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This could be good news for restoring cars and bikes – but we must be quick!

5 March, 2025

The ‘Right to repair’ bill is going before parliament and we need to have our say
By Peter Barton

The broken starter motor

Our parliament is currently considering a member’s Bill, drawn by ballot, called the ‘Right to Repair’ Bill. 
It’s due to go a Select Committee for consideration, and we can make submissions ie say what we think of it, before 3 April this year. It’s important because it will make spare parts and information for doing repairs far more readily available and this should slow the rate at which appliances, toys and so on get sent to landfill.
Here is the NZ Parliament website summary (and look especially at the second bullet point):
“The Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee is calling for public submissions on the Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill.
The bill would amend the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993. It seeks to require manufacturers to make repair parts and information available to consumers in order to extend the lifetime of products. The bill would replace the Act’s guarantee as to repair and spare parts, requiring manufacturers to:

  • reasonably ensure that facilities for repair of goods and supply of parts for the goods are reasonably available for a reasonable period after the goods are supplied
  • provide the consumer with, upon request, information, spare parts, software, and other tools used for diagnosing, maintaining, or repairing goods.

It would also:

  • provide consumers with a right of redress against manufacturers where goods fail to comply with the guarantee
  • enable consumers to request that a supplier repairs goods rather than replacing them
  • require suppliers to repair goods within a reasonable time if such a request is made by a consumer
  • repeal section 42 of the Act, which provides that repair facilities and parts do not have to be made available if the consumer is notified at the time the product is supplied.”
Undo the two long bolts, and the end of the motor can be removed
Further parts can be pulled out. The field magnet is very strong, and the armature has to be pulled out with some force. The commutator is visible, with a lot of carbon dust from the brushes which are visible to the right

I am currently rebuilding a seventy-plus year old AJS motorcycle  (see The Shed magazine issues 118 and 119), and I do not expect any help from long defunct manufacturers, but I do think that many other sheddies will be like me and also often try to repair modern household items before throwing them out or cannibalising for parts.  One issue I am currently working through now concerns the starter motor for a car which has given me great service otherwise.
I thought it had a bad battery to start with, but attempts to jump start showed the problem was the starter.  The dealer couldn’t help in a reasonable time frame (I needed the car urgently) and would have charged a ridiculous sum.
The local garage located a clone for me, at about $250, which I installed, all good.
Could I be a good citizen and give the starter back to the company, for reconditioning?  I didn’t want money.  No. I decided (curiosity) to dig into the motor (they are not complicated) to locate the problem; as I suspected, the brushes were totally worn.  At this moment, I am trying to locate replacement brushes and my chances of getting some which I can be confident will be the correct fit, and at a reasonable price are not looking good.
Overseas vendors (who I generally avoid) seem to have some, but the P&P makes the prices hilarious.
I had to repair a hot water kettle, the type that sits on a power base. A replacement base was unavailable.  I had to make a special screwdriver to open the base (I accept that electrical safety reasons can justify that), but then I found that some points had burned out, beyond being salvageable.  I could not get any replacement and had to make some. Over the years I have had similar issues with other appliances (switches on a rangehood, an oven controller, fridge thermostat, dishwasher control unit ….).
I urge you to make your views known on the bill.

The brush assembly is in the foreground. The brushes (four, silvery grey, pulled out of their holders) are worn down and badly pitted. Planetary gears in the background increase the torque to the starter gear, and act as locating bearings
A close up of the brush assembly. Brushes (out of their holders) are welded into the assembly plate

The Bill is a private member’s one, and no political party is under any obligation to support it.  Industry may oppose it or create pressure to water it down.
A couple of websites which are interesting:  search for ‘A J Park’ and also ‘Russell McVeagh’ and give the name of the Bill. The Parliamentary website gives directions on how to make a submission and provides a link so that the process is made easier.
There is very little time left before the Thursday, 3 April, which is the deadline for submissions.

Another view of the brush assembly. Not very easy to replace the brushes themselves individually as they are welded to the back plate of this whole unit

Grand Routier — in the french tradition

10 July, 2025

Sitting in Paddy and Patsy Williams’ Dunedin garage is a stunning example of one of these rare French grand routier sedans. It is a 1949 four-door Lago-Record Factory Berline sedan, to give its full name. Daughter Cath let us know how proud she was of her dad, who had been tinkering away in his garage on this car for so many years.
Without exaggeration, it has been a mammoth task. I first saw this Talbot-Lago in mid 2019. The long-nosed, sweeping, curved four-door saloon, clothed in its misty green metallic paint, was quite breathtaking. There’s more than a little English influence in it, too, harking back to company owner Tony Lago’s involvement in the Clement-Talbot-Darracq era. The long front wings and bonnet, usually multi-louvred, highlighted with artful touches of chrome bling, are typical of the era, but these were indeed luxury length. Interiors provided leather-clad, armchair-style seating and ample legroom, with touches of wood and surprising details such as dainty childproof interior locks — a far cry from today’s lozenge boxes.
Paddy, a retired civil and structural engineer, knows his way around a lathe. He has a well-equipped garage-workshop to assist in any machining tasks along with his other passion for restoring classic motorcycles.

The Great River Road

4 July, 2025

A few years ago my family, knowing my fondness for driving, gave me the book Unforgettable Road Trips: Thirty-Six Drives of a Lifetime by Martin Derrick. Most of the road trips listed take less than a day in places like Scotland, Monaco, and Australia, plus one in New Zealand. Most of these places were too far to go just for a short drive but four of them would take several days. My interest was piqued, and those four drives were added to the bucket list. To date, I have done three of them: ‘Route 66’ (USA 21 days), ‘State Highway 6’ (NZ 10 days) and ‘The Great River Road’ (USA 22 days). You can drive all of them in less time, but you could also fly over them. We wanted a decent immersion in their charms.
The great river referred to is the Mississippi. While the name conjures the deep south, the river actually starts at the bottom of the great lakes, before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico about 3800km later. The great road is more of a concept than a specific strip of tarmac, as you can drive down either side of the river on various routes. Regardless of which side you drive, time should be kept aside for detours to places such as Nashville, which is famous for something or other.