Trusty Triumph and Venerable VW

Back Up a Bit

Well, you wouldn’t think that anything else could happen to me in my old age. Remember I was born in England in 1969 and it’s now 2023 so I’m 53 years old!! I’m such a careful considerate car and wouldn’t want anything to go wrong for P or E.

I was bringing E back from a shopping trip in Picton and driving carefully back home up and over Wedge Point. I rounded the corner at the top and saw the beautiful view of the Sounds and came upon a slow driving Mitsubishi ute.

Looking south to the head of Queen Charlotte Sound and our house on the point in the foreground

The grey ute was obviously taking in the lovely view of the Sounds when all of a sudden it stopped in the middle of the road!! I thought there must have been an accident or something on the road for it to be stopped by so I ‘queued’ up behind and waited. The next thing I see is the reverse lights ot the ute are shining and it was moving slowly towards me!! I honked my horn loudly and long and tried to get into reverse to back away. UInfortunately I wasn’t quick enough and the ute pushed it’s very long, strong tow bar into the front of me.

“Oh dear, what has happened to my grill and special name plates across my bonnet?” I tried to reverse back from the ute but I was stuck fast to the tow bar.

Stuck fast to the ute by it’s towbar and my bumper bar

E had her head in her hands when she heard the dreadful noise I was making with my squashed in fan. It was rubbing against the grill of the radiator whenever my engine was switched on. I knew things were not good for me when I felt the crunch to my front and the awful noise of the fan.

The couple in the Mitsubishi ute were backing up the road to get a better view for a photo of the Sounds and didn’t see me behind them!! How quickly it all happened. Fortunately the photo seeking couple were very pleasant and totally realised they were at fault. After being freed from the towbar of the ute I was driven slowly and carefully to the top of our drive a few kilometres down the road. P was on the J. D. on the track and quickly came up to see what state I was in. He was relieved to see that it was nothing that a panelbeater couldn’t fix. Just another chapter in my long and interesting life!

A Time to Say Goodbye

While I was coping with my ailments in the Sounds my mate the Venerable VW was being prepared to be sold. Everything from removing the last bits of silent rust underneath to cleaning both inside and out was undetaken by P and E. After many attempts on TradeMe she was finally and unexpectedly bought by a couple from Auckland who were looking for a van to go on holiday in. Yay! Everyone was happy. In August, 2021 P and E watched the VW drive away with its new owners. They felt sad but also relieved to finally have someone else look after her in her old age.

My buddy was now gone and I knew that my time to say goodbye was getting close. I was made rust free and cleaned inside and out so that I would be attractive to someone who was keen to buy me. It took several attempts on Trade Me but in the end a delightful young man bought me to begin his classic car collection. What a thrill for me to be his first car! I felt very important and instantly took a liking to my new enthusiastic owner. P and E waved goodbye and watched me drive away to live in Rotorua. As Max would have said, “There’s still life in the old girl yet!”.