Many readers will have figured out that I’m a resident of Auckland and that I’ve been a member of the Auckland Four Wheel Drive Club Inc. for quite a few years. Not as long however as some others who helped the club celebrate its 50th anniversary over the weekend of 6/7 April.
Among those who joined us for a reunion dinner was Phil Pacey, a foundation member and a strong advocate during those early years. His name appears often in the early records of the Four Wheel Drive Association of NZ (FWDNZ), which itself was formed in 1974. The Auckland club was started in 1969, but as the New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Society, and with the eventual creation of the national body, the club ceded the New Zealand name and renamed as Auckland Four Wheel Drive Club.
Family first
It was initially a competitive streak that had brought together those early four wheelers and many had been competitors in events organized by the ‘Off Road Rally Association’. At a meeting of the steering committee tasked with creating a national body, it was Phil Pacey who resisted a proposal to adopt that Off Road Rally name on the basis that “the new association was to cater to the family man and that it was not a straight-out motor rally organisation.” Phil’s view was adopted.
That Off Road Rally Association continued on in its own right for several years with competitors like Dave Wenzlick, who’s still an Auckland 4WD member.
At the first AGM of the FWDANZ in 1975, it was the now Auckland Four Wheel Drive Club that put the remit “to have roll bars and seatbelts fitted to all vehicles entering National Rallies and the use of these, in conjunction with safety helmets, be compulsory in all four-wheel-drive events” was passed.
The membership of the club has fluctuated over the years, often impacted by the economy of the country and things like the petrol shortage of 1979 where weekend sale of petrol was banned and ‘carless’ days were introduced. During the 2018/19 year the membership stood at 95 individuals.
Playing its part
Over the years the Auckland 4WD Club has continued to influence four-wheeling in New Zealand with its involvement and leadership in the New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Association, the instigation of Winch Challenges with support from this publication, many tree planting projects and beach clean-ups.
It was in 1987 that I joined the Auckland 4WD Club after buying a 1953 Series One 80” Land Rover to muck about with and to introduce my then 13-year-old son to the mysteries of internal combustion engines. When he’d been born, we’d happened to be living one house away from a fellow I’d gone to secondary school with and who had gone on to become a motor mechanic with his own business and a long interest in four wheeling. His name is Leon Berggren and he too was a founding member of the club and was another of those ‘originals’ at the reunion.
The reunion format was a ‘show and shine’ for the Saturday afternoon, followed by a dinner in the evening with some 116 guests from right across all those fifty years. Work had gone into gathering and digitising photographs of club four-wheeling and a great assortment were gradually shuffled into a semblance of chronological order and loaded onto a ‘cloud’ platform that allows access and ongoing updating. Running those images during the evening, along with some early movie footage courtesy of the Campbell family, provoked much amusement at times and a common refrain was “we couldn’t get away with that today under H&S rules!”
Show ‘n shine
The ‘show and shine’ was dulled a bit by persistent rain, but planning had included some canopies under which we were able to park several ‘older’ vehicles such as a 1942 Ford GPW (Jeep) and an AMC ‘Mightymite’ that have been rather nicely restored. A rather rare vehicle that Mightymite, as there were only 3922 ever built and that example is the 2587th one built. Still unrestored and presently on registration hold, was my 80” Land Rover Series One, which was also parked under cover.
Importer Ateco and Auckland dealer Andrew Simms provided a couple of examples of their current Jeep stable, both of which had many admirers. One was a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited ‘Rubicon’ fitted with an array of MOPAR kits, while the other was a Grand Cherokee SRT8, which is not really intended for off road use. Alongside those new Jeeps were some very tidy and well set up examples of members Jeeps, reflecting many models, years of production (from 1942 to a 2019 Renegade ‘Trailhawk’) and interesting modifications.
Suzuki NZ & Winger Greenlane provided a new 2019 Suzuki Jimny to sit against a couple of club member’s older examples of the marque including a 1979 LJ 80. Toyota NZ & Auckland City Toyota loaned the ‘Top to Bottom’ FJ Cruiser made famous by Marc Ellis at the original model launch event. Toyota were happy for that FJ to be used the following day on the farm trip where it showed that it still has plenty of capability. In the current absence of a Land Rover Defender type machine, Land Rover provided the latest Discovery to represent that brand’s direction, which was quite a change from its neighbor, a Series One ‘station wagon’ loaned to the club by a member of the Land Rover Owners Club (Auckland).
Farm trip finale
The weather on the Sunday was beautiful and sunny for the final part of the anniversary celebrations, a 4WD trip. We’d got permission to use a farm property not far out of Auckland City (yes it was just a half hour drive away!) and on a fine day the views from the high points can be great.
A drive through the farm two weeks earlier had been bone rattling across the hard, dry ground and with the heavy rain on the Saturday, we were prepared to have to shorten the planned route to reduce risks of wet grass slopes and tyre rubber. Wind and sun can work wonders and by the time of the afternoon trip, most of the grass had dried and the 30+ assorted vehicles all made it safely around the route as originally planned.
Overall, a successful 50th reunion that brought together again a great array of people who have enjoyed four wheeling and the experiences that our recreation can provide.
