Collector has big wheel with hubcaps
Lost a hubcap recently? You’ll probably find it in West Auckland.
Roger Farrell has at least 500 hubcaps adorning his Kelston property.
He said he ‘‘started with a couple, then it grew and grew’’.
The 55-year-old has been collecting them for more than 10 years. The wheel covers are strung on his fenceline and on his house.
‘‘It looks different and it’s better than just paint on the fence.’’
Farrell finds the hubcaps ‘‘all over the place’’.
‘‘I find them along the streets and in parks. I used to stop on the motorway but I don’t do that now.’’
People come to exchange hubcaps with him too.
‘‘I don’t mind that, it makes them happy,’’ he said.
Farrell’s fascination with hubcaps started at a young age. ‘‘I’ve always liked cars. I’ve got model cars and an album of car accident photos dating back to the 1960s.’’ He was always fascinated with old Holden and chrome hubcaps. ‘‘But not now, it’s all plas- tic. You can’t get the chrome ones unless you buy them from the shops and car places, but they’re expensive and I wouldn’t go there.’’
He said he takes pride in seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they see the collection.
Farrell also gives the hubcaps away as he is running out of room on his fences.
‘‘People come and ask for some, and they always ask if I want money. I say no because I find them free off the road.’’
Farrell’s only trouble with having hubcaps strung to his fences is the top ones blowing off in the wind. ‘‘Each time the wind comes, it blows most of them down.
‘‘They’d go over the neighbour’s fence but I’ve got rope holding them on now.’’
Farrell said he was happy to exchange or give people hubcaps if they needed them.