Adventures with Kiwi Mike

Here's another trip from Mike Houghton in New Zealand. This time he went to Wellington for a show as a guest of Peter Vincent in late 2008. Peter owns the yellow Ergo Octopus - perhaps one of the hardest working, show-attending classic trucks in the southern hemisphere. Peter, a Leyland nut, owns Vincent Aviation operating out of Wellington and Darwin. Last year, Peter sold his AEC Mammoth Major 6 to a restorer in Napier and naturally had to deliver it!

In his travels Mike also visited Vic Draper's - Leyland nuts in New Zealand understandably tend to congregate. Vic is well known for his excellent Leyland restorations particularly his LAD-cabbed 'Hypo Hippo' which is perhaps the most impressively restored LAD ever. He's now working on a short-wheelbase Octopus which, given these photos were taken last year, would be well underway now.

Mike says:

You can see the new chassis rails on top of the 20ft box in the background. The cab is now finished and came from an Albion Riever that I picked up in Southland with my Beaver and carried to Picton for the start of the Long Lap in October 2007.

While at Vic's Mike snapped a couple of other vehicles in the Draper collection. Despite what the mudflaps say, the Loadstar has a GM 6V53 in it. The tractor, however, is not what you'd expect. She is powered by a Ford Cargo turbo motor and, according to Mike, is very smart off the line!

Finally for this Houghton instalment are a couple of photos of Mike and his yard in action. The Nissan (model anyone?) is still working for a local tree-lopping contractor and was parked in the Houghton yard overnight while the Merc on the back of Mike's Beaver (captured by Alex Vincent) is a mobile wardrobe as there isn't enough room in a Beaver for two people's clothes for a weekend! It's always great to see couples enjoying their old vehicles.