All New! Tractor Books
On the weekend of 12th-14th October 2007, Bev and Rod, with the help of John spent the weekend “out and about” at the Vintage Car Club’s Swap Meet at McLeans Island. This is New Zealand’s largest Swap Meet and although, like all Swap Meets, it suffers from having too much bric-a-brac and not enough car stuff, thanks I suspect to a lot of the car stuff now being sold on the internet, it is still a huge occasion and a great social weekend for enthusiasts from all over NZ and further afield.
Sales-wise we had a good weekend shifting some of our surplus stock, but the only things Rod managed to buy were hotdogs and cups of coffee! Must be a first … we came home with the takings ….. mind you Rod was only out there on the last day, leaving Bev in charge!
On Sunday 28th October, we had the pleasure of being at the opening of the new workshop for Bruce McIlroy Ltd, the Bentley Service Agent for the South Island of New Zealand.
Bruce is based in the small rural town of Ashburton, which is about ¾ hour drive south of Christchurch. Bruce owned his first Bentley at 19 and his love affair with these glorious cars has just kept growing. 15 years ago, he started his business, in what was the family farm nursery and is now the site for his workshop. Not only is the workshop superb, but the surroundings as you’ll see in accompanying photos are truly beautiful.
During the last 15 years Bruce has achieved international recognition for his restoration and service work on both Rolls-Royce and Bentley. As you’ll notice in the photos, his client base owns cars from the Silver Ghost on.
On the day, some of the highlights included, 5 Silver Ghosts, 2 superb well used vintage Bentleys, one being Geoff Owen’s that he has owned and continuously motored since the 1960’s and the other being Warner Mauger’s delightful example, which again is a regularly motored car and driven as it should be.
There was also a very nice range of 1930’s Bentleys and many later model examples also attended.
It was truly a delightful way to spend an afternoon and I’m sure in the years to come there will be further growth with Bruce’s business.
Thank you Bruce and Philomena for a wonderful occasion.
Just a quick note to let any of you, who will be attending the Canterbury Swap Meet, know that we will have 3 sites in the Trades Tent, which is located in front of, and below the Club Rooms. We will have a huge range of surplus stock of Books all reduced by 30% and our usual massive range of Sales Brochures, again reduced by 30% for this weekend only. Make sure you come and check us out.
For out of town visitors, we will be open at the shop on Friday 11am-5pm and Saturday 10am-4pm or by appointment in the evenings. We carry New Zealand’s largest range of motoring books from latest releases to extremely rare out of print titles, plus over a thousand old Handbooks and Manuals with a particularly good range of 1920’s and 1930’s.
We also have, we are told, New Zealand’s best and most diverse range of 1/18th and larger, Diecast Models, including latest releases from GMP, BBR, Sunstar, AutoArt and hopefully the latest from GMP will have arrived for the weekend. Our range also includes Road Signature at the lower price end through to Exact Detail, but we try to choose the best detailed Models we can.
Please take this opportunity to come and see what we are doing, we are easily found at the Fitzgerald Avenue end of Chester Street East. We are sure you will enjoy your visit.
Cheers, Rod and Bev
It has been an exciting time in the last few weeks, with an excellent range of books, both ‘New and ‘Old and Rare’ arriving. In the column this week, we will focus on some of the ‘New Books’ which have just arrived from our UK supplier. In total we received over 100 titles, which we should have listed on the website within the next couple of weeks.
The first title we will look at is “Armstrong Siddeley Motors, The Cars, the company and the people in definitive detail” by Bill Smith. Published by Veloce, with the assistance of the Michael Sedgwick Trust, this beautifully produced 494 page tome really lives up to its title of being the definitive work. Many beautiful illustrations, original period photos and reproductions of period advertisements combined with an amazingly detailed text, make this book a pleasure to have on the shelves. Smith, who has been the owners’ club historian since 1976 really has to be commended for his efforts. Priced at $279.90, I totally recommend it to anyone with an interest in this famous Marque.
One of the most iconic American Cars has to be the 1932 Ford. In 1984 Tony Thacker wrote, what has long been considered, the best history of this great car. Now to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Deuce, this has been republished, after being bought up to date, plus had added a write up of each of the Cars chosen for the 75 most significant 32 Ford Hot Rods. The extremely well written text covers the development, production and general history, including non American versions, plus competition history and early Hot Rodding. The text is accompanied by a marvelous array of photographs. Printed on high quality paper and very well laid out, I feel that the price of $109.90 is real value for money.
