In mid-2017 Paul Collins received a phone call from a gentleman in Te Puke offering our branch a dismantled 1937 Lanchester Saloon project to rescue. After a brief discussion at the club it was agreed that we proceed with the offer and we agreed to accept it. Neil Beckenham and Paul travelled to Te Puke with a hired trailer behind Paul’s utility to collect the project.

On arrival at the property Paul and Neil met with the owner (Bruce Hutchinson) to view the vehicle. After inspection the large pile of parts and body shell were loaded onto the vehicle and trailer. There was not enough room so they loaded all the small parts into the spare passenger seats of the vehicle. After loading the body onto the trailer, they stacked mud guards, seats, doors and other larger parts into the body shell. There were too many items for the utility and trailer so two large bins were stacked up for delivery by the owner the following week who happened to be travelling to Whangarei.

Bruce has quite a collection of vehicles and Paul and Neil were able to stay and get a tour of his lovely vehicles. After viewing the collection they departed on a slow journey back to Auckland with all the parts collected. The utility and trailer were unloaded and the jigsaw puzzle was put into the corner of one of our sheds waiting for the right time to begin the restoration process.

Bruce arrived the following week with the rest of the vehicle and that too was placed into the shed with the rest of the bits and pieces.

Paul has since been in touch with Bruce to discuss some aspects of the vehicle and Bruce is now compiling more history regarding this vehicle. Once that history has been received and the restoration has been started we will update this summary.

Click on a photo to stop the slide show.