The Coromandel Car Club went for a run at the weekend, with a great lunch in Whitianga and ending up at a private, predominantly automotive museum about an hour from home which is relatively new. I'd never heard of it until a few days ago and it's mind-blowingly good. For Kiwis, it's about 3 km south of Whitianga on SH 25 and the entry fee is $10. The name of the place is Wheels Within Walls.
Here is a small selection of the photos I took, showing the variety of machinery on display. There really is something for everyone at this museum.
Moving to civilian vehicles, it was an eclectic collection, including quite a few I'd never previously seen and I'd never heard of a Triumph Gloria, which was manufactured between 1933 and 1938 in various guises.
One corner was devoted to early Land Rovers which were all in great nick. The orange/red utility in the picture below had no i/d but was probably a locally made special body on the chassis of something else.
At first glance, the car below is a stock Ford Anglia undergoing restoration. A closer inspection reveals a Chevy 305 V8 being shoehorned into it! I love sleepers and a mate in the UK had a standard looking Anglia with a Cosworth-prepared Cortina motor in it. The fact that he was a senior engineer at Cosworth explains a lot!
There's a sign on the screen of the Anglia which I just loved. It's enlarged in the photo below.
The Holden Torana enjoyed considerable success on the race tracks of Australia and NZ and have a cult following. Pristine SLR 5000 V8 models sell for astronomic prices but even the smaller engined models in original condition demand a huge price. The black model below is allegedly a 1974 2.8 litre model.
Holden Torana and 1960 Ford Zephyr
Restoration underwayI don't know if the vehicle below is a commercial or home built item but it's probably a nightmare to steer with the pivot directly above the front wheel and the driver swinging about all over the place!
There are quite a few interesting displays devoted to things other than vehicles. A wall with polished blowlamps and soldering irons caught my eye as an arty photo. I guess that these early kerosene-powered blowlamps are regarded as a serious hazard these days but I remember my grandfather stripping old paint from woodwork with one. They needed care to operate as it was possible to send out a jet of burning kerosene like a flamethrower if they weren't hot enough to vaporise the fuel.
There was a big area devoted to competition vehicles and here are a few examples. The first photo is the V8 engine in a Bathurst-type Holden Commodore racing saloon car.
The next photo is of a V8 stock car for speedway racing. Easy to see where the Mad Max movie series got its inspiration from.
This is a speedway sprint car for oval dirt racing. Still very popular in North America and the Southern Hemisphere.
The bike below is a normally aspirated drag bike which used to run at the Meremere dragstrip in NZ. The museum owner was talking to me about the possibility of mounting it on a stand and demonstrating short engine runs for museum patrons. Bring your ear plugs!
Finally, a photo of the wonderful rustic bar at the museum - just perfect! I hope you've enjoyed the short tour and can assure you that it's even better in the flesh and hours can be spent there. A real asset for our region.
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