The Handbag

I sometimes forget that I've been blogging since 2007 but that many of my readers have not followed the Blog for anything like that amount of time.  So some of the historic posts will have been forgotten by some (including me!) and never seen by others.  Adrian asked if it was my car in the penultimate post.

Before I went to New Zealand in 2006 I decided that I had to have a car.  For years I (like many men as they grow older) had hankered after a rag-top. I'd had one as a youngster but this was my second chance. I decided on a Mazda MX5: fun, seriously good to drive, superb quality and not too expensive to run. As luck would have it I managed to find exactly what I wanted before I went out. It was in Auckland - a 'new' car. In New Zealand many cars are considered 'new' if they come in from Japan when they are 5 years old. Japan's motoring laws make it very expensive to keep a car after it's fifth birthday. The Company delivered it to Napier for me.

Wendy was to pick me up from the Airport. I was foolish enough to mention that I had two cases and that the MX5 wouldn't be big enough. Wendy's response was that the MX5 wasn't big enough to hold her handbag. From that moment forth the car has been known as The Handbag. Napier's climate is such that it is the ideal car for one person most of the time. When I am transporting the children I swap The Handbag for one of the Geddes people carriers. It goes without saying that a young blond looks a darn site better driving an MX5 than an old baldie. But wotthehellarchiewotthehell.

In actual fact the MX% is also an antidote to the staid long-distance touring car I drive in the UK which is affectionately known as The Nighthawk because it is Nighthawk Black or by one neighbour as The Hearse because it has black security glass in the rear windows.

One For The Archduchess

Where are you?  It’s been a long time.  Some of your Blogland friends will be concerned.  I know.  It’s a busy time but….  We are hoping you are OK.  In the meantime when I saw this Citroen Big 15 11C at the Art Deco Weekend Parade I thought of you. So, if you are in Blogland, I hope this reminds you of La Belle France.

Morris Eight Tourer

I just love this little car although putting the hood up would be a fairly major operation I imagine.

Morgan Three-Wheeler Cars

When I was a small child a green Morgan Three-Wheeler Sports car used to live somewhere near us and occasionally appear in our road. I've always had a soft spot for them ever since. These were in Napier at Art Deco Weekend. I believe the aluminium vehicle to be a 1934 Morgan Super Sports. Although I am less sure I think that the red one is a 1939 Morgan Super Sports JAP 2-Seater Sports Barrelback 1939.

Registration Plates

In this country you can have any available registration plate with up to eight alphanumerics. There are lots of interesting plates around but some are more interesting than others. These are a few of the ones that I have been able to photograph round Napier.

Studebaker

The British Car Museum

Frank wanted to go and see The British Car Museum near Napier. I've passed it but never been in before. It has a collection of over 300 British cars and trucks with over 30 Morris Minors alone. There is also an extensive array of car badges, number plates and petrol pumps, petrol tins, road signs, AA car badges - in fact, anything you associate with the history of the automobile - even car and aeroplane models and the odd toy automobile!

Ian also has a rare collection of pianola and the associated music drums.

All in all a very interesting place full of cars with memories. Unfortunately they are just stored willy-nilly (origin of that one ?) and in a variety of conditions from pristine to virtually scrap.

However it was a wonderful walk down memory lane for me.

One for Ron - I think it's the same as the one his Dad had.

A Singer Vogue - my second car bought from George Hobson 6179 ED - why can't I remember my current cars' registration numbers. Mine was two-tone red and cream

One for Mo. Her's was red.

I learned to drive on a Standard Vanguard Mk II. It was Dad's Brother-in-Law Mac's.
It was black.

My first car was a Standard Ensign. They came in three colours sh*t brown, sh*t grey and sh*t green. Mine was the latter. WNE 193. The Museum didn't have an Ensign but it did have two Vanguard MkIIIs. This was the 6 cylinder version of the Ensign. By coincidence CJ did a posting on his Blogs Memories are Made of This on my Ensign today.

British Car Museum

Frank wanted to see the British Car Museum. It was interesting and I'll do a posting soon with some photos. Today I thought I'd post the notice at the entrance which I thought was quite amusing:

Especially for Pat

Pat's perfect parked pink Packard - well actually it's a Ford Thunderbird but that doesn't go with the rest of the sentence.

The Journey Home: How Driving Should Be

I drove home from Taupo - 150 k drive usually taking about two and a half hours - along SH5 which is the principal road from this area towards Auckland. Like all roads outside the main cities it is a single carriageway with one lane in either direction. On steep hills there are passing lanes at intervals. They can occasionally be frustrating when someone decides to potter along at 60 kph for kilometre after kilometre. The highest speed allowed on any road is 100 kph. The majority of New Zealand's road system winds round, through or over one geological feature or another ie they are rarely straight for very long. The road out of Taupo does, however, have a few straight stretches until it reaches The Ranges. The photos show the road before the Ranges. After that taking photos was not so easy!

It is, on the whole, an absolutely wonderful road for a sports car like the MX5 where grip and handling are more of an element than power (the Nighthawk is far more powerful and can accelerate much faster).

When I returned on Thursday in the late afternoon I had expected a lot of traffic - it is the middle of the holiday period. The road was deserted. I travelled the whole distance and only encountered a couple of vehicles going in my direction.

It was the hottest day so far so I had the hood down the whole way and didn't even need to wear a bodywarmer.

I stopped twice to take photos and the whole journey took just less than two hours and I didn't break the speed limit at all.

In fact the journey can be summarised as being the very essence of what owning a small open-topped sports car is all about. Wonderfully exhilarating.

State Highway 5: Leaving Taupo

Taupo is now 30 k behind me

Gosh! There's a station (farm) ahead

One of the four watering holes between Taupo and Napier

- all but one of which are within 40 k of Taupo

The Ranges in sight

Getting Around

Before I went to New Zealand in 2006 I decided that I had to have a car. For years I (like many men as they grow older) had hankered after a rag-top. I'd had one as a youngster but this was my second chance. I decided on a Mazda MX5: fun, seriously good to drive, superb quality and not too expensive to run. As luck would have it I managed to find exactly what I wanted before I went out. It was in Auckland - a 'new' car. In New Zealand many cars are considered 'new' if they come in from Japan when they are 5 years old. Japan's motoring laws make it very expensive to keep a car after it's fifth birthday. The Company delivered it to Napier for me.

Wendy was to pick me up from the Airport. I was foolish enough to mention that I had two cases and that the MX5 wouldn't be big enough. Wendy's response was that the MX5 wasn't big enough to hold her handbag. From that moment forth the car has been known as The Handbag. Napier's climate is such that it is the ideal car for one person most of the time. When I am transporting the children I swap the Handbag for one of the Geddes people carriers. It goes without saying that a young blond looks a darn site better driving an MX5 than an old baldie. But wotthehellarchie.

Last year I was living on the outskirts of the centre of Napier and decided that a bike would be ideal to help me keep fit and enable me to get into the centre easily without using the car. So I bought a bike. And what fun that turned out to be. My favourite route into town was via the seafront cycle path. I could cycle 20 kilometres a day and still fit in all my other activities.

The Handbag and the bike await my return.