Vintage treasures on the side of the motorway

24 November, 2014

If vintage cars are your thing, then the North Shore Vintage Car Club’s annual swap meet was the place to be on Sunday, November 23. Held at the club’s impressive facility just off the motorway in Albany, Auckland, the event saw a great mix of machinery from days gone by.

The North Shore Vintage Car Club’s facility is located just off the motorway near Albany

Despite what seemed to be a lack of real promotion and various date clashes, a great number of vehicles — old and older — turned out, with the large grassed area out the front of the clubrooms serving double duty as both a show area and home to various swap sites.

Unlike most swap meets where you’ve got to be there before the sun is up to nab a bargain, there were still some great deals around towards the early afternoon, even though the event had started to wind down. From old books, to rare parts, to the bizarre and a little odd, there was a bit of everything on display — minus the household knick-knacks and preserves that seem to clutter most swap meets these days.

Plenty of old and rare car parts were up for grabs at the swap meet

As you’d expect, it was the vintage vehicles that took pride of place, however a great mix of hot rods, classic cruisers, and muscle cars were also present along with a few more modern classics. With the cars come the people, and as you can imagine, there was an interesting mix of young and old.

With a great location, plenty of interesting cars on display, as well as the ever-impressive NSVCC spare parts shed open for viewing, the event made for a relaxed, family-friendly day that everyone could enjoy. We know we’d happily head back along next year for another look, and suggest you do too.   

To finish first, first, you must build a winner

Can-Am royalty
Only three M20s were built, including the car that was destroyed at Road Atlanta. This car was later rebuilt. All three cars were sold at the end of the 1972 season. One of the cars would score another Can-Am victory in 1974, driven by a privateer, but the M20’s day was done. Can-Am racing faded away at the end of that season and was replaced by Formula 5000.
These days the cars are valued in the millions. It was unlikely that I would ever have seen one in the flesh if it hadn’t been that one day my editor asked me if I would mind popping over to Taranaki and having a look at a pretty McLaren M20 that somebody had built in their shed.
That is how I came to be standing by the car owned and built by truck driver Leon Macdonald.

Lunch with … Roly Levis

Lunching was not allowed during Covid 19 Lockdowns so our correspondent recalled a lunch he had with legendary New Zealand racing driver Rollo Athol Levis shortly before he died on 1 October 2013 at the age of 88. Michael Clark caught up with Roly and members of his family over vegetable soup