Simons Unique Mkll Station Wagon
This is an update on the article Roy
Jacobs Mk2 Station Wagon, written by Simon who is the current owner
Here is Simons story of his ownership of this very
interesting piece of NZ Zephyr history:
Here are some
photos of the car, the first is when it was found in the paddock in Kakahi.
I'm picking from the address
on the ownership papers that the garage owner that was killed is Trevor
Skinner, The ownership details only go back to the 27th November 1984. I
brought her at the end of June 2002.
The car had
been advertised for about a year before I actually got it. I have the original
advert out of the paper as well. It was not advertised as a prototype at that
time, and the phone number in it was a Bluff one, which is similar to
Lyttleton, so I thought that it would be full of rust, but still something a
bit different and worth a look. Upon ringing I found that they lived in
Greenhills, which is about 10 k’s before Bluff, which was quite ironic as that
is where I grew up.
On the phone Fiona gave me the address, which turned
out to be a childhood friends old house. We went and had a look, and her
husband showed me over the station wagon, it wasn't running too well at that
stage, he suspected the carbie, but I made an offer any way, and was told no,
so we left it at that.
I started working again not long after that, long
hours so managed to save a lot, with no time to spend it. I then phoned back
about the Zephyr, a year had nearly pasted at that stage. Robert told me that
it could be for sale as Fiona and he had split up, so he gave me her phone
number, and after about a week and a lot of phone calls we all agreed to the
price of $3000.00, I nearly had it for $2500.00, but Robert was to get only
1/3rd of the sale price so said $3000.00, I had the money so was quite pleased
to pay that price.
I picked her up at the end of June 2002, the next day
they had “The Rocks best car in Southland competition” on, so I washed her by
torch light that night and took her down the next day. I got a couple of T
shirts out of it and a number for the primer painted car that I have pictured
with this one.
Since owning the car we have done several trips to
Christchurch, and have used her to sleep in too. Compared with the English
version there is about 8 extra inches inside, and the floor is flat when the
rear seat is laid down, so it can sleep 2 really well, the spare wheel lays
flat under the top board. There is nothing like waking up early in the morning
in a rest stop near Rakaia with the sun on you. I have also used her to pick up
other Zephyr's and car parts as well, and also to move house.
I used her as
a hearse once as well for my Dad who was a founding member and President of the
Southland Zephyr Zodiac Club, he was also a life member of the club too. He had
a really nice Mk 2 Zodiac for a number of years, but he also had MK 1's and 3's
as well, but he had a real soft spot for MK 2's, and would never own a MK 4,
you could even say that it run's in the blood!
The day of his last ride we actually got lost going
from my brothers on one side of Christchurch to the main road to go to
Geraldine, and we ended up near the square with the coffin in the back, we got
a few funny looks, but being the last drive home I wasn't too worried.
The last trip we took was to the 2007 Convention in
Christchurch at Easter this year, but before we got there, just before ST
Andrews the fan went through the radiator, but thanks to Phil Rooke, and 2 of
his friends both called Bob, we managed to borrow some parts to get us going
and had a really good weekend.
I have to replace the head gasket and get the water
pump reconditioned, I have managed to get all the other parts, but just haven't
had the time to do it all.
I have used her a couple of times around town to go to
different car shows but that is about it The car has been parked up for the
last 2 months in storage until I can make time to do the repairs. Of the last 3
photo's 2 are of the Estates side by side, and the last is the parts that got
damaged at Easter. That is all I can think of right now,
Cheers Simon.