Rover Car Club

Of Otago Tribune August 2011

2011

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF

THE ROVER CAR CLUB OF OTAGO

Web Site: www.trccoo.freeservers.com

Club Contacts 2010 / 2011

Club President Norman Sparrow 20 Milburn St Dunedin 9012 Ph 03 487 6275 E-mail norspar@clear.net.nz

Secretary / Treasurer Alastair McInnes 28 Cranston Street

Andersons Bay Dunedin 9013 Ph 03 454 5358 E-mail asmcinnes@xtra.co.nz

Newsletter Editor Ray Pilley 5 Walnut Place Mosgiel Dunedin 9024 Ph 03 489 0033

E-mail rover110@windowslive.com

Committee Walton Brown (Technical Officer) Position vacant (Southland Rep.) Joe Smith (South Otago Rep) Diana Kearns (Librarian)

The Otago Rover Tribune is published by the Rover Car Club of Otago.

The views or opinions expressed by individuals are not necessarily those of the Club or Editor.

Club Postal Address Post Box 2075 Dunedin 9044

Web: www.trccoo.freeservers.com

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Rover Car Club of Otago.

Suggested & Organised Events 2011 / 2012

September 11 Wednesday the 7th of September. Monthly meeting University Staff Club

October 11 Saturday the 1st of October. Dunedin Auto-Spectacular, Edgar Centre.

Saturday the 1st of October. RCCOO AGM and dinner, 6.30pm at the Mosgiel Station Café & Function Centre, 22 Gladstone Rd, Mosgiel.

Wednesday the 5th of October. Monthly meeting University Staff Club. Friday the 7th & Saturday the 8th of October

Swop meet & display, Cutler Park, McLeans Island, Christchurch

November 11 Wednesday the 2nd of November. Monthly meeting University Staff Club

Saturday the 5th of November - Sunday the 6th of November. Nove Rove to Alexandra. Details on pages 8 & 9 of this newsletter.

December 11

Wednesday the 7th of December. Monthly meeting University Staff Club

January 12 No monthly meeting

February 12

Wednesday the 1st of February. Monthly meeting University Staff Club

March 12 Wednesday the 7th of March. Monthly meeting University Staff Club

Dunedin Best Of British Car Rally. Details to be advised.

April 12 Wednesday the 4th of April. Monthly meeting University Staff Club

Friday April the 6th - Monday April the 9th. ARCC National Rally, Ashburton

Monthly meetings 1st Wednesday each month.

University Staff Club 7.00pm.

Drinks & Natter

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The First Rover in Otago

In 1895, Frederick Cooke and Edward Howlison founded Cooke Howlison and Co. and set up business in Great King St, Dunedin. They imported BSA parts and made their own brand of bicycle.

They went on to manufacture Record motorcycles in 1903 and in 1906, imported their first car. In 1995 they were appointed a Rover franchise.

The single cylinder Rover pictured below was the first car sold from the first shipment of Rovers by Cooke Howlison and Co from their Hanover St. Dunedin prem-ises.

It was bought by Dr Robert Fulton, who travelled 2000 miles in three months in all weathers on Otago roads in 1906.

This car went on to win the “Steering and Balancing” competition at Tahuna Park, Dunedin, where the Otago A & P Society held its summer show.

Mr. F Cooke (driver) and Mr. E Howlison ride in the first Rover to be sold in Otago.

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From The Editor…

Bumper Sticker Suggestion Of The Month

McLeans Island Swop Meet & Display.

Cutler Park, McLeans Island, Christchurch. 7th and 8th October 2011.

This event was previously planned for the following weekend of 14 -16th but due to

the Rugby World Cup the dates were changed.

This is only a two day event (NO SUNDAY).

Friday is a public day with a $10.00 entry. VCC membership means it will only cost

$5.00.

Saturday is $5.00 for all adults.

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The Dumb Mechanic

When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it.

We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver's side door.

As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discov-ered that it was unlocked.

"Hey," I announced to the technician, "It's open!"

To which he replied, "I know - I already got that side.' —————————————————————————————————————--

Never miss a good chance to shut up

If you currently receive your copy of this newsletter by post and you would prefer to receive it by email, please let me know. It will save on postage, address labels, ink and trees! Ray P

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ROVER CAR CLUB of OTAGO

MINUTES of meeting of members, held in the University Staff Club, 7pm Wednesday 3rd August 2011.

PRESENT Walton Brown, Ian & Eleanore Clark, Bernie Halford, Diana Kearns, Alastair McInnes, John Moore, Peter Petchey, Ray Pilley, John Rutherford. Neil Shearer, Jeff Sparrow, Norman Sparrow, Mel Tapp. APOLOGIES Ross Allan, Joe & Glenice Smith. CORRESPONDENCE

Club newsletters received from Canterbury, Waikato,.

