Get your trek on: 2017 Trillian Trek, day one

19 March, 2017

 

When you are traveling the country as part of New Zealand’s premier charity rally — Trillian Trek, a non-competitive charity car rally throughout New Zealand to spread as many smiles as we can and raise lots of money for Kiwi Kids in need — in a parade of classic cars and fire engines themed up to maximum attention-grabbing effect, it takes something pretty special to warrant a second glance. 

For the 100-odd fundraising stalwarts who, this week, have headed off from Matamata on the 2017 Trillian Trek (formerly the Variety Bash and in its 27th year) that head-turner came in the form of a sweet 1925 Chrysler in Tweety-Bird yellow. 

The old girl has come a long way since Dale ‘Daego’ Gerrand took delivery of a “trailer-load of rubbish” a few years ago. Fast forward to today and ‘HOT 25’ looks sweet and sounds sweeter thanks to a 283 small block Chevy motor, a Turbo 350 auto transmission and front and rear suspension courtesy of Jaguar. 

It’s a far cry from the wheels Daego has been driving in the rally for the past 20 years — an old J3 Bedford school bus! This year he couldn’t make the whole run but made sure that he and some mates from Stragglers Hot Rods at least got in a half-day and it has to be said that the ‘Trekkers’ and the spectators along the route were pretty pleased about the extra eye candy! 

A quick look at what the rest of the day served up; Matamata Mayor Jan Barnes waved her mayoral chains in lieu of a starting pistol — it was a residential street after all — and handed over the first set of pacenotes. Not content with the usual water fight between fire trucks, there was the aftermath of a foam fight and yes, that is a dude making foam ‘angels’ in the middle of the road. The awesome support crew from the RNZAF got up close and personal with the first breakdown of the event, and a couple of shady looking characters tried to pinch a massive cheque attached to a van that has been granted to partner charity, New Zealand Blue Light. 

The van will be used for a new Blue Light initiative aimed at delivering life skills and employability qualifications to troubled teens.

And last but by no means least, parallel parkers extraordinaire — the Fish Pot Café team, sponsored by Marsh Insurance, in surely one of the most unique vehicles on the road in New Zealand, an 18-litre 1960 Seagrave Los Angeles Fire Department ladder truck, which  negotiated its 17 metres under an awning and between two uprights at South Auckland Motors. This beast has done all 27 events and most of its crew have too!

No one’s 100 per cent sure what the rest of the week has in store for the Trek — no doubt grants, giggles, tears and tantrums, and that’s probably all before breakfast! 

Official route of the 2017 Trillian Trek:
19th March Day 1 — Matamata to Orewa
20th March Day 2 — Orewa to Dargaville
21st March Day 3 — Dargaville to Omapere
22nd March Day 4 — Omapere to Taipa/Coopers Beach
23rd March Day 5 — Taipa to Taipa
24th March Day 6 — Taipa to Russell
25th March Day 7 —  Russell to Whangarei

For more information about this event, or how you can support Kiwi kids by donating, head to trekevents.co.nz or visit the Trillian Trek Facebook page

1975 Suzuki RE5

Suzuki had high hopes for its RE5 Wankel-engined bike launched in 1975. It had started looking at the Wankel engine in the mid-60s and bought the licence to the concept in 1970.
Apparently all of the big four Japanese makers experimented with the design, Yamaha even showing a rotary-engined bike at a motor show in 1972. But Suzuki was the only one of the big four to go into production. Like many others at the time, Suzuki believed that the light, compact, free-revving Wankel design would consign piston engines — with their complex, multiple, whirring valves and pistons, which (can you believe it?) had to reverse direction all the time — to history.

Westside story

For the young Dave Blyth, the Sandman was always the coolest car and he finally got one when he was 50. “I have always had a rule. When you turn 50, you buy or can afford to buy the car you lusted after when you were 20. I was 20 in 1979 and the HZ Sandman came out in 1978. It was the coolest of the cool — I just wanted one,” he says. “Back then a Sandman cost $4500 new and a house was worth about $20,000. I made about $30 a week so it was an impossible dream then.”
Dave was heavily influenced by the panel van culture of the time. “I started with an Escort panel van and upgraded to a Holden HD panel van with a 186ci six cylinder. I started a van club, Avon City Vans.