailpipe of the family car & leave it running for about 20 minutes, has worked every time I have ever had to weld a fuel tank etc since....
Speaking of blowing things up. Back in my youth I was shepherding on a station (farm not railway) out on the coast from Waipawa. A great gravel road into town. In the "good old days" you could wander into Wright Stephenson's and buy gelignite over the counter. As long as they knew you it was fine.
Anyway, anytime there was a dead cow or horse on the side of the road we would purchase a couple of plugs of gelignite, fuse, and slow burning trace. At the scene it was only a couple of minutes to cut a slit in the side of the dead animal. Making sure you were standing up wind! Insert the gelly and fuse with the slow burning trace. Light it and depart. Five minutes later there wouldn't be much left! It also worked well on "long drop" toilets. Would be great in porta loos.The locals soon worked out who was responsible and we were told that if we persisted we would probably be the next things blown up. Then there was the time we took a couple of possums in a bag to a dance at the local hall and let them go. Quickest I have ever seen a hall empty. We got blamed but they couldn't prove anything. The district must have been a lot quieter after we left.
Which reminds me of a story regarding a couple of good old mates known to some as "Double trouble" "The OB's", "H & L", "The Boys" or simply Hugh & Lloyd Owen. Some may recall that when they returned to Blenheim from the UK and their time at Brabhams that along with Gerry Hones ex Brabham works manager they build up a series of Formula Fords called the GLH in which thay had many sucesses.
Now one of these cars developed a fuel leak in the bag tank and though I did not witness it the story goes as follows.
To get the tank out they would need to undo all the rivets along the side panel as the tank was between the outer skin and the tube frame and they could not get it past the tubework, then someone had the thought that i they could collapse the bag by extracting all the air from it then they could possibly be able to slip it out without the need to remove panels so the Goblin Ace vacuum cleaner from the office was brought into service to suck all the air from the bag.
Those familiar with the workings of a Goblin Ace Vacuum cleaner will recall that the air was sucked in through the front, the dirt collected in a bag and the air exited from the rear of the cleaner after having passed through the motor. All was going well until the last few drops of fuel passed through the motor of the cleaner and at this point ignition took place and the 1st jet engine developed by the boys took off through the workshop and across the road into the Blenheim Gasworks yard where it finally expired with just a small tell tail flame and black smoke to show for the effort.
To this day any mention or sight of a Goblin Ace vacuum cleaner sends the three of us of into gales of laughter
Last edited by Carlo; 08-19-2011 at 11:32 PM.
Great story Bob. Haven't laughed so much for years. How the hell did we all grow up to be responsible adults, pillars of society, all that sort of thing? But didn't we have a lot more fun than the modern teenager who seems more involved with their cellphone than anything else?
Speaking of blowing toilets up. There were some very funny stories around the Wigram portable toilets, mostly based on truth. Maybe someone who was there could enlighten us.
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