E. Hayes Motorworks Collection (Hardware Store)
Invercargill was the home of Burt Munro, who set several Bonneville records on bikes and his story was told in the movie, World's Fastest Indian. A local hardware dealer, Ernest Hayes, acquired Burt Munro's collection of machinery, bikes, and parts and used his store, E Hayes & Son's Hardware, as the showcase for it - E Hayes Motorworks Collection - Burt Munro's World's Fastest Indian Scout - Classic Vintage Motor Vehicles It's quite a place, they have a wide range of products, and they are very welcoming to tourists who want to wander around and take pictures. Quite a place!!
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As they went to trade shows Mr Hayes used to build "special tools" to put on display, and to generate discussion with potential customers. Many are in these cases...
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The World's Fastest Indian
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E. Hayes & Son's also had several cars & trucks on display thorughout their store, a '57 Chevy, '57 T-bird that I recall, along with others from the earlier '50's that were unrestored other than a thorough wash before coming inside. They also had a large collection of early machinery, including a running engine built from bits & pieces laying around the farm & shop, just because it could be done.... Seems to be a common thread, oft' referred to as "Kiwi Ingenuity".
HW (Bill) Richardson's Truck Museum
Another place in Invercargill is the HW Richardson Truck Museum - Truck Musuem | Transport History | Vehicle Displays | HWR, New Zealand Since jb spent a number of years behind the wheel of various large trucks, hauling milk for one thing, he has a healthy interest in this collection of trucks amassed by Bill Richardson. We were fortunate to gain access to the museum, which is normally only open by appointment, and then only on select days of the week, but when we showed up at their headquarters building they were very nice, called back to the curator's office and told him our story (only here today, passing through trying to show as much of our country to our friends from Kansas, wanted to see the museum for years, etc, etc) we were directed back to the entrance around the block with no signs announcing it at all. It turns out that Bill, who passed away not too many years ago, lived just across the street and didn't consider his collection a museum, and really didn't like the idea of a lot of people tromping through his stuff. In fact it was not until Bill was gone that they erected a sign on the building out front for HWR Transport, which is a collection of buildings taking up a residential block. Previously there was nothing to let anyone know what the buildings were :).
Scroll through the tabs on the website to see an overview of the amazing collection of trucks, and the wonderful layout of the collection. They are currently working on a nominal 50,000 sqft addition that will allow them to bring the entire collection together in one place, and which will have a small restaurant and facilities for a real museum, open to the public on a regular schedule, sometime in 2015. Here are a few pictures we took as we wandered through....
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Many of the trucks in the collection were Bill's personal trucks, including two F150's less than 15 years old that he bought new drove as his work trucks and then added to the collection.
Southward Automotive Museum
Highlands Motorsports Park, Cromwell, Otago, NZ
As we were headed up the west side of the South Island we diverted inland to Cromwell, and the Highlands Motorsports Park. We did not know that we were arriving just ahead of the weekend finals of the Australian GT Series, so as we arrived to see the grounds and museum we got the added benefit of watching a couple of hours of qualifying runs of the cars that have been competing on the Australian GT Circuit, coming to NZ for their final race of the season to decide the winner. The fellow who developed and build the Highlands Motorsports Park apparently controls the Australian GT Circuit, and he schedules the finals for this track. It's a great layout, and the background of mountains is fantastic.
A few pictures to pique your interests.....
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And a few from the Highlands Motorsports Park Museum...
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A bonus seen in a parking lot when we stopped for a "cuppa":
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And remember in one of the first posts I mentioned Gary & Elaine Pulley, who had sold their all steel Willys, and borrowed a '47 Merc for the Nationals? Well, as we were cruising down the NE portion of the South Island, above Christchurch we stopped at an overlook to view a seal colony, and to our surprise this righteous '56 T-Bird pulls in, and who should it be but Gary & Elaine!! They were returning from Christchurch, where they'd just bought the 'Bird to replace the Willys!! Talk about a surprise!! Turns out they recognized John & Rosie as they motored by, heading north, so they did a quick u-turn and came back! That's jb on the left, in case you're wondering.....
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