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 When most people take over a business one of the first things they usually do is modernise it all. Joe Grose has other ideas. He wants to take Port Hills Service Station back in time, not forward and for a man who specialises in restoring and repairing vintage cars, why not? One of the first things to revert back will be the name of the business which will once more become Rocky Point Service Station. However in time this will have the words 'and General Store' added.
Joe has lots of plans to add interest to the business, including a work
room makeover that will transform this space into part museum and part
showroom with old car posters and memorabilia. It will all take time,
perhaps a long time, but when you drive in to fill your engine, keep an
eye on what's happening inside the building too.
Joe has had a life-time interest in old cars. It could be said to be
hereditary. His grandfather owned the Temuka garage in 1918. Anyone who
does renovations of any sort knows Rule No 1 very well. Never Throw
Anything Away. Joe's grandfather kept to that rule and now all his old
manuals, spares, tools etc. are safely in Joe's care ….. ninety years
on.
Now Joe is beginning his own collection of vintage vehicles with
a 1919 Nash tow truck. Originally a 5 seater tourer, it was
purchased by John Sampson (Snr) in 1925 from the original owner. He
converted it to a tow-truck and used it until 1954. His son, John
Sampson (Jnr) inherited it and maintained it until Joe acquired it. Now
it is lovingly cared for and again in use and possibly the oldest
working tow-truck in the country?
 You can't spend a long time in a specialist business that involves
anything antique without meeting some very interesting people and
accumulating a wealth of stories. Joe already has plenty of those. Like
the one about the 1939 Rolls Royce Phantom 2, that he recently issued a
Warrant of Fitness for. The first owner of this prestigious motor,
gifted it, almost unused, to the British War Department to help with
the war effort. They put it to good use and at the end of the war it
was the first civilian vehicle to drive through Paris. A later owner
purchased it as a gift for his wife's 21st birthday.
As Cuban taxi drivers have found, old vehicles, like old soldiers,
never die. A recent article in The Press reveals that when the United
States put a sales embargo on Cuba four decades ago, the cars already
in the country have kept running. This is partly due to the ingenuity
of the Cuban mechanics, who also came up with many ingenious
concoctions for providing alternative fuel, when Russia put an oil
embargo on the country. But the cars have also kept running because,
unlike today's 'sardine tins', they were made with pride and made to
last.
Joe Grose's growing list of customers confirms that many people agree
and have found that Joe has an ingenuity of his own to match that of
any Cuban taxi driver or mechanic.
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