This weekend the Grandkids came and stayed. Jayden is still a bit too small to be a Petrolhead but Oliver is full on. He really took a liking to the mobility scooter I am going to Hot Rod. It goes pretty quick for a young fella and he took to it like a duck to water. It wasn't long after this pic that he was beating up and down the footpath at full throttle. Only about 10k's an hour but surprisingly fast especially when it is no longer going in the direction you want it to......and you forget how to stop it :-)
Of course the trip wouldn't have been complete without a skid up the road in the Pop.
On Sunday Janine drove us down to a new car show at Smales Farm where there is a Columbus Cafe. The guy that heads up Protecta insurance has started a breakfast/brunch meeting there on the last Sunday of the month. Apparently it was huge last month. This month not so big with it being Easter and there were also quite a few events on in other parts of Auckland and down Country.
That said, we enjoyed it. Nice relaxed start at 10am, the coffee was good and we had brunch too. It's quite different as it is more about classics than just hot rods, so there were Porche's, Lotus, TVR's and a heap of other stuff like a mint as Mazda 808 (like a Mazda RX3 only a 4 cylinder not a Rotary) and it was completely original. Totally unmolested. Nice to see after some 38 years!
Anyway have a look at these few pics. I took these about 11 am but they were still rolling in when we left at close to 12.
This Porsche was cool. I-M-A-C-U-L-A-T-E!
This is Brian and Sandra's V Dub truck that was converted from a car sometime ago. It blew up, had no water in the engine I'm told so was fairly terminal (yeah, yeah I know they don't have water) but the expiry of the engine led to a rebuild and it was decided to convert it to a wellside. Looks good!
Not too many hot rods there, so the Pop got a bit of attention.
Here is the complex where the cafe is. Nice and modern and good coffee.
We left early as we wanted to also fit in the Scroungers Hot Rod Blowout. This is more about Nostalgia and the likes of Rat Rods. I can take or leave the Rat Rods personally but some of the engineering is cool and I definitely like seeing the old drag cars and stockcars.
It seemed a lot bigger this year to me, take a look at the pics. If you haven't been before its well worth looking in on.
This is a mates C Cab made from a Model T.
This mural is painted on the side. It was done by a guy by the name of Steve Levine. He has quite a sense of humour and will often hide things in the detail. There is a story that he painted a flame job on the bonnet of a Mazda RX& and if you looked at it from above in the right light at the right angle you could see a huge V8 logo. Maybe its an urban myth, but if its true its very funny, can you imagine the rotary guy finding out he has a V8 logo on his car? Priceless.
Anyway this is the mural on John's C Cab. Same on both sides of the car.
Anyway John got the car home after the painting was done and his daughter said to him....Dad have you had a good look at this painting?
This is what she saw in the window of the barn. Yep you can count on Steve Levine!
Here's a selection of some of the machinery that was there on the day.
I love this old truck. It runs an old V8 flathead and has the old characteristic whining diff and gearbox. Supercool!
The detail on this car was amazing. Its a Riley. You can read more about it by double clicking on the pic with the info sheet below.
Check out the wire ties that keep the front axle in position!
Cool aviation style instruments.
And what about this chain linkage in the braking set up. Wicked!
Here's the info sheet on it.
I can still remember vividly seeing stockcars like this race in Rotorua, Hamilton and Auckland as a kid.
This one raced out of Rotorua in the late 70's eral 80's. Seems like yesterday.
I'll leave you with a few more opics of some of the vehicles that were there. Until our next outing.....enjoy!
