Today dawned wet and windy. The inclement conditions did not damper the spirit of those taking part in this wonderful event. The departure from Capital City Ford in central Wellington (NZ's capital city) was around 8am.
Watch TV1 News tonight at 6.30pm, for news coverage.
Here are some teaser photos (I'll add more later, when I'm back from work).
The last photo gives you a hint as to what the lead car is!
Best wishes,
John Stokes
Photos from the start at Capital City Ford this morning......
BRASS ERA
More photos from the start at Capital City Ford this morning......
BLACK ERA
LEAD CAR
The lead car belongs to the Southward Museum (the largest private collection of cars in the Southern Hemisphere, I believe, and a good reason for Northern hemisphere folk (and others, of course) to visit New Zealand!).
The 1915 T was used in the 1970 sole-Model T re-enactment, by Pam MacLean and Brian Joyce (see picture below). They had discovered the original 1912 journey in their research for a book, "The Veteran Years of New Zealand Motoring" and, inspired by the achievement of the original three-man expedition, they set out to replicate it while their book was being printed. The dog was the third member of their party, for the sake of authenticity! Sadly, Pam MacLean died shortly afterwards, and before the book had been released.
The car has sat in the museum pretty much ever since, until Roger Gardner pulled it out a few weeks ago. Since then he has made it roadworthy (no mean feat) and just in time for the 2012 event.
THE PEOPLE
Roger Gardner is shown in the previous post, next to the lead car, and facing the camera. Here he is with Neil Cremer....
...and here is the audience, listening to a quick history lesson from Roger, and instructions from Neil (almost everyone turned up in period costume)....
And then, EVERYONE WAS OFF ON THE 2012 ADVENTURE....
For more details of what this is all about, visit the Motor Pioneers website that has been set up especially for it. See http://www.modelt.co.nz/motor-pioneers/
Hopefully, more photos will be added here by participants as the journey progresses.
Thank you for the photos. My favorite is the blue coupe (1st pic) but they're all fantastic.
Excellent coverage of the event. Thank you for sharing.
Great pictures. Thanks for sharing!
Like the coupe also. I enlarged it to view the side light, thought they were wrong for a T till I saw they were covered with plastic bags to protect the finish. Thank you for posting some great photos.
So those two guys wore their pajamas through the whole event?
Good coverage. Thanks for posting John.
Here is a link to a news story in the Waikato Times that Roger Gardner has sent to me. It has some wonderful video footage and enthusiastic comments from the Model T Club president, Neil Cremer. Enjoy!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/7916305/NZ-Model-Ts-pass-test-of-time