From the editor
Hi Club members
Well, it’s nearly halfway through the year already. Time again to contact all our club members through our quarterly newsletter.
There has not been much activity in the club since the last newsletter. The committee decided due to the volatility of the fuel situation that we would suspend events until the situation improved. Now that supply is not such a problem we will get on with what we enjoy.
Personal Note
I have been away for the months of April and May and still have to play catch up with the committee. We spent this time overseas, we visited Panama and the Netherlands. My daughter has moved to Panama for work. We took the opportunity and paid them a visit, being already halfway to the Netherlands we also decided to catch up with family there as well. Panama is interesting because not really a place you would go for work and not somewhere a Kiwi would choose to holiday, not to mention that there are no direct flights, which makes it quite expense to visit.
But visit we did. We flew through Houston. We arrived in Panama and met with my daughter and family and spent 5 days in Panama City.
I have found describing Panama to be quite difficult, although it is quite modern it is also has quite a third world element to it. We stayed at a BNB apartment in a large tower block. We lost power to our apartment nearly every day which sort of a Panama thing. The traffic in Panama City is very busy, traffic rules seem to be a bit redundant, with first in first serve. The roads are okay, but some not well maintained and footpaths can be bit of an obstacle course if there is one at all. But within the rubble and systems you have some really nice gems. Great shopping Malls and food courts and really nice restaurants.
We visited the old ruins and the Panama Canal along with a good look around the city. Not speaking Spanish didn’t help, as many Panamanians don’t speak English.
My Daughter lives in a town called Boquete, which was a 7-hour drive from Panama City. The drive was very interesting it was a bit like driving through Rarotonga, the housing looked quite similar. There was really nice to quite rubbish. We arrive at my daughters’ house late that evening. She is renting a house in a gated community. Boquete is a small town located up in the mountains, which are old volcanos, the mountain nearest us was just a little lower than Mt Cook, so they live quite elevated. There at a lot of retired Americans living in this area, so most people can speak English or at least enough to get by. The Boquete town ship is a mix of really expensive and nice also the not so nice and this can be right next to each other. In Panama they use the American dollar so for us everything costs a little more than here.
Cars, that’s interesting, they do register their cars, but I think that is about as far as it goes. They drive on the right side of the road, so all cars are LHD. I don’t know about road rules, but if there are any know body uses them. Interestingly cars don’t have number plates on the front, and some of the older cars are quite rough looking like they are held together with duct tape and string. Although there are plenty of newer cars. I guess this tells you quite a bit about the way they live as the minimum wage is $3.00 US per hour. As for cars they have a bit of everything, American Trucks, Japanese and quite a bit of Chinese. Some European, some cars have some interesting mods as you can see in the pic above. I guess when there are no rules it does get interesting. The taxis in Boquete are all yellow and some are very old Nissans; most are older small cars. But they also have Ute taxis; these are handy in some of unmaintained roads. My daughter had a friend who lived up the mountain and the drive up to the house was quite hair raising, only suitable for 4WD. The police all drive Japanese Utes.
We spent 3 weeks in Panama and really enjoyed out time there. In the city the temperature is always around the 30 degrees plus, and that is all year around, where my daughter lives it was quite cooler as they live at altitude, so 23 – 25 degrees and of course being the tropics, they do get the rainy season, and then it really rains.
From the Committee
As I mentioned before, I did not attend the last committee meeting, but I have the minutes from that meeting so I can fill you on committee updates.
The committee has decided to invest in a couple of new display flags for our club car events. The current ones are very old and due for an update.
Our constitution is now up on our website and has been presented to the Incorated Societies register and accepted.
We have also been looking at the storage of documents. I recently purchased a hard drive and have all the club documents that we have on record on the hard drive. We have also decided that a second hard drive should be added and updated on a regular basis. This we will mitigate any problem around file corruption. We have also had a laptop donated that will be used by the club secretary for club files.
We have put a Club “Process Manual” together to aid the committee should any key committee members be missing in action.
AGM: we are in process of planning our 25 – 26 AGM dates to follow.
