Spotted Laurel wrote:A good read, look forward to more.
Barrett wrote:Agreed, this is a blinding thread and I'm really looking forward to the rest of it. I know what you mean about Mustangs, I got the same way pretty quickly in California. It was nice seeing how many of them seemed to be in the hands of their original owners though, there's something great about seeing a 70 year old lady piloting a huge Detroit relic like that around the streets of San Francisco...
I bet seeing original owners of Mustangs would really add to the appeal Barrett but honestly, you've seen one Mustang with modern wheels, you've seen 100. That's not to say I wouldn't want one at the right price but only if it wore a set of dustbin lid trims.
MARCHSeems this was another busy month. The ball started rolling early on, with the official ending of my 20s. In order to counteract this and in some form of youth re-living mid-life crisis (early, I hope), I bought a 205 GTI on the same day:
Technically it's Mrs_wagon's but in all honesty, we do share it when it's not carting her to and from work, so the statement's sort of accurate, if you also brush over the fact that prior to this the 'sportiest' car I owned was a 5 door AX GT. Perhaps this was how I should have spent the motoring years of my twenties, rather than mediocre Fords and a Saab 9000 at age 25. Anyway, it's a 1.9 version, originally bought new in Japan. As mentioned before, it has a Martini badge on the NSF wing which I can't associate with any limited edition models etc. but I've noticed that most other Japanese spec 205s have indicator repeaters at the front of the wings instead of the usual place, so perhaps these aren't the original ones anyway.
It's obviously rather sun bleached but I suppose it means we don't have to worry about any further deterioration to the paintwork. Plus I'm still looking for some rust! Underneath, a pretty major oil leak from one of the cam belt followers had unwittingly managed to preserve most moving parts, so this was rectified when the belt was changed as a precaution. Now it just leaks a little, rather than a lot....
Shortly after, I offered to help drive a truck returning some lighting equipment to Wellington, for use on the Hobbit film. Since it was going from Taupo, it wouldn't have been possible to make it there and back in a day using only one driver, so I volunteered to do the return leg. This meant that for the journey south, I'd have the opportunity to snap anything of interest, having remembered to actually bring my camera along with me. Sadly, it wasn't as fruitful as hoped, though here's some highlights:
The Desert Road section of Highway 1. One of the few roads in the North Island which get shut due to bad weather. This obviously wasn't one of them.
Nothing special here, just an example of what many trucks (not lorries) look like over here. A strange mix of American, Japanese and European, though none of them sound like UK lorries.
I'd inadvertently taken an iconic shot (zoomed in) of the journey along Highway 1, as I've since seen a few postcards and even some painted placemats of this very Bedford. Bet none of them had a bonus Ford Falcon in the background though, in the exact low spec/colour I'd like.
A quick stop-off at a garage to check wheel bolt torque (don't ask why) netted this fastback Rover 800. Is the 'e' model the one with the unique carb engine, or whatever?
Despite being in a residential area I still wasn't quick enough to capture the whole (horror) of this Bedford house bus. Surely a 3-axle version is a bit of overkill for a mobile home?
Images from the return leg now, all taken in Waiouru during a stop for an ice cream. It's a military town in the middle of nowhere and pretty depressing, even compared to the place we were living at the time, which is saying something. Here's a shot of the inviting tavern and visiting scat (taken through the windscreen because I was lazy):
New Zealand's highest mountain, Ruapehu is in the distance. Nice but not as interesting as the Fiat Tipo in the foreground and the Peugeot 405 parked behind it (both still quite common here):
Garage just a former
shell of itself.... Funnily enough, these are now in the process of being rebranded to the name 'Z', so I unwittingly shot a little bit of history.
This Kenworth was being employed to remove said piece of history. Early 80s judging by the number plate. Incidentally, there's far less paperwork involved in recording driving hours etc. for heavy vehicles in New Zealand, which is refreshing after a working to UK regs.
A week or so later, I was up in Auckland again visiting more work contacts. The previous time (when sans camera), I'd managed to park next to an incredibly early (1974) Golf, which had been advertised on Trademe just prior to us moving over. Had it not been at the very bottom of the South Island, I'd no doubt have bought it to send back to the UK for a big fat profit but sadly it wasn't to be. Someone else had obviously taken a fancy to it and I was shocked to see it in the metal, 1300km+ from it's previous home! Incredibly though, it sort of happened again:
Despite ticking none of the boxes when looking for our first car on Trademe, this Audi 100 had been tempting me from afar for quite some time, as it seemingly took an age to shift, the price dropping each time it was re-advertised. With such a piss-poor stereo in the Commodore, I'd find myself passing away the time behind the wheel pondering all sorts and spookily had been musing about this exact car on the journey up. Taking this shot actually meant I was a couple of minutes late for an appointment but I thought it was worth it. Sadly, I've never seen it parked on this roadside since.
Stopping at a Pak'n'Save (think ASDA if it were run by Aldi) for a Hirst-style reduced price items lunch, I was awarded the sight of this tidy if relatively lame spec 2.0 Automatic Capri MK III Ghia (with bonus FWD model Holden Gemini in background).
I'm pretty sure that the MK III wasn't sold new in NZ, so this is probably another UK ex-pat import.
Speaking of the UK, my parents arrived from there for a visit late on in the month, bearing gifts of a cam belt kit for the 205 and a 12kg Halfords Professional 200 piece socket set, bought to replace the one which went 'missing' from our shipment of belongings. My dad had turned 65 since we'd last seen him, so we'd all clubbed in to get him some time in a glider, something he used to do before a wife and kids came along. As a pre-event treat though, I took him to see an interesting place I'd seen locally, specialising in old Mercedes:
Confusing. Next to it was a Ponton model, one of many:
Then on to the gliding, which was a great success. Here's the 'flight centre' and tow plane:
I think after all this 'action', April will be a bit of a let down!