WELCOME to an intriguing tale about a bygone era of motoring and ancient automobiles.
Our guide today is Brian Schasser, 81, who once spent nine years restoring a near derelict 1928 Dodge Six tourer to pristine condition, then sold it to help a family member with medical expenses.
A fascination with great cars of yesteryear gets in your blood, as Brian readily agrees.
He's a life member of Newcastle and District Vintage and Classic Car Club (NDVCCC), which he joined 39 years ago and where he's now club historian.
His club turned 56 years old last month, on July 20.
That's cause for celebration, but Brian discovered his vintage car club is far from being the first such automobile club to set up in Newcastle.
That honour seems to go to the relatively short-lived, but influential, Newcastle Automobile Association (or NAA) which existed between 1915 and 1933.
We only know precise details of the trailblazing car club automobiles and their owners from the long lost, hand-written history of the club. This was only found in 1956 in the basement of the former Hunter Street business Scott's department store, then owned by David Jones (now restored as the boutique hotel QT Newcastle).
The name Hugh Thompson is listed as a NAA member. He was also the manager of Scott's Ltd in 1926 and had apparently placed the precious NAA records in his store basement for safekeeping.
"These were then given to a foundation member of our own vintage club, the late Bill Hale, in 1975. He did a lot of research," Brian Schasser said.
"Our first knowledge of the NAA was when Bill was given an NAA car bumper badge by a friend whose father-in-law was in the club in the early 1920s.
"The car badges are extremely rare. Only two NAA badges have ever been found," Brian said.
The first NAA rally was held on Saturday, February 13, 1915. It started from Bolton Street, Newcastle. A club picture of the event shows 20 of the 40 cars participating. Some 150 members and friends took part.
While the open-top jaunty jalopies included a 25hp Buick and a T-model Ford, others were quaint automobile brands like Hupmobile, Minerva, Brazier, Star and Pullman.
"From Bolton Street, the rally went to Harold Arnott's house at Toronto. Arnott's house today is part of the Toronto Motor Yacht Club. NAA's inaugural president Alfred Goninan provided lunch and I suppose Harold Arnott (William Arnott's grandson) provided the biscuits," Brian said.
A list of NAA members reads like an early 'Who"s Who' of early 20th century Newcastle.
Besides A.Goninan, of manufacturing engineering fame, there was Arnott, Norbert Callen of Callen's Slipways at Stockton, several doctors including eye specialist Dr H.Dunlop, produce merchants like Ireland Brothers, big garage owners, timber merchants, chemists and bank managers.
"These members were also very competitive. In Newcastle in 1915, it would have been only the wealthy business people who could afford a car and be able to compete in hill climbs, fuel economy tests and car rallies," Brian said.
"And there was no need to block off roads back then. NAA members were likely to be the only people who had cars around Newcastle.
"Their first hill climb was in King Edward Park and another, in 1921, was up Wolfe Street with the winner registering 31.5 seconds. Another hill climb was up Bulls Garden Road, Whitebridge, from Gateshead and the fastest car didn't win. They had special formulas worked out on vehicles, their weight and horsepower, to give every competitor a fair chance of winning in races.
"The Newcastle Automobile Association ran events like half-gallon petrol tests to see how far individual cars could travel before stopping. Then there were slow running tests down Parry Street, Newcastle. And accelerator tests in Maitland Road, would you believe. No one would be able to do that today," Brian said.
"The NAA also pushed for improved roads, especially in the then Lake Macquarie Shire and organising working bees to help. Remember that in the old days, the NAA rally cars would have been racing around on dirt roads!
"Over the years, the only living person who could enlighten us on the NAA's history was a well-known Newcastle solicitor Bill Cannington, whose father was once a club member and for whom Bill navigated at rallies. Unfortunately, this gentleman died not long after we recorded a discussion with him on tape. "
Brian, of Birmingham Gardens, said one unusual story to emerge from the research involved the enterprising, former NAA club treasurer Norbert Callen and his brother Arthur.
"The Callens built a rock crushing plant at Merewether Wharf to process rock from American (sailing) ships after dumping ballast on Stockton foreshore. This included building rubble from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. They crushed the bigger bits to sell as road base and the smaller rocks as concrete aggregate."
The association's clubrooms were set up on the first floor of the Land Investment Company building at 18 Bolton Street, Newcastle, with its name etched on its window panes. This building still exists.
About late 1925, eight years before its demise, the NAA then became the Newcastle Automobile Club.
"I tried to interest the NRMA in this new motoring history on its recent 100th anniversary, but they didn't seem interested," Brian revealed.
"Speaking of the NRMA though, I still have one of its 1929 road service brochures. Their base's day telephone number here was Newcastle 468 and their night watch emergency number was 769. And before relocating in Auckland Street, Newcastle, the NRMA had its headquarters at 14 Wheeler Place. Now, do you know where that is?
"It's a back corner of the Civic Theatre. There they had beautiful leadlight windows spelling out the letters NRMA in blue. But sadly, these had to be taken down. Some scumbag vandals full of beer once kicked in a door there and the lead lights were too expensive to repair. They were replaced instead with plain safety glass. A pity," Brian said.
His own vintage car club, the NDVCCC, also has an interesting and chequered history.
Formed in July, 1966, at Hamilton, it was founded as a true vintage club, catering for all vehicles manufactured from January 1919 to December 1930.
The constitution has since expanded to cater for vehicles from date of manufacture to a 30-year cut-off.
Club membership runs to 133 local members with another 43 members in the Upper Hunter.
The club was based at Waratah Library for 17 years, but after Newcastle's 1989 earthquake, it moved to the adjoining Waratah School of Arts, whose recent restoration featured on this page several weeks ago. The car enthusiasts now meet regularly in a Boolaroo hall.
Brian said one of the club's proudest achievements was its 1967 initiative to become the first autoclub in NSW to make its own distinctive number plates (replacing paper permits) for vintage vehicles.
His club's newsletter, aptly enough, is called 'Old Timer'.
