Vintage Car Rally - Taranaki

 Vintage Car rally in Leperton and Inglewood.

Proud owner standing next to his 1928 Studebaker President.  He'd got married in it years ago.

Below owner Neville had just warranted his 1928 Rolls Royce Phantom the week before after years of beautiful restoration.  

As part of its pedigree, a prior owner Grandma Brown came 5th in the 1957 10,000 km Ampol Trial around Australia. 

The car competed three years running.

In the 1958 Ampol Trial, it experienced a rare mechanical failure - a piston burned out. The beautiful old engine ran very roughly on only five cylinders, and Granny's son didn’t like the vibrations running through the whole car. So, stopping in a small village in South Australia, he dropped the sump and removed the offending piston and connecting rod. Knowing the engine would then be seriously out of balance and would probably shake itself to pieces, he cut a piece from a farmer’s discarded ploughshare and taking a good look at the crankshaft, welded the piece onto the shaft to act as a balance weight. He then replaced the sump and pressed the starter. The old Rolls was back to its smooth self again - down on power but no vibrations!

I had a fraction of a second's fame on Seven Sharp just after the rally - me sketching, and a picture of my best side (my back).