1908 van has work, leisure covered

Wayne and Sharyn Nicoll in their 1908 Cadillac van at the start of the 64th Brighton Veteran Car...
Wayne and Sharyn Nicoll in their 1908 Cadillac van at the start of the 64th Brighton Veteran Car Rally in the Octagon on Saturday. Photo: Linda Robertson
Ask a child what a Transformer is, and they may haughtily tell you it is a toy that can change from a vehicle into a robot.

They may also tell you they were invented "yesterday".

But it appears they have been around a lot longer than we all think.

Wayne Nicoll has a 1908 Cadillac van, and the peculiar thing is, if you remove four bolts, you can slide the body off its chassis and turn it into a car.

"So when it came to Sunday night, you would put the work van body on it, and before you went to church on Sunday mornings, you could put a four-seater body on it.

"It could easily be transferred from a car into a work van."

The retired Invercargill City Council mechanical overseer said it was probably one of the first-known transformers.The vehicle was retrieved from Edendale in 1955 and Mr Nicoll said he rebuilt it with his father, William Nicoll, in mind.

"When I got it with this van body on it, I was going to change it to a car body. Then I thought, ‘No, I like it’.

"But I needed to put something on the side of it. So I copied a lot of the bits off his [his dad’s] old letterhead."

Now, the van has "Wm Nicoll & Sons — General Blacksmiths" emblazoned on the sides, and is a fitting tribute to his father, who built the Centre Bush garage in 1926.

Since the vehicle was made roadworthy again, Mr Nicoll has taken it on rallies in Hamilton, Whangarei and Whanganui as well as local rallies.

He said the single-cylinder vehicle was "very fast down a hill" but on average, it travelled about 40kmh.

"We take her out as often as we can.

"Southland weather — you’ve got to pick your days."

He said the Cadillac was one of many restored vehicles he had in his collection.

"Once you contract the rust collecting disease, you can’t stop. The only cure is death," he joked.

He was tempted to drive the vehicle all the way from Invercargill to Dunedin, for the 64th Brighton Veteran Car Rally, which set off from the Octagon on Saturday.

But he decided not to because he was recovering from a heart attack and bowel cancer.He said his family believed he was less likely to make it to Dunedin in one piece than his trusty Cadillac.

"She runs pretty well."

john.lewis@odt.co.nz

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