$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:

A second dose of Dash

When the car arrived in Wellington in December 2018 it was duly taken along for entry certification. Vehicle Inspection NZ (VINZ) found some wrongly wired lamps and switches — not too bad — but, much more significantly, some poor welding repairs. As the structural problems were probed more thoroughly, we realized the previous owner’s restoration would not do and we needed an upgrade. Dash had made it into the country but it would take some time and money before he would be free to explore any of New Zealand’s scenic highways.
We took the car to our new home in Johnsonville in the northern suburbs of Wellington and I pored over the car in detail to figure out what was next. There were lots of new parts on the car and a very perky reconditioned drivetrain but the chassis needed serious work.

Lunch with… Jim Palmer

In the 1960s, Hamilton’s Jim Palmer won the prestigious ‘Gold Star’ four times and was the first resident New Zealander home in the New Zealand Grand Prix on five consecutive occasions. He shared the podium with Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, Jackie Stewart, and Chris Amon. The extent of his domination of the open-wheeler scene in New Zealand will probably never be matched or exceeded. Yet he’s always been modest about his achievements.