Vintage motor treasures headed for the lake
Hundreds of vintage machinery enthusiasts will soon be revved up and ready to roll out to Lake Karapiro.
Among those at the Waikato Vintage Swapmeet will be vintage car devotee Murray Ashby, who owns about a dozen vintage cars all in various states.
The Hamilton man reckons after a while people develop a radar specifically for swap meets.
‘‘There are rows and rows of car and machinery parts, hundreds of boxes to sort through but I am usually tuned in to who has what so it makes it easier for me.’’
Ashby has been a vintage devotee since he started his collection of cars with a Model A Ford in 1975.
The former microbiologist uses his basement garage to store his completed projects and as a workshop.
Outside his carport are two roadsters needing refurbishment.
His bedroom is where his ‘‘future projects’’ are stored.
‘‘This is the running gear,’’ he said as he uncovers a huge metal object.
‘‘Over here I have the interior, these are the bumper bars, and this is the rear of the car,’’ he explains.
Behind him was a stack of boxes full of car parts all labelled and carefully stored.
It’s the same in his garage, an old motor sits covered alongside his workbench.
‘‘Oh I am not sure what I will do with that yet,’’ he said.
He has a possible buyer interested in a Ford Roadster he is assembling, but it needs some repairs.
This has become his current project as he welds a metal plate replacing part of the carriage which ‘‘had rusted out’’.
While it looks like a nightmare to the average person, Ashby is confident he knows exactly what each of the many boxes contains.
Recently returned from a swap meet in Christchurch, he showed off two pieces of rust coloured bits of metal.
‘‘I had been looking for these for a while, and when they’re all cleaned up they’ll fit exactly. My only wish when I pass on is my wife doesn’t sell all of this for the price I told her I had paid for it.’’
The couple regularly travel the country in one of the many beautifully fully restored completed projects.