MEMBERSHIP

New members - Peter Gnys Invercargill (1964 Rover 110), John Reynolds Winton,(1972 Rover P6) Resignations - Lloyd Meikle Dunedin: Wilfred Millar, Alexandra. Brian Foley, Dunedin

SUBSCRIPTIONS subs outstanding 18 Pay to Westpac Bank Moray Place Branch a/c 030905 0035654 00 and include full name and membership number TRIPS & OUTINGS Dunedin Auto spectacular note new date 1st October Club AGM 1st October Mosgiel Station Restaurant 6.30pm Nove-Rove 5/6 th November 2011, depart 9am Mosgiel Railway Station for Ranfurly, Oturehua. Lunch Oturehua Hotel. Visit Hayes Engineering Museum. Proceed to Alexan-dra accommodation Centennial Court Motel. Evening meal and get together close by. Sunday - visit places of interest, proceed south., lunch stop, and home .Accommodation should be booked before 11th September to obtain discount

GENERAL BUSINESS

Club Lapel Badges Bernie advised that 200 badges would cost $2.70 each ie $540 Bernie proposed that the badges be purchased WB/ASM Agreed ARCC Rally 2012 April 6/9 “Hotel Ashburton” accommodation should be arranged promptly, and Rally Registration fee $65 paid.

Club Tee-shirts Burgundy with white stripe (4 sizes) $30 each Woven Badges (red or black background) $10 each.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 1st October 2011 Club Officers Nominations are required for the following positions President Secretary/Treasurer Notice of meeting and nomination forms will be included with the August newsletter

The meeting closed at 9.00.pm. NEXT MEETING Wednesday 7th September 2011

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How To Change Your Oil Women:

Pull up to Jiffy Lube when the mileage reaches 3000 since the last oil change. Drink a cup of coffee. 15 minutes later, write a cheque and leave with a properly maintained vehicle.

Men:

Go to O'Reilly auto parts and write a cheque for $50 for oil, filter, oil lift (kitty litter), hand cleaner and scented tree. Discover that the used oil container is full. Instead of taking it back to O'Reilly to recy-cle, dump in hole in back yard. Open a beer and drink it. Jack car up. Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands. Find jack stands under kid's pedal car. In frustration, open another beer and drink it. Place drain pan under engine. Look for 9/16 box end wrench, give up and use crescent wrench. Unscrew drain plug. Drop drain plug in pan of hot oil; get hot oil on you in process, then have to clean it up. Have another beer while oil is draining. Look for oil filter wrench. Give up; poke oil filter with Phillips screwdriver and twist it off. Beer. Buddy shows up; finish case of beer with him. Finish oil change tomorrow. Next day, drag pan full of old oil out from underneath car. Throw oil lift (kitty litter) on oil spilled during previous step. Beer. No, drank it all yesterday. Walk to 7-11; buy beer. Install new oil filter making sure to apply thin coat of clean oil to gasket first. Dump first quart of fresh oil into engine, remember drain plug. Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan. Hurry to replace drain plug before the whole quart of fresh oil drains onto floor. Slip with wrench and bang knuckles on frame. Bang head on floor board in reaction, begin cussing fit, throw wrench. Cuss for additional 10 minutes because wrench hit Miss December 1992 in the left boob. Clean up; apply Band-Aid to knuckle. Beer. Beer. Dump in additional 4 quarts of oil. Beer. Lower car from jack stands, accidentally crush one of the jack stands. Move car back to apply more oil lift (kitty litter) to fresh oil spilled while pouring in fresh oil. Drive car.

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Ignition August 2011.

Once again we are in Nelson, but its sunny and cold, whereas Dunedin is snowed in with the wintery blast affecting us all. No Rovers providing transport this trip. From this months Club meeting, reminders to book for the Nove Rove, registra-tion fee to Bernie and your accommodation booked if required. With regard to the Nove Rove, the Halfords once again will have put together a most enjoyable, affordable, relaxing and interesting weekend for us all. With our AGM coming up in October, this months Tribune will have the nomina-tion doc’s enclosed for you all. Both Alastair and myself are not standing again as we feel that the time is right for some new blood at the helm. This will allow a transition for the Officers with our next ARCC Rally a couple of years away, maybe! The usual AGM will be at The Mosgiel Station Restaurant ( Blackies) after the Auto-spectacular at the Edgar Stadium on Saturday 1st October. This time I hope to catch up with the Nelson Roverites while here as well as the usual trip to Blenheim and across to the West Coast later this month. One of the rellies is working on reconditioning a Rover 3500 for his stock car. I’ve inspected some of the dismantled motor in the back of his SUV and will be visiting his garage later this week. So far it has been very interesting and educa-tional plus I might just learn something. That’s enough from me ‘til we are back in Dunedin for the September “Ignition” and my P6B hopefully on the road again.

Enjoyable and Safe Motoring.

Norman Sparrow. President.

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I tell you, women drivers are a hazard to traffic! Driving to work this morning on the freeway, I looked over to my left and there was a woman in a red Mustang doing 85 miles per hour with her face up next to her rear view mirror putting on her eyeliner! I looked away for a couple seconds and when I looked back she was halfway over in my lane. It scared me so bad I dropped my electric shaver in my coffee, and it spilled all over my cell phone!

