Passion for motoring history

In a modest shed on Bruce Ardell's Fordell property is a jaw-dropping collection of motor vehicles. Photo/Stuart Munro

Overland, Lanchester, Hupmobile, Hudson, Oakland, Erskine are names that roll off the tongue of any vintage or classic car enthusiast.

They are also names Wanganui mechanic Bruce Ardell knows intimately, because it's his business to know them inside out.

From the time he left school and began a motor mechanic's apprenticeship in the mid-1960s, his fascination for cars - especially old ones - has never waned.

He started collecting old vehicles, car parts and motoring bric a brac and in time shifted out to the rural village of Fordell because it offered more space for his "old stuff".

The cars take pride of place in a purpose-built shed on the farmlet where he and wife Jenny live, and are open to viewing by appointment.

But in the last few years it's the parts business Bruce created that has become a Mecca for vintage and classic car owners, simply because of the astounding number and variety of parts he has acquired.

He set up Mechanical Restorations and Vintages Spared (1980) Ltd, running it from his garage at Fordell.

While there's a significant number of parts at the rural home, the bulk of it is stored in a city warehouse. And it would need to be, because the inventory is mind-numbingly extensive.

"I've always had a passion for older cars, and I developed a bit of a name in town handling them. The parts side of the business developed in the last few years because we'd bought so much stock over time and it suited me to do it," he said.

It's because he stocks rare stuff that car enthusiasts beat a path to his door.

"The bulk of my customers are vintage car club people because I carry parts as far back as 1912 up to 1990. That's an 80-year span of cars. Not many in the world do that."

Photo/Stuart Munro

Looking for a crown wheel and pinion for a 1915 Cadillac? Bruce has got 300 of them in stock. Want a head gasket for a Hudson Hornet or Jewett? Tick. Water pump for a Packard or Oakland? Tick that off too.

Starter ring gears? He's got 1500 of them to go with the hundreds of axle half-shafts. Then there are 14,000 valves of various types along with 12,000 engine gaskets. We're talking serious numbers.

He usually works 10-hour days, handling customer inquiries and parcelling up parts to be collected by the courier the next day.

While most of the orders are from around New Zealand, he gets the occasional call from Australia and South Africa. He's even had a visit from two Humber enthusiasts from Britain.

"They came in here and their eyeballs stuck out. I supplied them with gear that I'd had for years.

"They took a couple of bloody big loads of parts. How they freighted them back, I don't know."

He's still got stuff on the shelves that Lee Brothers, a long-gone Wanganui motor vehicle parts company, had stocked in the 1920s. He picked that up when that business closed. Lee Brothers indented the parts and wrote down the purchase date in pencil. Like the water pump for a Model A Ford, still in its original box.

Bruce replaces gaskets by keeping at least one to use as a template and getting them reproduced. But the point is that if he didn't he doubts anyone else would.

He doesn't mind saying he lives in a time warp, but he's doing what he does to help others, and that makes him very happy.

While other businesses make the internet connection, Bruce isn't heading in that direction.

Buying up Lees Brothers' stock also meant taking on the Cardex filing system they had created and, nearly 100 years on, he still relies on it.

It may be old-fashioned but it doesn't incur line charges and no IT geek is needed to service it.

"It only costs me a rubber and a pencil to maintain each year."

The internet has had a small impact on his business but not much, and what impact it has had Bruce Ardell hasn't the time to worry about anyway.

"I'm already working 10-hour days, and there are other things in my life I want to do. Imagine people emailing all day? If I had two or three staff, probably fine, but there's only me."

There's another side to the Ardell story too and that's in a shed the couple had purpose-built on the Fordell farmlet.

It's a no-frills affair but inside is a jaw-dropping collection of vintage and classic cars accumulated in the past 50 years.

Viewing is by appointment only and plenty of car enthusiasts have. But this isn't just for enthusiasts. This eclectic gathering of motoring memorabilia is a shrine to motoring memories.

It started from the time Bruce got his first car - a Morris 8 - which was followed by a 1928 Chev he bought in 1967 and which he still drives. From those small beginnings a collection grew just like Topsy did.

"A lot of people comment about what I've collected, but to me it's not unusual. I've done it all my life and got so used to it. Everything's old, but I enjoy it."

The vehicle museum was built with the help of some mates, and it houses some very rare vehicles - cars like the 1937 Fiat Balilla 508, made in the Fiat factory in Czechoslovakia, which still rides on its original tyres. Or the Vauxhall Big Six, used to chauffeur the Duke of Gloucester around when he visited in 1934-35.

In another corner there's a 1938 Studebaker Commander Coupe, a 1961 Austin Mini panel van, a rare 1953 Skoda which is the only one of its kind in New Zealand and a 1935 Dennis fire engine that saw service with the New Plymouth Fire Brigade.

Some have had a hard life, others have barely been out of the garage, but Bruce loves them for what they represent.

He talks about the "patina" the old vehicles wear; that sheen that only comes from age and use. He likes them like that because in that original condition they all tell a story.

He keeps some of the cars very active, tootling into the city in either his 1967 Chrysler Valiant, a 1961 Vanden Plas Princess, the 1928 Chevrolet National, or the 1938 Dodge Coupe.

At one stage the paddock behind Bruce and Jenny's home was littered with about 100 cars of various ages and conditions. Many of them were stripped of their parts but others have found their way into his remarkable museum.

Another building is planned to show off more of the collection, but much of the future will be dictated by the time Bruce has to give and the precious help that family and friends contribute.

The cars are uncovered in November and the dust covers go back on at the end of April.

"That's enough of having people through here. I don't have much spare time in my life as it is," he said.

What precious spare time he has had enabled Bruce to help dig the paddle steamer Waimarie out of the Whanganui River mud and give a hand with its restoration. He's also involved with the city's Antiquities Trust.

He and Jenny think nothing of driving their 1928 Chevrolet to Wellington for a rally, as they did last November. While the car caused a lot of comment in the capital, for the Ardells it's just what you do with old cars - they're made to be driven so they drive them.

Only a few weeks shy of turning 65, Bruce hasn't only built up a warehouse of parts. He has built up a vast warehouse of knowledge that, sadly, will be lost when he passes because there is no one else to pick up his torch.

"Sure, I think about that, but unless someone sat on my shoulder for a year and I taught them everything, it's not going to happen. But I have no intention of retiring."

It's a hugely valuable collection and parts business but it's not in his nature to think about its value.

"I place no monetary value on what's here. I love everything and have a passion for everything and, of course, everything's insured. But, really, I'm just a caretaker of all this."

His collection happened because he wanted to save the cars; he didn't want them rusting away or ending up in the dump.

"Once a car goes to the scrap yard or car crusher, it's terminal. So it was about saving this stuff.

"Hopefully, what I've done preserves them forever."