Classic Cars and Covid-19 Level 4 Lockdown in NZ
We are currently ending our second week of the Level 4 (extreme) Lockdown, trying to beat this plague that has consumed the planet.
We are both okay and dealing with the extreme restrictions in place at the moment, just fine. Michelle is at home with me during this time, as the bulk of the staff at her work were not required, when our borders were closed and the tourist industry collapsed.
We are basically confined to our own property (bubble), with only visits to the supermarket or local garage allowed, along with a walk around your block allowed, while keeping “social distancing” in mind.
Luckily, our wonderful late Summer and Autumn has continued unabated, with endless fine, calm days with balmy temperatures still in the late teens, early twenties. Much gardening and section tidying has taken place and even the paint brush has been out a couple of times, catching up on those little jobs that often get put to the back of the queue, especially when work is required on classic cars.
A fortnight before the Lockdown, I went on a mission to acquire all parts needed to push on with the last few tasks needing to be done, to basically finish off all restoration work (A90 Westminster) and other maintenance required on other classic cars we have, before the inevitable Lockdown came about.
This mission required the recent trip to Christchurch for spare Wolseley 6/110 floor-change gearbox and recond A30 radiator. Also included in this “parts dash” was sourcing parts on-line in Australia (new Torana front seat belts and ball joints, A90 rear wheel bearing kit), hopefully with enough time for them to arrive here before the Lockdown, as courier service was going to be shut down to only “essential services”.
Being visionary in this endeavour allowed me to have everything I needed at home and paid for, a few days before the Lockdown was enforced. I have since completed almost all work required on all cars and have finally walked out into the light, from the restoration ’tunnel’ I’ve been in for the last three years with the A90. It is a great feeling, although of course, there will always be the odd bit of maintenance going forward. Michelle’s A40 Farina was not part of this “parts dash”, which we began calling Operation Covid-19.
With all cars fully operational and road legal again, including the A90 for the first time in 11 years, I suddenly realised we were not going to be able to use them on the open road, as running around in classic cars was deemed not to be “essential”, unless you just took them to the supermarket. The problem now was, that running classic cars reasonably frequently, absolutely is essential, in keeping them alive and in good running condition.
Not wanting to go out and blatantly break the rules, which could land us in serious trouble, I pondered what to do, especially as we still had all this good weather around.
Then, a week ago, I had this ‘brain-wave’ that it could be done without leaving home. If I jacked the cars up on stands under the rear axle, I could run them with the whole drive-train turning, by “bricking” the accelerator at a particular rev-range, engaging third gear to get ‘rolling’, then engage top gear to set them ‘free’ for as long as I wanted to, as if they were on the highway, but with no loading involved.
Michelle and I decided to try it out with her Farina. She suggested we make it like it would be normally, giving the classic car a run and having a picnic, not beside a river somewhere, but on the lawn beside the Farina, as it cruised at an easy pace, clicking up the miles, without actually going anywhere.
Brilliant idea. The Farina went for a good run and we had a lovely couple of hours on the lawn, as if we were parked up at one of our usual spots, many miles from Invercargill. We both had a turn at “driving” for part of the car’s journey too.
We hope all AMVCQ members are okay and doing well during this worrying time, which may go on for quite a while yet. We assume that running around in classic cars will probably be out for you guys too?