The oversized front wheel on this Rover bicycle is indicative of a Penny Farthing but has a lower seat to make it easier for riders to mount and dismount. The “safety frame” of this design was patented by the Rover Bicycle Company and has the rear wheel driven by a chain which was to become common place on bicy-cles.

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This is a sketch from 1957 of a P6 concept design. You can already see the shape of the roof line and rear wing that was used once production started six years later, in 1963.

Hugh Cecil Lowther KG, GCVO 1857 - 1944

Lord Lowther, the 5th Earl of Lonsdale was an English nobleman, bon vivant and avid sportsman. He donated the original Lonsdale Belts for boxing and was a Club Director of the Arsenal Football Club, and briefly, in 1936, its chairman.

He was known as the Yellow Earl for his penchant for the colour and was a founder and first president of the Automobile Association (founded 1905), which adopted his livery. ——————————————————————————————————-

Best of British Badges Steve McNulty from Classic Jaguar Limousines has informed us that there are still a few 25th anniversary Best of British car badges available for sale.

Contact Steve on (03) 488 5961 or jaguars@ihug.co.nz

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Worlds Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl “will you marry me?”

The girl said “no!”

And the guy lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles and went fishing and hunt-ing and played golf and drank beer and scotch and left the toilet seat up and farted when ever he wanted.

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1962 Rover Talago P6 Prototype

This is believed to be the only surviving factory prototype of the Rover P6. The number plate is 16DYF reflecting its chassis number and it is the last of 16 hand built prototypes

produced between February1959 and August 1962.

The car went up for auction on June 23rd 2010 at Brightwells Classic Car & Bike Auc-

tion in Leominster.

It was first registered in 1962, and was originally LHD but was converted to RHD which is one of many changes that were made to it during its development. It was used as the

test car for the Buick V8, wire wheel testing and cabin noise reduction development.

It runs a 3rd development engine with a manual transmission that includes stronger 1st and 2nd gears used for repeated acceleration testing. One of the two spare gearboxes that were selling with the car included one with very tall bottom two ratios which would en-

able the car to reach 70 MPH in first.

It travelled over 150,000 miles during vibration, harshness and high speed testing and two years after Rover had retired it, the car was sold to Rover Engineering Director Richard Fishwick. He eventually sold the car in 2001 to the person, who after much research,

completely restored it to factory prototype specifications at a cost of £65,000.

At the time of the auction it had only been driven 50 miles since restoration..

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NOVE ROVE 2011

5th & 6th November

Meet out side Mosgiel Railway Station, Gladstone Rd.

Departing 9am. First stop will be Ranfurly @ approx 10.30am. Ladies might like a little look in the Antique shop. Leave Ranfurly @ approx 11am.

(I suggest Central members meet us at either Ranfurly or Oturehua)

Arrive Oturehua about 20minutes later to look over the General Store museum. Then we will cross the road for a set lunch at the Oturehua railway Hotel. This is a Venison pie, salad and chips @ $12 per head. 1pm we are to visit the Hayes engineering museum 1km out side Oturehua. The museum is going to be in operation for us to see things running, plus a tour of the old homestead. All this for $12 per head. (12 must be the lucky round here) Then on up to Alexandra to stay the night at Centennial Court Motel. If time allows we may visit the Alexandra museum. Evening meal and get together is with in walking distance of Motels. Sunday morning we will be visiting 1 or 2 places of interest round Alexandra, then heading off home, lunch maybe in Roxburgh. I require a registration fee of $12 per person (Hayes museum fee) to be sent to

B&S Halford, 1 Orr Street, Concord, Dunedin 9018.

bshalford@xtra.co.nz 03 4876 870 Please notify me if you don’t require the set meal at Oturehua.

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NOVE ROVE ACCOMMODATION

Centennial Court Motel

Book your own accommodation; I have 7 Studio and 5 Family units on hold until the 11th Sept. When booking, be sure to mention that you are part of the Rover Car Club of Otago to receive the healthy discounted prices listed below. STUDIO UNIT Price for 2 People is $115 Per night. FAMILY 2 BEDROOM UNIT, 2 People $125 Per night. Extra people are $20 extra per each person. (Family unit for 3 people = $145, 4 people = $165) There is also available if you are quick, 2 Executive spa bath suites @ $135.

Reservations; 0800 802 909 or 03 448 6482 centennialcourt@ihug.co.nz

Shayne & Karen Hitchcock I have just this weekend checked this accommodation out and my feeling is that it’s out standing value compared to all other possible venues that I checked out. Our evening Noggin and natter is with-in walking distance of the Motel. Din-ning will be a Bistro meal along with licensed bar. Breakfast is also available at the Motels restaurant. Full @ $18.50, continental @ $12.50. Wheel chair accessible units available. Book early to avoid disappointment, and to assist me as we are unavailable

from 15th Sept to 15th Oct.

Thank you, Bernie Halford There is a golf tournament, plus a big wedding on in Alexandra the same

weekend so don’t dilly dally and miss out on accommodation.