Early Fords to converge on Masterton

IT was almost inevitable that Dave and Dale Walker, from Mt Bruce, would finish up with a classic American car.
As a teenager and young man Dave had a succession of vehicles, a '47 Jailbar Ford, '36 Chev Coupe and a '38 Dodge among them. The car he lusted after, but could never afford, was a 1948 Mercury, the luxury version of the Ford V8.
For her part, Dale grew up around her brothers' big cars. "I learnt to drive in V8s," she says. "The boys used to go off and leave the keys in them."
When she was 16 she saved up the money she earnt working in a dairy and went to buy her first car.
"I was going to get an ordinary car," she recalls, "but I came home with a 1949 Single Spinner Ford."
Dale's not a tall lady ? she tops out at 5 feet ? and she reckons that when her feet were on the pedals she couldn't see over the steering wheel. Despite that, she drove her Ford all over the North Island.
"I used to sit up when I came to towns," she smiles. "People used to think there was nobody driving the car."
Now grandparents, Dave, a freezing worker at Oringi, and Dale, a research consultant, have the car of their dreams, a gleaming black 1948 Mercury sedan which they will be driving in the Golden V8 Years gathering in Wairarapa over New Year.
They will join 75 to 80 cars and about 160 members of the Early American Ford V8 Club who will spend five days in Wairarapa starting on Wednesday, December 28.
The club has North and South Island divisions which run their own annual rallies. They come together for a national rally every three years, so it's a really big occasion.
They have a host of activities, including visits to Pointons Museum, the Mt Bruce Pioneer Museum, Pukaha Mt Bruce, the Fell Engine, Martinborough and Gladstone.
There will be a photo shoot and gymkhana at Hood Aerodrome on Friday, December 30, and a parade through Masterton on New Year's Eve, ending with a display at Queen Elizabeth Park from 10am.
The American-based club aims to preserve flat-head V8s from 1932 to 1954, and Dave says there will be several early models here for the rally.
Dave and Dale had a dramatic introduction to the club. They bought their Mercury (named Myrtle) in Invercargill at Easter last year. It performed faultlessly until arrival at Picton, where a wheel bearing collapsed.
A frantic phone call to Invercargill led to them calling a club official attending an Easter convention in Whangarei. He phoned a club member in Blenheim who jacked up his own car, removed the whole hub and helped fit it to the Walkers' car (with a request that it be returned when they'd made it safely home).
And they caught the ferry home the same day, one sailing later than previously planned. Beat that for service! And provided by total strangers.
The Mercury is four inches longer than the comparable Ford, and therein lies a story. The car was originally engineered for a V12 engine ? what a cracker that would have been. Accordingly, there are indents in the front mudguards where the radiator can move forward 4in for the bigger engine. Sadly, Ford dropped the V12 idea.
Dave and Dale Walker travel to regional events in Wellington and Hawke's Bay. They'd love to be involved with a Wairarapa branch ? Bernie and Leanne Gupwell, from Featherston, are the only other members living in Wairarapa ? so if you have a flat-head Ford V8, give Dave a call at 377-7357.
And give a toot and a wave when you see big old Fords cruising around Wairarapa from December 28.