76 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com
them with water, making them diamond hard. He also
made the body frame and all the steel panels by hand,
and even taught himself how to sew so that he could do
the upholstery too.
It would take Birch seven years to produce this first car,
as he had to keep doing other jobs to keep the money
rolling in. World War I called a halt to any work being
done on it.
The car that was presented to the public for the
first time in 1919 was called the ‘Marlborough’. The
5.7-litre, four-cylinder engine had a claimed top speed
of around 99mph (160kph) in an era when only a few
New Zealand cars could do more than 31mph (50kph).
This hand-built car had been built to last. James Fuller
of Seddon bought the first Marlborough and used it for
many years; his only complaint was that occasionally the
car was hard to start.“Then my conscience smote me”
It was not old age or difficulty in getting spare parts that
eventually put this car off the road but World War II. As
petrol and tyres were proving hard to find, the car was
put up for sale. Even with a price of only £10, there were
no takers, so it was given away and broken up for scrap.
The only part that was sold intact was the engine, which
was bought by Ron Osgood, one of Birch’s apprentices.
He bought it to fit into his launch, but, eventually,
he acquired a lighter engine and fitted that, and the
Marlborough engine was left to rust.
“About 1951,” said Osgood, “I decided to break her
[the engine] up for scrap, which was bringing a good
price at the time. I could not get one of the bolts off
the sump by the flywheel, so I used an eight-pound
sledgehammer. The hammer bounced off the aluminium
crankcase without effect. Then my conscience smote me
and the hammer fell from my hands.”
It was a complete turn-around for Osgood. In the years
following, he slowly rebuilt the Marlborough engine. In
1968, he donated it to the Marlborough VCC, where it
remains to this day.
So, why was the Marlborough a one-off? Actually, it
wasn’t, but it would be the only car that would bear that
name. There were two other cars under construction, but
Birch got himself into a bit of trouble. Between 1912 and
1919, he built several engines for marine and stationary
use. One such engine intended for a cruiser was 1.5m
high by 2.4m long. At the end of World War I, raw
materials were hard to come by, and the price to build
this particular engine escalated. Birch refused to release
the engine until the owner came up with the extra
money. The owner took Birch to court, and Birch lost
the case — but not the battle, as, when the owner tried
to collect the engine, it was missing. Birch was told that
he must either give up the engine or go to prison for nine
months. He went to prison for nine months.
After his release, Birch decided to leave Blenheim. He
sold up in 1922. Taking the two unfinished cars, along
with a load of machinery, he headed for Gisborne, where
he became foreman for Collett Motors.Another new car: the Carlton
Even though Birch no longer had his own business, cars
were still his passion; he would spend all his free timeFrom Photo News, 13 July 1961: (top) the engine block; (above left) steering wheel, dashboard, and
transmission; (below) restored by members of the Gisborne Car Club