Nostalgic charm: The Very Vintage Day Out

1 October, 2018

 

It can sometimes be difficult to reconcile your hobbies with those of your partner, but the Very Vintage Day Out neatly straddles the divide with an awesome vehicle display featuring classic cars, muscle cars, and hot rods from the ’30s to the ’60s, as well as the Miss Pinup New Zealand beauty pageant, a bake-off, dressmaking competition, and the ‘Photo Safari’ — united by the appreciation of all things vintage, pinup, and rockabilly.

The event will display vehicles from a multitude of car clubs, including the American Muscle Car Club, Manukau Rod and Custom Club, Hibiscus Rodders, Trouble Bound Hot Rod Club, South Pacific Packards, and Auckland Hot Rod Club. They’re also opening the floor for other enthusiasts to display their period vehicles. If you’re keen to display yours, head to their registration page to register your vehicle for either day — each driver will receive a complimentary pass to the day’s event.

Now in its seventh year, the Very Vintage Day Out continues to cater to those passionate about pin up, tattoo art, retro fashion, and the cars that go along with it. Whether you’re just curious, or a diehard vintage aficionado — or your partner is — it promises to be a fantastic day out, with live music, a fully licenced bar, and great cars.

The Very Vintage Day Out takes place 3 and 4 November at ASB Showgrounds in Auckland. Head to veryvintage.co.nz for more info and to grab your tickets.

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.

Super Leicht Gullwing

It’s fair to say that nothing much in the classic Mercedes world gets past Mercedes-Benz Club stalwart Garry Boyce so it wasn’t surprising to learn that around 15 years ago he had sniffed out an extremely rare 300SL lightweight Gullwing as well as a 1958 300SL Roadster hiding away in the Waikato. The cars were not for sale but Garry eventually managed to persuade the owner to allow him and his restoration team to take a look at the Roadster. They discovered a very distressed but largely unmolested car. The car was so original that the body had never been off the chassis, meaning most of the parts and fittings were still present and correct, as they had been fitted by the factory.