Recently voted the sexiest car in the world, the “Fiat Nuova 500 Reference” by Enzo Altorio and published by respected Italian Publisher, Legenda, pays tribute to this Classic. This beautifully produced slip-cased 287 page publication covers everything you could ever want to know about this important car and its derivatives. The informative text to which Dante Giacosa (head of design during the 500’s evolution) contributed historical and technical advice, is highly readable and accompanied by a huge array of original period photographs, many of which I have not seen before. This lavishly produced publication is a must for any Fiat enthusiast.
We are delighted to have in stock, a second edition of “From Passion to Perfection The Story of French Streamline Styling 1930 – 1939” by Richard Adatto, with photography by Jean-Paul Caron and Foreword by Claude Figoni. When originally released in 2002, this book probably created a record for a motoring book, in that it sold out completely within a very short time of release. Since then, very rarely has a copy come on to the market, and when one did, very good prices were achieved. Like the cars that it portrays, this publication is a thing of beauty, printed on quality paper, illustrated with absolutely superb detailed photographs plus original period photographs and drawings it is entirely at home amongst publications that cost many times more. The period 1930 - 1939 saw the French manufacturers and coachbuilders collaborate to create some of the most magnificent cars ever produced. If you have the slightest interest in this subject, you will never regret spending the $259.90 that it takes to obtain your own copy. We also have in stock Delahaye and Delage titles co-authored by Adatto that are of similar quality.
Occasionally when unpacking new books, one comes across a publication that just takes my breath away. “Open Roads and Front Engines World Championship Sports Car Racing in Photographs 1953-1961” by Janos Wimpffen is one such book. Telling the story of this exciting era using the photographs of, amongst others, Batchelor, Cahier, Goddard, Lyons and Mailander, this book perfectly captures the period, the drivers and the cars. 399 pages, one will never tire of opening and admiring this beautiful book. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Everything about the book, from the beautiful binding, to the dust jacket with French folds, to the quality of the photographs selected, reflects the perfectionism of the author and the publisher David Bull. The price of $339.90 will never be regretted.
I hope the above gives the reader a small snapshot of the quality and range of books we carry in stock. Over the next few weeks we have a number of very rare and very desirable long out of print publications, some being copies recently found that had never been sold, arriving. In our News column next week, I will cover some of these.
Also over the next 2 weeks, we have arriving new releases from the famed German Model Maker CMC, including Bugatti Type 35 and from quality American Manufacturer GMP, a magnificent 32 Ford Hi Boy Roadster, that beautifully captures the early days of Hot Rodding. These will be welcome additions to our already huge range of high quality 1/18th and bigger Diecast Models.
Bev and Rod, with the help of John on Saturday, spent the weekend “out and about” at the Flexoplas Classic Car Show held at Pioneer Stadium, Christchurch. As usual some superbly restored cars were on show – the theme this year being “Sport and Leisure”. For us this weekend is always a little bit special, as it was 5 years ago, at this Show, that “Wheels on Paper Ltd” began its life and it was in the period after that first show that Rod and Bev decided they made a pretty good team and got together as both life and business partners.
At events like this, we like to pick a favourite car each. Bev’s pick was this eye-catching, recently restored, Mk 1 Zephyr six convertible owned and restored by Graeme and Sandra Koskela, who are dedicated English Ford fans. They also own a good-looking late model Mk II Ford Consul convertible, which also is in superb condition. Bev’s reasons for picking – the colour – bright red/orange, and memories of growing up in Napier in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The Canterbury Concours Committee agreed with her choice – the car won a couple of Awards. Stand out features of this restoration include one of the best fitting tops you could imagine and the attention to originality.
Rod actually hung out for 2 picks this year. The first, being this magnificent 1938 Ford V8 Deluxe Sedan. This pick was pure nostalgia as it was identical to the car his father owned when Rod was a very young boy. Originally owned by Rod’s grandfather, it was his father’s every day transport up to around about 1965.
Rod’s other pick was this absolutely superb 1964 Maserati Sebring that is in the final stages of a full restoration by local Christchurch company Brands Hatch Restorations Ltd. This car truly illustrates the truth of one of Rod’s sayings “The Italians don’t know how to build an ugly Car”. The combination of the strong, solid lines of the main body, with the thin pillars and low roof work just so well visually.
So another Classic Car Show over, organized by an incredibly hard working committee, led by Colin and Jenny Hay, who do so much to make the classic car scene an interesting and vibrant one.
The next “out and about” event we will be attending will be the local Vintage Car Club Swap Meet, the largest of its kind in New Zealand, being held at McLeans Island, Christchurch on the weekend of 12th-14th October 2007.