The Hauraki Vintage Machinery Club holds its annual Crank Up Day this weekend.
The Hauraki Vintage Machinery Club holds its annual Crank Up Day this weekend.
Vintage tractors, bulldozers and other machinery will be roaring at Hauraki’s Kaihere Domain on Sunday, when the Hauraki Vintage Machinery Club holds its annual Crank Up Day.
The event will transport visitors back in time through vintage hay bailing and shearing demonstrations, tractor rides and a display of close to 80 pieces of vintage machinery.
“See how grandad used to farm,” Hauraki Vintage Machinery Club member Shaun Hurst sums up the event.
Like most club members, old machines and farm equipment have been Hurst’s passion ever since he can remember and he has been a part of many vintage clubs over the years.
“I’ve been involved in the machinery business my whole life. I just have a passion for it because I grew up with all the machinery... [during] the post-war boom in the 1950s,” Hurst said.
“My father got a farm in the Bay of Plenty when he came back from the war... He had Ferguson tractors which I did the farmwork with when I was 8 [years old].”
When he was 15, he started driving bulldozers and later did an apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic. Hurst also did some engineering and learned how to weld, all of which further manifested his love for machines.
“I haven’t done anything else in my life, I never even thought of doing anything else. It’s just in your blood.”
Over the years, he restored a bunch of old tractors, bulldozers and dump trucks and became involved in vintage machinery clubs from Tauranga to Auckland and Hauraki.
When asked what kind of vintage equipment was his favourite, he said it was hard to say.
“It’s like asking what’s your favourite child! I like the Caterpillar brand, bulldozers, dump trucks, all those kind of things and the farm tractor line from Ferguson.”
However, ever since he moved to Pauanui, his shed was empy and all machinery went to a collector.
There will be vintage hay bailing and shearing demonstrations, tractor rides and a display of close to 80 pieces of vintage machinery.
Hurst said the Hauraki Vintage Machinery Club started out as a historical society “way back” and changed to its current format 26 years ago.
“It started with just eight or 10 members, all avid enthusiasts and collectors of early machinery that originally shaped the land.
“The club’s purpose is to preserve and restore those pieces of history, but it’s also a fraternal thing, the camaraderie.”
Now, the club has close to 40 members, however, they are on the “desperate” lookout for younger members, Hurst said.
The Hauraki Vintage Machinery Club has close to 40 members.
Once a year, they are hosting a “crank up open day” at the Kaihere Domain, which the club is custodian of.
Apart from the activities, the machinery on display will come from several clubs, including the Franklin and Waikato Vintage Machinery Clubs. Hurst said the 2024 event had the potential to be bigger than last year.
The Hauraki Vintage Machinery Club also owns the old Kaihere Flax processing mill which is located just out of Ngatea. The land on which it sits is leased, but the club has rebuilt the mill and refurbished the building.
The Crank Up Day will take place on November 24, at the Kaihere Domain on the corner of Kaihere Rd and SH25, from 10am to 4pm. Entry by gold coin donation.
