The two do not seem like they should go together.
But for Naseby automotive machinist and motorcycle mechanic Eric Swinbourn, they are a match made in heaven.
In his time, he has worked in an engine reconditioning business, serviced bus engines, studied engineering, owned a motorcycle shop with a Ducati agency in Auckland and specialised in overhauling classic cars, including his beloved Alfa Romeos.
In 2006, the former Northlander, who has spent his career working in both Auckland and Queenstown, wanted to make a fresh start.
His first marriage had ended, and with two teenage children to bring up, he and his wife-to-be Marilyn decided to take a trip to look at a business in Naseby.
He had moved to Queenstown to be with his parents in 1989.
Mrs Swinbourn, who had been a duty manager at a holiday park in Queenstown, was interested in taking over the park in Naseby.
"It needed developing and upgrading, but we were too old. It was going to be too much work," Mr Swinbourn said.
"So we went to the cafe across the road and while we were there, we met the mechanic who was trying to sell this. He’d been trying for about a year.
What he saw fitted the bill, and he moved what remained of his business to the new premises.
"And now we wouldn’t be anywhere else. We are quite happy here."
They embraced a new life in a new town on a site that has been associated with the transport industry for 150 years.
But he was realistic about ever being able to sell it as a going concern, and it did not faze him one bit.
"All the country garages are shut up. Basically, no-one wants to run them, and there’s not much need for one, because Ranfurly is well serviced.
"But ... I wanted somewhere I could carry on with my interests, somewhere I could enjoy pottering around in in my retirement."
The 70-year-old has been trying to "retire" for six years, without success.
People kept getting him to do things and he had too many projects of his own on the go. The building is chock full with his racing bike collection and a few classic cars, he said.
" I think I’m overly optimistic about what I can achieve before I die, so I’ve had to get rid of a few."
One of the great things about living at Naseby was its geographic location. He could get to every major motor racing track in the lower South Island within half a day.
"I do love to race and I have done since I was young and when I can, I do make the most of it."
Mr Swinbourn’s machines are a bit like boomerangs.
Take his 1970 180cc Benelli Volcano mini bike, the fastest production mini bike of its type — only 201 were ever made. About six years ago, the man he sold it to in 1974 rang him from Whangarei. He was cleaning out his basement and wanted to know if Mr Swinbourn wanted it back. He will be taking it to an upcoming moped rally in Cromwell.
In 1968, he built a hill climb race car. He sold it in 1972. In the mid-1980s he found it in bits in a second-hand shop in Auckland and rebuilt it.
He still has the 1966 Ducati Mach 1 250cc sports bike he bought as an 18-year-old in 1968. Its top speed is 170kmh.
His "office", part of the former garage, is graced by motoring memorabilia of all kinds and a coffee table made from a 1972 Alfa Romeo engine. He has a particular love for Italian-made machines.
Although racing engines are more his thing, he is proud to own quite possibly the oldest motor ever to be used in the Maniototo, a 1905 3HP Vertical hit and miss engine, made by the International Harvester Corporation, and that powered a shearing shed at Fairview Farm in Patearoa, probably pre-World War 1.
"I spent four or five hours working on it and got it going. It hadn’t been going for 50 years. It’s still on the original skids."
In his "spare" time, he has been lending his engineering skills to building a summer luge track in part of the Naseby forest.
The estimated $200,000 project was due to be completed by Christmas. People will be able to whistle down the hill in about 30 seconds.
"I enjoy the [building] process but I would enjoy riding it more."
