Top gear all the way
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When Ken Wilkinson of Cambridge broke the record for the fastest road trip between Auckland and Wellington in 1931, his time included stops for food, petrol, trains and mobs of sheep and cattle. No mention of roadworks.
In our archive is this tiny booklet (2613/17), an advertisement for Ford in 1931. It is the story of Wilkinson taking 10 hours 49 minutes to travel in top gear from Auckland to Wellington.
The previous record of 12 hours and 21 minutes had been set in 1924 by “Wizard” Smith, an Australian racing driver who, “begrimed and be-goggled” had set inter-city records all across Australasia. Ford believed that these feats could now be performed by amateurs as well as professionals, and selected local car agent Ken Wilkinson to prove it.
“Mr. Ken Wilkinson of Cambridge … was both the man with the vision and the driver with the temperament and experience to carry through this worthy car performance. He had handled Fords of all kinds in his garage and knew them from radiator to exhaust. When his application to try for a really worth-while Auckland-Wellington performance came before the executive of the New Zealand Ford Distributors, the aspirant was recalled as a steady living, smartly dressed man in his thirties, with spectacles ornamenting a serious, strong featured face.”
Car, driver Ken Wilkinson and observer (unnamed)
Ford locked the car in top gear before Wilkinson and his observer set off. Their reasoning was “The time was one thing, but ‘top-gear all the way’ was more important to the thousands of men and women who like a car which handles well and is tractable in traffic, responding in tight places to the call for power without the added tension of gear-changing and similar nursing.”
The weight in the car was 25cwt, including driver, observer, petrol, baggage and a pile of Auckland morning papers. In Otorohanga, they stopped for coffee and petrol. Near Te Kuiti the road became rougher, the corners abrupt and hills steeper. Through Awakino, over the Mokau, up Mount Messenger, they came out of the hills towards Waitara and ran into a gale which slackened their speed by over ten miles an hour right through Taranaki.
Still in top gear
After 6 hours and 14 minutes, they stopped in Stratford for food and fuel. Eight mobs of sheep and four of cattle later, they reached Levin.
When they finally pulled up in front of the General Post Office, Wellington, the public surged round. Ken’s observer handed a friend an Auckland morning paper before the evening paper in Wellington was out.
“Ken Wilkinson said: ‘I have driven 471 miles from the Auckland CPO in 10 hours and 49 minutes, including stops of only 11 minutes, and I feel as fresh as pie.’ The concourse murmured and looked at the car in wonder.”
According to GoogleMaps, the same route today would take almost nine hours.
In 1948, Ford Motor Company NZ Ltd wrote this tribute to Wilkinson & Co Ltd in Cambridge:
In the “Who’s Who” of the NZ motoring world, [Wilkinsons] rate a particular mention. Founded in 1888 by the late Arnold Wilkinson and his father, the late James Wilkinson, the Company has remained a family one.
Over this long period, [Wilkinsons] has established many notable firsts. In the early nineties, Arnold introduced the first motor vehicle to the Waikato. They opened the first motor repair shop in the district, were Cambridge’s first bulk petrol resellers and the first Waikato firm to deal with an oil company. A Ford Motel T sold by [Wilkinsons] was the first closed car in Cambridge. And Mr Ken Wilkinson, (now Mayor of Cambridge) … established the still-standing Auckland-Wellington speed record.
Wilkinsons’ Garage in Duke Street, Cambridge. Ken Wilkinson far left. CM3741
Written by Karen Payne for the August 2024 Cambridge Historical Society newsletter.