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A place to call home: Caffeine & Gasoline

14 October, 2018

 


 

As many car enthusiasts from the upper part of the country are likely to be aware, the organizers of Caffeine & Classics, a free monthly car meet at Smales Farm Business Park in Auckland, have had to implement some changes to keep things viable. Due to the massive numbers the event was pulling, a general cut-off was introduced — cars either older than 30 years, or that are scratch-built, an obscure or exotic model, or one that wouldn’t generally be seen used as a daily driver.

But the news we’re writing about here concerns an all-new event, catering towards those vehicles that may have been displaced by these updates.

“We have made some changes to our current Caffeine & Classics meeting and it has created a lot of discussion,” explained Colin Marshall, from Protecta Insurance. “There was already a need and desire from the Caffeine & Classics faithful for another event south of Auckland City. The time is now right for another event to start at Hampton Downs.”

The event in question is the new Caffeine & Gasoline meeting, following the same formula as Caffeine & Classics — held on the morning of the last Sunday of every month, beginning 28 October.

As Colin mentioned, the location for Caffeine & Gasoline is Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, and features extra coffee and food vendors, in addition to the Hampton Downs café.

The event will be managed on the day by Hampton Downs staff, and is open from 10am to all special-interest vehicles of any origin or style. Even better, being located where it is, the track attractions are right there for anyone keen to make the most of the Sunday!

Keep an eye on facebook.com/CaffAndGas to stay up to date.

Taipan – surpassing interest

“It’s merely a passing interest,” insists Selby — despite owning three variants of the classic VW Beetle, including an unusual VW van that was sold as a body kit for a Subaru. In his defence he points to a 1961 Ford Thunderbird, a car that he converted to right-hand drive. However, on the VW side of the ledger, since he opened Allison Autos in Whanganui 27 years ago, Selby has built 15 VW-powered Formula First cars, followed by a beach buggy, restored a derelict Karmann Ghia, and hot-rodded a common or garden Beetle into something that has to be seen to be believed. As speed is not something generally associated with classic VWs, though, Selby is still waiting for this particular modification to catch on amongst the hot rod faithful.

Travelling companion

It’s easy to see why the Morris Minor Traveller was one of the best-loved variants of the Morris Minor. Introduced in 1953, it was equipped with the same independent torsion bar front suspension, drum brakes, and rack and pinion steering as its saloon sibling but, with their foldable rear seat increasing versatility, many Travellers were used as trade vehicles, says Derek Goddard. Derek and Gail Goddard, the owners of this superbly restored example, have run Morris Minors since before they were married in 1974.
“Our honeymoon vehicle was a blue Morris Minor van — it was a rust bucket,” says Derek.