Please note important: In preparation for this the committee has nominated the following people: President: Bernie Kant, Treasurer: Jeanette Kant, Secretary: Shona Williams. All these people are currently serving in these positions and are happy to continue. But we are also seeking nominations from Club members, if you would like to nominate someone to any of these positions could you please send your nominations to me. Nominated people will be voted on at the AGM. bernjean59@gmail.com
Membership fees will remain free for another year, this is to help those that may be struggling in the current economic climate, and because the club has sufficient funds to do so.
The committee would also like to encourage those outside of Auckland to run events. All it needs is someone to take the lead, it’s quite easy to do. My advice is to choose a cruise or event that you would enjoy, (this way if you don’t get many attendees, you will
still enjoy it). put it together, contact me and I will advertise it for you though the club. If you need funds to kick it off, we are happy to help.
The committee is keen for articles from club members, if you have some work you have done to your car, a report on your car and why you own it and what you have done to it, or a restoration, or just something of interest. Just contact me and I can help you put something together and we can publish it through the club; I am always looking for articles for our Spotlight Newsletter.
Apparel
I still have quite a few caps in stock, and the tees and polos are just a matter of placing an order. Orders must be placed through our web page, remember to make your payment as you order, our bank details are on the web order page. https://zclub.nz/apparel/
Many thanks for your commitment to the Club.
Past Events
Eastern Auckland Coastal Kaiaua Cruise & Garage Visit
This was the first club cruise event of the year. It turned out that it coincided with the fuel announcements from our government around the possibility of upcoming shortages, and at the time of the event, 95-96 octane was over $3.00 a litre. This was not a long drive like some of our past events. Which was good considering the problems of the day.
We met up at Coffee Club in Bombay, there were around 11 cars in total, so it was a nice size group. We left Bombay onto the motorway and turned onto Highway 2 towards Thames then turned off at Mangatawhiri driving towards Miranda, taking the road toward Kaiaua. The drive to Kaiaua was about 35 minutes long. We stopped at the famous Kaiaua fish and chip shop, and it didn’t disappoint. The fish and chips were great. As we were a little on the early side for lunch, the car park was basically empty, so we were all able park up in one row which was great for photos.
We ordered and sat outside under their umbrellas and had lunch and a chat together. The weather had really turned it on for us, it got quite hot but that made the cruise even more enjoyable, we had two 350 convertibles in the cruise, both of which had their roofs down.
We left Kaiaua and headed along the Thames estuary toward Clevedon. If you are not familiar with this road it is a real scenic drive, a lot of it along the coast then cutting inland towards Kawakawa Bay and the over the hill towards Clevedon. This road is used regularly for car club cruises and today was no different with quite a few classic cars cruising about. It has been quite a while since I have done this drive and there are noticeably more cafes and stopping spots on route, which really presents some good options for cruising through this aera.
We did encounter some traffic, some of which kindly pulled over, and others oblivious to their slow driving happily continued along with 11 Zed cars behind them itching to get past. I guess that’s just part of it nowadays, we did a little passing and a very impatient Porsche which was part of our group did a few quick passing manoeuvres, a person who will remain nameless hehehe, aye Steve.
We stopped again in Clevedon so we could bunch up again as we had to take a diversion. The Clevedon to Maraetai Rd was closed due to road works. Instead, we drove through Twilight Road which is a great driving road with some real twisty bits. Buttt! Unfortunately, we again ended up behind Mr Slow with bike racks and holiday roof racks in the best winding part of the road. Sucks.
We drove though Whitford and onto Beachlands to my house where I had a display of my model zeds, (most of these were S30 or S31 models, many of them being either remote or cable control and some with Bump steer from the 70’s and 80’s) which I had been collecting over the years. Most, I bought on eBay and came from overseas. Also, a chance to look through my workshop. I have a three-car garage with a two-car work bay, so it’s a reasonable size. I also have quite a bit of equipment for my car restoration hobby. There was refreshment available and most stayed behind for a chat and a drink before going home
I would like to thank all those that attended, especially those from the Waikato and the greater Auckland areas, and we had a few new members as well. Thanks for coming guys you made it a great day.
I have put a full set of images on the web site under the gallery. https://zclub.nz/latest-gallery/
