"You know what boys are like, they love the old cars, and seeing how things work," he said.
A century ago a Model T Ford took a bit more than eight days to motor from Wellington to Auckland. Much of that trip was through country without roads, road signs and often without bridges across rivers.
To mark that remarkable journey, 29 Model Ts drive out of the capital tomorrow in a centennial re-enactment which finishes in Drury, South Auckland, on Tuesday.
The first trip was done by in November 1912 by journalist Arthur Chorlton, photographer Ernest Gilling, and Harold Richards.
That pioneering trio had no way of knowing if they would make it to Auckland. In those days there were no road maps or signposts, few rivers were bridged and there was no known route through the King Country.
They reached Taihape the first day, then camped near Horopito the second night. From Waimarino (now National Park) they were not sure where they were going. The 120km from Taumarunui to Te Kuiti took four-and-a-half days, with the abominable wet weather and papa clay conspiring to stop them.
They finally reached Auckland after only eight-and-a-half days. Today this is still the shortest way through from Wellington to Auckland.
Chorlton documented the journey, telling of people, horses, cattle and dogs being scared at "the sight of the horseless carriage". He described it as a "genuine adventure into the unknown" with "close shaves in the wilderness, over punga bridges, and on narrow tracks, crowded by slips to the edge of precipices".
Halfway into the adventure the trusty Model T became so hopelessly bogged in Matiere that they had to call on a farmer for his horses to help. It took four horses to pull the Model T out of the mud.
Eight days and 13 hours after it left Wellington, the "battered, mud-stained Model T, with its weary, unkempt voyagers ran down Queen St, crowded with staring people just off work, and pulled up at the GPO [General Post Office]".
The car then made a "racing run home to Wellington" via a more conventional route in a record two-and-a-half days.