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 This
years very successful rally was held at Napier in the sunny Hawke's
Bay on the east coast of the North Island. Indians and there mounts (or
trailers) converged on Arataki Holiday Park for several days of beautiful
weather, beautiful scenery and beautiful bikes.
Arataki is famous here for its honey.
Purposely, this years rally coincided with
Napier's annual Art Deco Week. Napier is considered the Art Deco capital
of New Zealand and is well endowed with Art Deco buildings and styling. It
was cool to see all the four wheel beauties out and about, rare exotic
examples, names like; Dusenburg, Auburn, Graham, Packard and the likes,
and to top it off, many visitors were dressed 'to the nines' in 30's
costumes and regalia.
Not to be outdone we had our own costume competition for the best period
outfit which was won by Rodger Devlin aboard his 101 in his butterfly suit
and leather puttees. You can see Rodgers additional photos here [
1
2
3
4
5
]. , you can see my attempt
here,
Im also at the helm of a 101.
On Friday night it was registrations, finding accommodation within the
Park and catching up with old friends and the making of new ones over
brews and BBQ's. As usual Friday night would end up the biggest social
(read piss-up) night of the weekend, though Saturday was a close
second.
Saturday lunchtime we were due to do a parade ride through the city centre
as part of the art deco celebrations. Earlier that morning I was hanging
with my good friend Paddy Snowden who had removed his leaky tank from his
101 stroker to patch a hole that would need attention if he was to do the
return trip of 660Km back to Christchurch. It was worse than a bugglegum
and cigarette paper fix, so I ran him and the tank into town to a radiator
shop to get it repaired. Paddy's 101 is a real sleeper as I was to find
out when he generously let me ride it into town for the parade.
 With
a chief flywheel stroke capacity of around 920cc is was wise to convert to
a dry sump re-circulating oil system. This was achieved by
grafting a 741 timing cover to the 101 magneto side of the 101cover. This
allows the use of the '38 and up cast iron pump. The pickup for the return
side is from the lower oil drain plug on the drive side crankcase (see
photo - left). While a magneto retains the stock look it would not be hard
to convert to coil ignition as 741 cams are used which also drive
the pump distributor gear. This old girl can haul ass, it had more power
than it did brakes (so which Indian doesn't you say?!) and I nearly
slipped off the saddle when I grabbed a big handful. Very torquey but a
little more rev-vy than a chief combined with the lightness and nimble
handling of a 101 scout, what more can you ask for?. It certainly put
a different slant on the direction of one of my 101 projects.
The city ride went well albeit I thought a bit to long
idling around town on an old flattie in the hot summers day heat. We
parked in the middle of the shopping center, some 40+ Indians at home
amongst the cafes with there 30's period dressed patrons, and surrounded
by those gorgeous old cars on the marine parade.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on a ride and visit to the local
classic club clubrooms and then back to the park for a brown liquid
wind-in to the afternoons AGM and the nights prize giving. The winners
this year were:
| Riders Choice Post40 |
Rodger Devlin |
| Riders Choice Pre 40 |
James Chambers |
| Best Custom |
Darrell Zip |
| Longest Distance |
Barry Wyber |
| Mechanical Innovation |
Paddy Snowden/Perry
Moore |
| Best Rat Bike |
Steve Owen |
| Oldest Bike and Rider |
Neville Warren |
| Best 741 |
Rex Hosking |
| Best Chief (JHMA) |
John Lundmark |
|
Hard Luck |
Ybo de Boer |
indianmotorbikes.com
Burt Munro Book Award |
Brian and Anne Sims |
Darrell Zip, Zipper to his friends, and his wife were a
welcome international addition to the rally attendees. Darrel is from
Colorado USA and was here to collect back his latest toy, (and custom bike
winner) a sports scout replica (blue and white, photo left). Visit Zippers
website www.zippermotors.com
At this point Id like to extend mine and the clubs thanks to Rob Stoel
from Holland, a recent visitor to our country I had the pleasure of
meeting. Rob generously supplied oodles of tee's, pins, pens, lighters and
puzzles from his Indian club that resulted in no members from ours, going
home empty handed. Thanks Rob. See you all again next year in Blenhiem. |
