A new discovery

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.

Some of the Coromandel Car Club vehicles

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.

Museum entranceway

There's a great mix of military and civilian vehicles and weaponry.  Down by a half track troop transporter was a long box with what appeared to be a bazooka in it!

Jennie and the ideal vehicle for cutting through rush hour traffic

Serious gas guzzlers

Seacat ship-based surface to air missile

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.

The Triumph Gloria

The Gloria radiator badge

Triumph Mayflower, two Rolls Royces and a Rover

A nice restoration project

The perfect tasteful Cadillac for Trump

V8-powered trike - ewwwww

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.

The offroad corner

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!

Ford 105E Anglia

There's a sign on the screen of the Anglia which I just loved.  It's enlarged in the photo below.

Loved by mechanics everywhere

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

Unknown vehicle below undergoing restoration.  The tiny engine must be a dream to work on with that great access.

Restoration underway

I 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!

One of Frankensteins less successful creations

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.

Blowlamp and soldering iron display

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.

Holden Commodore race engine

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.

Absolutely brutal

This is a speedway sprint car for oval dirt racing. Still very popular in North America and the Southern Hemisphere.

Sprint car with massive wing

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!

Kiwi drag bike 

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.

The museum bar