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The Morris Eight Tourer Club
of New Zealand (Inc)

On 25th March, as part of the Southland Vintage Car Club's Autumn Rally, three Morris Eight cars set off from the meeting place at Woolworth's car park, in wonderful weather, to go through the Nevis Valley.  They were Bill and Doris Gough in a Series E,  Dave and Marilyn Calvert in a Series 1 sports, and myself and grandson Jeremy in our Series 1 four door.

We proceeded to Garston down the main road to wait for all to arrive.  It proved to be a long wait, as a Ford T had troubles with water leaks and a 1924 Nash had big end bearing problems.  Baker 5, an elegantly restored Bread van, shouted hot-cross buns to all.  This was very well enjoyed, especially as the pub wasn't open until we had all been there over an hour.  There was a nice exhibit of mining in the area to look at, though, to help fill in the time.  Here we persuaded Dave to go through the Nevis, since he intended to go via the main road to Bannockburn, and thought the Morris wouldn't make it.

The hill climb out of Garston into the Nevis Valley is quite a climb.  There were a few problems with some of the cars getting hot, but not the trusty M 8's.  The photo shows us at the first stop,by a long drop, after the long hard climb up.

Then we headed down into the Nevis Valley with its 24 or so fords.  I was looking forward to this, as previously a friend of ours in the Gore club had taken his Austin 10/4 through, and where he could go I thought I could too.  The track through the Nevis has a sign, Four Wheel Drive Only, at each end, but we ignored that.  With the glorious weather, the streams were low and hopefully passable.  One of the streams proved too much for a Ford Anglia, that attacked it too vigorously, but they weren't too much trouble.

I was in a group with Dave Calvert, that missed the front cars turning off for lunch, so we carried on by ourselves and had lunch in a small group towards the end of the 4 wheel drive section and a gate across the track.  The other's lunch stop was by an old gold mining camp   Gold mining is still being carried out near there, using modern machinery to move the material.  After visiting the old Nevis cemetery on the way out, seemingly odd in the middle of nowhere, we had the climb over to Bannockburn.  This was very steep.  I had to have two tries to get over, and if was any steeper or longer I wouldn't have made it.  Little easier for Bill Gough with more horsepower and a 4 speed box.

On the paved road near Bannockburn, Dave Calvert lost oil pressure.  It appeared a genuine loss rather than a gauge problem since oil didn't come out the drilling into the block when the pipe was taken out.  He had to be trailered back to Invercargill.  There were five back up vehicles and all were needed on the weekend.

We all stayed overnight at the Chalet in Cromwell, meeting up here with those that took the easy low main road, and travelled via Frankton, for rest and recuperation.

The next morning we were supposed to take the pylon route to Clyde.  I went off to get petrol, and just down the road the car stopped.  It felt like a fuel problem, but there was fuel in carburettor, the spark was fine, but it just wouldn't start more than a few coughs.  Someone helping put his hand over the air intake while I was trying to start and it burst into life and the motor didn't look back.  After getting petrol, I decided that as I didn't know what had gone wrong, I had better stick to the main road and meet the others for lunch in Alexandra.  They seemed to take ages, and when they arrived after hearing my tale said that the Morrie knew what was ahead and didn't want to go over it!  The road was much worse than the one through the Nevis, with severe ruts and washouts.  I now realise that I had a petrol block and the engine vacuum pulled whatever it was through.  It can't have been serious, since the car reached 60 mph along the Ettrick straight (no wind assistance either).

Since they had planned a stop at Ettrick, I invited all to our holiday house in Ettrick, and rushed back to warn my wife Lindsey and make muffins for afternoon tea.  It was nice to have all the still going vintage cars there, and nice to be able offer our hospitality.

Vintage cars with Bill Gough's Series E leaving our holiday house at Ettrick.

On our way back through Moa Flat, well after the rest of the party, we came across Baker 5 being towed, and a big International Van is heavy towing.  We stopped to help as they we trying to modify the fuel pump using a piece of wood.  The modifications got them through the down-hill run to Herriot, but they had to be towed back to Invercargill.

Bill and Doris Gough won the Autumn Rally trophy, even though they had problems in losing the silencer temporarily in a rutted section on the second day.  A nice honour for  Morris Eights, even though the rest of us had our problems.  Dave Calvert's proved to be a sheared oil pump drive, mine probably from either the dusty track or more likely from the then lack of a fuel filter into the carburettor. It was rather a testing time for the cars, finding all the weak spots.  I had tried to prepare by going over steep hills, and giving the car a good run, but the Nevis was a very testing time.  I'm still glad I did it.  It's remarkable country, and lacking a four-wheel drive, it's the only way for me to see it.

Bill and Doris Gough would like to add that the trip from Bannockburn to Clyde on the second day was quite an experience, as it was more of a track than a road, as they found out.

"About halfway into the trip, we landed into a deep crevice, putting the left hand side of the Series E into it.  We thought we were in real trouble, but before we had time to reflect on how we were going to get out, three of the club members were there.  They lifted the car up, and we drove out as though it had never happened.  We would like to say thank you to those members.

Apart from that, everything went well, and when we reached the look out over Clyde, it was all worthwhile.  The scenery here was magnificent, with Clyde nestled in the valley, with the Clutha River in the foreground."

Paul Rodmell