Moses ready to climb the hill once again

THERE will be a strong sense of deja vu when Masterton man Terry Moses sits in his immaculate 1980 Jaguar XJ6 Series 3 sedan on the start line at the foot of Admiral Hill on October 13 this year.
Excitement will be high, the heart will be pumping, the vision focussed as adrenaline surges through the 71-year-old's system.
You see, it's almost exactly 50 years ago that young Terry first experienced that sensation, when he lined up his Austin Healey 100 sports car for an observed run, a prerequisite for the issuing of a competition licence, at a gravel hillclimb on Moonshine Road, in the Hutt Valley. The event was run by the Hutt Valley Car Club.
Terry remembers it like it was yesterday. "I got it all wrong," he said this week. "I nearly hit the bank a couple of times and was all over the place. But they (the observers) thought it was all right, so I got my licence."
He's proud of the fact that he was third in his first event, won by another man who was to become a Wairarapa Car Club stalwart, Graham Cowie, in another Austin Healey.
A memory of that day hangs on the wall of Terry's Masterton home, a painting by noted motorsport artist Andy Danks of the white and blue Austin Healey at speed on the hill.
Terry went on to become a founding member of the Wairarapa Car Club, which on October 12, 13 and 14 celebrates its 50th birthday.
There will be demonstration runs during the Admiral Road hillclimb by some of the original members, including Terry.
Terry's love of cars goes way back, into his teens, when he saw an MG TF on display at H.J.Jones' premises.
He really wanted that car, but then he got called up to do his Compulsory Military Training, and his Dad wouldn't let him buy it.
So each time he came home he'd rush down to salivate over the little British racer, a 1250cc flier with a, for then, huge pricetag of ?900. For another ?100 he could have had the 1500cc model, but that was beyond him.
One thing on his side was that once he finished his CMT Terry was on big money, driving bulldozers.
At a time when the average wage for a young bloke was ?3 a week, he was on ?15.
"My mates were envious, but it was dangerous work, with long hours. We used to live in a caravan all week, going home at the weekends."
(Fifty-three years on, Terry is a legend in the contracting world, still driving bulldozers for Hooper Contracting. Conditions have improved, however. Today's mount is a D7 with air-conditioned cab and all the bells and whistles.) "My daughters think I'm mad, but I enjoy it," he says.
Anyway, CMT completed, Terry rushed home to buy "his" car.
He was gutted to find it had been sold to another MG enthusiast, "Mrs Jimmy" Knight. Joneses told him there was another one in New Plymouth, white with red upholstery instead of green, and that they'd get it down for him.
He forked out ?500 and spent the next year paying off the balance.
He had a lot of fun in that car, but no competition there wasn't enough money left over from the hire purchase to properly prepare it.
He did, however, manage some tweaks. In those days, tuning twin carburettors was a bit of a black art, and expensive.
Eventually he came across John Hodge, at Masterton Motors, who reckoned he could "get a few more herbies for you." And he did, bigtime.
"It was fantastic, magic," said Terry
Eventually he sold the MG to a Levin man for ?750 and, at age 21, put a deposit on the Austin Healey (price tag ?1200), again working long hours to pay it off. He had a lot of fun with that car, competing in standing and flying sprints and hillclimbs. Those cars had the A90 Atlantic engine and its four-speed gearbox, but with first gear blocked off. Cowie unblocked the first gear, and as a result got a car which was quicker off the mark than other Austin Healey 100s. Young men in powerful cars were no different then than today, and there were inevitable brushes with the law.
Terry still has a traffic offence notice that says he was caught on the Masterton to Carterton straight doing 80mph (about 140km/h), a speed deemed dangerous.
After the Austin Healey came a Mk1 Zephyr Zodiac.
One Sunday he and his friends were doing some skids in what is now the Percy Reserve, by the Te Ore Ore bridge. Two or three of them suffered damage from stumps concealed in the long grass, and decided "this is stupid, let's form a club and do it properly".
An informal meeting was held at a Masterton home, those attending including Graham Cowie, Peter Lawson, John McDougall and Walter Millington. They decided to ask Fordy Parland, prominent in Manawatu motorsport and driver of a potent V8 Singer, to address a public meeting. Fifty people turned up and the first committee of the Wairarapa Car Club, Terry Moses among them, was formed.
He recalls that not long after, members drove down Admiral Road, thinking "this would be a good place for a hillclimb". Prophetic. "The Admiral" has been a popular venue ever since, and the focus of the October celebrations, which will also see a formal dinner, with guest speakers Colin Bond, a former Australian champion race and rally driver, and former Carterton man Peter Wollerman. Both men are now deeply involved with V8 Supercar racing. A committee headed by another very early member, Peter Cameron, is organising the reunion.
Terry branched out into another form of motorsport, racing a TQ Midget on the Solway Speedway track for a couple of meetings.
He'd married by then, and with child No 1 on the way decided discretion was the better part of valour.
His love of cars continued, however. The Zodiac was followed by a 1956 Morris Minor, a '59 Anglia and a flock of Valiants, four of them, the last a V8 model. In 1988 came his pride and joy, the big Jaguar.
"It's so comfortable, you could drive it to Auckland, have a cup of tea, and drive right back," says Terry.
Have a yarn with Terry, if you get a chance. He has a fund of stories. Like watching the late Ron Roycroft driving the ex-Nuvolari Alfa Romeo GP car. Nothing fancy in those days. "He tucked his pants into his socks, put on a leather jacket and helmet, and off he went." (That car, Terry says, sold for ?1.5 million at a Sothebys auction.)
(Another notable car, a local one ... Terry tells me the AC Aceca campaigned (and later restored) by Peter Lawson, has been sold to Australia.)
Some stories are still too sensitive for print no names, no pack drill as they said in the army but you might like to ask Terry about a certain car chase that could have come from a Dukes of Hazzard script.
That'll be one of a thousand yarns doing the rounds at the anniversary celebrations. People who haven't booked in yet for this historic occasion need to get their A into G.