BREWIS Newland may be taking two blue Fords along to the Piston Festival this weekend. PHOTO SUPPLIED
BREWIS Newland may be turning up at the Piston Fest on Saturday with two of his blue Ford tractors. It depends on whether he gets waylaid by the other tractor aficionados at the Ōtorohanga Island Reserve, after he arrives with the first one.
“I’ll see how I go,” he said. I’ll drive them up the back road. I’ll keep off the main road as much as possible.”
He intends meeting up with fellow tractor fans from the Ōtorohanga Vintage Machinery Club (ŌVMC) and the Kiwitown Cruisers at the reserve from 10am to 3pm.
Brewis has two blue Fords he would like to show – a 1970 Super Major and a Ford 3000 built about 1963 just after he started his apprenticeship as a mechanic.
They have both been repainted in the original Ford factory colours, but with the more resilient and glossy Resene two-pot paint by Grant Staples at Ōtorohanga.
It’s the second picnic and pistons festival to be held by the two clubs which are united by a love of internal combustion engines.
ŌVMC secretary Roy Johnson said they were a small club but one that punched above its weight.
All the other vintage machinery clubs are named after regions, but he allows the club rohe to include vintage machinery owners from Te Kūiti, Ōtorohanga and as far north as Te Awamutu.
“We’ve got about 100 members, most of them are retired truck drivers, mechanics, farmers – if you want an answer to do with a piece of machinery you will usually get an answer with five different viewpoints,” he said.
“Most of our guys like driving their tractors, we have tractor pulls and tractor treks.”
In winter they go on shed visits to admire and inspect people’s tractor collections. The vintage machinery club is older than the custom cruisers which was incorporated in 2009.
“We are a family club and love to see the little ones cruising with their parents,” Custom Cruisers president Julie Burgess said.
“Some members enjoy just the club side of things, others like to go to regular day events, and others enjoy weekend rod runs hosted by clubs throughout the country.”
There is a variety of vehicles in the club, some are projects, some have won top prizes at events, and others are purely for the enjoyment of their owners.
The cruisers began hosting weekend rod runs in April each year, which grew to the point where they had to limit numbers.
“A couple of years ago, I was thinking it would be great to have some sort of daytime event where cars from all over the country could come and park up and enjoy a relaxing day in Ōtorohanga. Great promotion for the town,” Julie said.
“I wasn’t sure what sort of response this would have. So when Roy, from the Ōtorohanga Vintage Machinery Club approached me with a similar idea, but for the two clubs to combine, I thought that was wonderful.
“The first event was a success, and we expect this to be even bigger this year. Our aim is to have this as an annual event, and incorporate some stalls and hopefully amusement rides of some sort for the younger people.”
The event is supported by the Ōtorohanga District Council and the Ōtorohanga District Development Board. Entry will be by gold coin donation which this year will go to Riding for the Disabled, Ōtorohanga.
Anybody with a unique, classic, hot rod type car to display is invited, along with the vintage machinery, army vehicles, bike clubs etc. Non display vehicles will not be permitted on the reserve.
There will be a DJ playing music, rock-n-rollers and line dancers to entertain, lots of ice-cream trucks, some food and coffee trucks. People are welcome to bring their picnic and a chair or rug to sit on and relax and enjoy the day.
