Readers Ride: 1987 Almac TG

It’s apparently New Zealand’s longest surviving car manufacturer – Almac cars was recently sold to Matamata Panel Works in Matamata, and is still producing Almac cars.

Almac Reinforced Plastics has been around since 1971, and has built Almac 427 Cobras, Almac TCs and TGs, Almac Sabres, and Club Sprint cars. The Cobras, TCs and TGs strongly resembled AC Cobras and early MGs but were never meant to be exact replicas.

In 1989, after building 25 Almac TC models using a Triumph Herald chassis, Almac starting building their own chassis for the cars, starting off with chassis #TG00001, and going from there. They built a total of 16 TG models with this chassis, and it was a sunny Martinborough day we visited Bob Cumming, who owns that very first car.

Bob’s main passion is Rover cars, having owned and sold a 1973 P6b, a 1964 P4 95, 1972 P5b and still has a 1935 Rover 10 and a 1972 P6b V8. But the Almac TG was the first classic car owned – and possibly the favourite.

Bob has owned this first-of-a-series Almac for around 20 years. At the time, he wanted an Almac and found one for sale in Wellington. But the car was in bits and needed work, so – being New Zealand – he went to see Alex McDonald at Almac Cars in Upper Hutt to ask advice. While talking to Alex, Bob spotted a car under a cover in the corner of his workshop. It was #1 of the new Almac chassis, essentially the prototype, built in 1987. Bob twisted Alex’s arm and, in the end, purchased the car. And right there on the chassis plate, is TG 00001 for this car. That makes it pretty special.

While the earlier Almac’s came with mainly Herald engines, the prototype was fitted with a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder Toyota petrol engine. That was fine with Bob, “Reliable, easy to work on, smooth, economical and went very well.”

Well, maybe not completely reliable. “I was having trouble getting it started, and for a Toyota that was unusual,” says Bob. “In the end I found the accelerator pump on one of the carburettors was stuffed, and so I bought a whole motor with another set of carbs, and I’ve built up a set of carbs out of the two motors and thought, ‘that will sort it’, It did help, but the car was still hard to start.

“After a lot of mucking around, it then blew a head gasket, so I ended up refreshing the whole motor – and it was still a bit slow to start. After noticing the battery leads getting hot when cranking, I found that a bush had worn out in the end of the starter motor. After all that, I’ve put heavier leads on it and fixed the flogged-out bush in the starter motor, and it’s started fine ever since.”

While 2-litres may not seem that big an engine, with a light fibreglass body and just 700kg to haul around, the Almac’s performance is excellent, says Bob.

In his early ownership, his kids did not want to be seen in the Almac. “They used to get me to stop her in the corner before school, because they don’t want anyone to see them in it. But then, of course, as soon as they got to driver’s licence age, they thought it was quite cool and would take it to school.”

While it sits in the garage most of the time, this Almac does get used. “It scoots along nicely,” says Bob. “It’s nice and low so it handles really well, and I try to run it at a club track day every year.”

The paint on Bob’s Almac is starting to show its age, with some cracking evident. For me, it just shows that this car has been and gets used, and that’s more important than being parked up. The car has done just under 100,000km in its life, and about 40,000km of those have been driven by Bob.

1930 Rolls-Royce 20/25

Like many car guys and girls, Bob doesn’t just have the one classic car. A recent purchase is a 1930 Rolls-Royce 20/25. Bob had always dreamed of owning an old Rolls-Royce and had to keep an eye on Trade Me, but this one was almost an impulse buy, but one that looks amazing. It was one of those cars for sale that you put an offer and never expect to actually buy. Long story short, Bob now owns the Rolls-Royce.

It’s an ex-Auckland car, and has some features that I have heard of, but not actually seen in person, like the built-in lubrication system. It sounds good, and it sort of is – but it does leave a trail of oil on the driveway, says Bob. There’s a pedal to push to make lubrication happen, and the oil goes all around different joints on the car, including the leaf springs.

Regardless of almost advanced features like built-in lubricating systems, the Rolls-Royce looks amazing, and the interior is equally impressive. It’s an extremely comfortable place to sit, especially for a car almost 100 years old.

The car was already restored when Bob bought it, although he’s fixed the odd thing, as is needed on a car built in 1930.

“Incredibly, I can get nearly every part for this car brand-new,” says Bob, “but boy, you pay a handsome price for those parts.” Looking under the bonnet, there’s a lot of Bakelite used on things like the distributor, but at least you know you can still get that part if you are desperate.

With high-priced parts and being 90 years old, why did Bob buy the car in the first place? Possibly, the answer is a common one to many men and women who are addicted to cars. “I don’t actually know why I bought it,’ says Bob, “After I got it home, there was a ‘what have I done?’ moment. But the more I have it out on the road, the more I love it.”