The Nelson Vintage Car Club celebrated their 50th anniversary last year and in 2015 their next big event for the public to take part in is this Saturday’s swap meet. Originally a swap meet would include the buying, selling and swapping of vintage car parts but has now evolved into what can safely be called a super-sized garage sale. All sorts of items can turn up, from antiques, plants, art; nearly everything you can think of. “Sometimes there’s a bit of junk but even that can be another man’s treasure,” says organiser and Nelson Vintage Car Club chairman, Kevin Mercer. “Swap meets I’ve been involved with in the past have been for Winchester in South Canterbury and we got up to nearly 400 sites at its peak. It was a great way of raising funds for the club and our aim now is to raise money to fund the alterations to our new clubrooms at the Nelson Speedway Association track.”
This is the first time the Nelson Vintage Car Club have hosted a swap meet of this size and as well as creating necessary funds for the organisation, it is a great platform for the public to sell their unwanted items to a larger audience than they would normally get at a private garage sale. To get an idea of what a swap meet is check out this video
Winchester Swap Meet began in 1985 with only 46 sites and with just over 50 already sold for this Saturday, and more expected later in the week, the Nelson Vintage Car Club are looking forward to making the event their annual fundraiser. The swap meet will be open to the public from 8am on Lansdowne Rd with the grounds needing to be cleared by 5pm and will feature a variety of items for sale including car parts, plants, kids toys, household items, tools; “just about anything you can imagine,” says Kevin. “I know for a fact on one of the sites there is going to be a kitchen sink and some carpet. It can even be new, we see a lot of people that trade in tools, or some other product, end up with a bit of surplus stock that they bring along to sell.”
The Nelson Vintage Car Club is far more than a monthly club meeting and with a few car rallies thrown in. Their 280 local members are passionate about the preservation of cars that are more than 30 years old and the group is among one of the authorities in New Zealand that have a considerable amount of power when it comes to assisting members with getting new restorations re-registered. “There are a lot of tough rules today that our cars can’t comply with for many reasons, for example, many of them don’t have seat belts, and that prevents them from being on our roads today,” says Kevin. “We also have a very strong representation to government to assist with laws around older cars, so we’re a pretty important body.”
The Nelson Vintage Car Club is a branch of a national organisation, although Nelson members were originally part of the Canterbury branch, but with so much interest and 35 members in Nelson, it was decided to form a separate branch in 1964. The benefits of the Nelson Vintage Car Club are numerous for car enthusiasts who not only enjoy monthly club meetings that can range from a visit to a car in the middle of being restored, to a night of ten pin bowling, but encompasses a huge network of car owners available for advice and help when it comes to all aspects of their cars. “I really enjoy the involvement with people,” says Kevin. “I’ve been a member of the vintage car club for 37 years and this is the third branch I’ve been chairman of, but what I’ve done over that time is build up a huge group of acquaintances, some of them are friends, nationwide, so we can go motoring anywhere in New Zealand and if we have a problem, there’s always somebody we can call. I would think now that more than 50 per cent of my friends have come from the car club.”
Nelson Vintage Car Club is always happy to welcome new members to join the group, especially the younger generation. Kevin says that it’s also important for the club to focus on fostering the earlier cars and prevent them from being exported out of the country. “New Zealand was treated almost like a dumping ground for all the odd ball makes, in Nelson there was a Brown car and that was one of only two in the country. They were made in England and it went back to England, and now there’s only one left in New Zealand. That’s the sort of thing we have to watch, that we don’t lose that type of car out of the country.”
Every year the cars eligible to be part of the Nelson Vintage Car Club grows and those who are interested in becoming members are welcome to contact the club via email and if you looking to pick up some bargains don’t miss out on the Nelson Vintage Car Club Swap Meet on Saturday, February 21. A display of the clubs cars will also be available for people to check out while they’re there.
