- https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD19301120.2.93.6
Three wheeled motor vehicle built by Cecil W Wood. Original photographic prints and postcards from file print collection, Box 14. Ref: PAColl-6585-66. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23193442
Cecil Wood 1874–1965 claims to have made the first motorcycle engine in 1901, and the first motor vehicle road tested 23 October 1902 The first car built in South Canterbury. He helped lay the foundations for the New Zealand car industry. At the time Woods was testing his car in the streets, New Zealand was still a British colony and was governed by British laws. Some of these stated that motor cars could not be driven over 4 mph and had to have someone walking infront carrying a red flag to warn other road-users of their approach. Mr Woods car travelled at 12mph and people complained to police about children and animals being scared. Mr Woods discovered that Station Street was owned by NZ Railways and was not subject to ordinary law, so this became is testing ground. In the early 1900s I believe it was known as the Colonial Motor Company and one of the driving forces behind its early establishment was Mr Cecil Wood who was a very early enthusiast for the motor car. The company was one of the first to import cars from Canada, which were landed by ship at the Timaru Harbour, transported the short distance to Sophia Street and fully assembled for distribution across New Zealand. The cars were the very first Model T Fords.
Mr Cecil Wood who was a very early enthusiast for the motor car. He is credited with many developments of the car as we know it today. The company was one of the first to import cars from Canada, which were landed by ship at the Timaru Harbour, transported the short distance to Sophia Street and fully assembled for distribution across New Zealand. The cars were the very first Model T Fords. Learn more
Cecil Wood posed on a three wheeled motor vehicle, with tiller steering wheel, circa 1900. Pictured outside a two storied building with a sign across the upstairs windows reading, "Tourist Cycle Works" and along top of building "ESTb. 1894 Cycle Manufacturers". - South Canterbury Museum CN: 1391
"The building is almost opposite the Royal Arcade on Stafford Street. It is two sotires of brick on concrete foundations. It was built by Mr Emil Hall from designs furnished by architect Mr D West. The large plate glass windows give the show room a "very fine appearance". There was an office at the back and an enamelling room fitted with a furnice and benches. There was also a gas engine plant and plating baths and blacksmiths plant, brazing and jointing furnace." Learn more Timaru Herald Aug 1900 p3
Learn more about the shop here: paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/THD19000815.2.22
Janet Meikel (1870-1906) was the first person to be killed by a motor car in the Timaru District. She was driving in her 8hp De Dion car and lost control on Spurr Rd.
It is said that he supplied an engine to Richard Pearse for his plane. Pearse was a NZ farmer and inventor who performed pioneering aviation experiments. Witnesses interviewed many years afterward claimed that Pearse flew and landed a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, nine months before the Wright brothers flew.
Replica on Timaru's first car - a "two bums wide" scale replica of a tri-car built in the 1900s by Timaru's Cecil Walkden Wood who was credited as being the first man in New Zealand to fit an engine to a bicycle. Learn more
The Loyal Timaru Lodge float and memebers in the parade celebrating Queen Victoria's 50th Jubilee on Stafford Street, Timaru, in 1887. Depicts the parade travelling south along Stafford Street, just having passed the intersection with Beswick Street. Royal Arcade, Priest & Holdgate, McBrides Monumantal Masons. South Canterbury Museum 1501