Our club outing this month was definitely going to be different, because the end result was going to be a trip to a Mercedes-Benz “Man Cave”. These are few and far between and I know that some of our partners and wives were a little hesitant about going on such an excursion.
However, the day dawned with brilliant sunshine and fine weather, so off we went! I was able to arrange the use of our retirement village’s Mercedes Sprinter to enable a group of us to travel from Papamoa in leather-seated comfort, to our morning tea stop at Woodlands Garden Grove Café on Whitikahu Rd at Gordonton.
Within a short time, we were at a large table surrounded by fellow members and special guests of members, keen to enjoy the day. I was proud to introduce John Parker to our members there, as John was holidaying with Ann & I at home in Papamoa. He and I had been work colleagues at both MB Australia and here in NZ at MBNZ, when we were both in senior roles in the truck sales division of the distributor. We have been good friends for more than 45 years.
After morning tea, we all proceeded to the old Tuakau Hotel for a sit down lunch at a single long table in the very ornate dining room, where meals from a basic bowl of hot chips, through prawn cocktails, to large hamburgers and roast lamb or beef dinners were possible, for the 30-odd people there. This was the largest gathering of MB aficionados that I can recall at any monthly outing during my time with the Midland Club!
We were joined at lunch by another old colleague of mine, Dave Ballantyne, who was my right hand man at German Motor Distributors, the Colin Giltrap-owned company, that took over the Mercedes distribution in NZ in 1990, following Cable Price Corporations decision to withdraw from this activity following the stock market crash in the late 1980’s. Dave had joined GMD in 1993 as an assistant to me and remained with GMD right through the introduction of Freightliner trucks in right hand drive and the arrival of Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks during the mid and late 1990s.
The NZ distribution rights reverted back to MB Australia in the early 2000s and Dave became NZ Truck Sales Manager until his resignation in 2016 and his subsequent move to NZ General Manager of Isuzu Trucks. Both he and John Parker had remained good friends together with myself over this period and remain so.
Following lunch, we proceeded to Howard Transport Ltd. in Tuakau, where NZ’s most knowledgeable MB truck man, Stuart Howard, welcomed us all to his “Man Cave”. Stuart’s knowledge of MB truck product started many years age when his Poppa, Robin owned R.W. Howard Transport in Tuakau and had many model 1418 MB trucks in their rural operation. This company was then to become Terrence Howard Transport, Stuart’s Dad, and although still involved, Terrence has stepped back to let Stuart and his brother Patrick run the company.
The Man Cave has every conceivable MB model, knick-knack, calendar, posters and old trucks, some fully restored and some in need of lots of TLC. Stuart gave us a wonderful dialogue of the history of all the various items on display and his intimate knowledge of current and long-gone truck models from the German manufacturer and his personal opinion of the way it is currently run here in NZ. That discussion could have gone long into the evening!
After the Man Cave, we went a little further up the road to Howard Transport’s main yard and workshop, where we were able to wander around the Mercedes trucks and trailers in the yard and even the magnificently restored heavy fork hoist in bright red and white fleet colours has a full set of highly polished alloy wheels, matching other trucks in the fleet.
It was getting fairly late in the afternoon when the last of us thanked Stuart for his hospitality and headed home, heads spinning with newly acquired memories and information about the commercial side of Mercedes-Benz trucks, a far distance from the cars we love.