$100K and seven years on, Stragglers back for more

17 November, 2014

 

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Stragglers Cambridge Charity Car Show
Sunday, November 23, 2014
10am–3pm
Lake Karapiro Domain, Cambridge

The annual Stragglers Cambridge Charity Car Show always delivers, fronting up with hundreds of superbly presented vehicles, picturesque surroundings, and an awesome atmosphere. Best of all, over the last seven years, the Stragglers have raised well over $100K for their selected Waikato charities (charities which must be Waikato-based and benefit children in need).

Last year the event almost didn’t happen due to trees falling at the show’s previous site of Lake Te Koutu, creating an unsafe environment for the public. The council was left with no choice but to close the area and the show had to find a new home. But the organizers were adamant that the show must go on, and on it went to the new site of Lake Karapiro. Beating the old site hands down, the show returns to the same spot this year and the Stragglers can continue to raise money for kids in need in the Waikato vicinity.

It’s hard to come by an event of this scale that delivers all that the Cambridge Charity Car Show does, as well as the charity underlying the whole event. This year’s show will be held at Cambridge’s Lake Karapiro Domain on Saturday, November 22 from 10am–3pm, and looks set to deliver everything we’ve come to expect from the event. If you’re around, or are keen for something different, set this Saturday aside and head along. Entry’s only a gold coin donation as well — a cheap Saturday outing.

Check out some of the photos from last year’s stunning event captured by Kevin Shaw:

Put a ring around that

Provenance is a valuable part of a classic car and DKW/Auto Union collectors Brendan and Bobbette Odell have a detailed documented history of a special car in their growing collection of these little two-stroke wonders.
Brendan’s hometown of Pretoria enjoyed more than its fair share of the marque, where their reliability and performance made them popular..
“There used to be a joke going round in South Africa that there were more DKWs in Pretoria per square mile than anywhere else in the world,” Says Brendan.
The Odells redressed that balance a little when they shifted to New Zealand as they brought some of the cars with them.
One of their DKWs also accompanied them to Tonga. Brendan’s green 1959 Auto Union 1000 two-door went with them from South Africa to Tonga from 2010 to 2013 where he worked for the local airline. It then travelled on with them to New Zealand. It is one of just 10 right-hand drive cars of the two-door basic model remaining worldwide.

Stag roars again

The Triumph Stag pictured here has been lovingly restored from what was once, in the owner’s words, “a horrible, terrible job”. Owners Glynn and Alison Gaston hail from Dunedin and along with their grandchildren now enjoy cruising in the Stag after a three-and-a-half-year restoration.
In 2011, Glynn was looking for a classic car to restore. After 21 years with Air New Zealand he was working as a Super Shuttle driver, with four days on and four days off, which gave him the time to take on such a project — something he had always wanted to do.
“I’d looked at quite a few cars over the years. The idea was to restore a car as something to keep me going. I had looked at different MGs and I would have quite liked an Austin Healey or something similar but they were really expensive.
“Then I saw a Stag and I thought, Ah, this is nice. This is what I would like.