Page 24 - Demo

from the past
PUTARURU SPITFIRE
Royal Tigers outside Couper’s Market Street depot. On the left is an ex-Wellington City/Newlands bus, on the far right is a ‘one-off’ 1953 model built new by Hawke Bros for Victor Transport Tauranga.
ROB WEBB RE-VISITS A SOUTH WAIKATO TOWN TO RECALL COUPER’S MOTORS, A FAMILY-RUN BUSINESS THAT GAVE SEVERAL DECADES OF PROUD SERVICE TO ITS COMMUNITY BEFORE SUCCUMBING TO THE FIRST COMPETITIVE SCHOOL TENDERING ROUND IN 1987.
At 85 years of age, Graham Couper is now in care in a Hamilton rest home. But the years since he operated ten school contracts have not diminished his fondness for the industry, the vehicles and the people in it.
Graham’s father, Tom Couper, was a real transport pioneer, having driven service cars for AARD Motor Services as a teenager in Napier prior to the 1931 earthquake. During the depression years he drove for K Motor Services based out of Rotorua and as an owner-driver in Hawke’s Bay. From 1932 until 1953 Tom oper- ated a Taupo/Putaruru/Taupo daily service car connecting with the Auckland to Rotorua train when it stopped for refreshments at Putaruru.
e start of a Putaruru-based business came in the mid-1950s when Tom bought buses and contracts operated by Spears Garage in Oxford Place. Tom’s long association with Newmans meant he was able to purchase four of their 10–year-old K Internationals in 1957. ese vehicles became the backbone of the Couper’s Motors eet for over 20 years. One of these buses is stored at the Packard Museum in Maungatapere in Northland. A er 22 years of faith- ful service to Couper’s, another of the four was lovingly restored by Graham and his sta prior to returning to Newmans for their centenary, and remains as a preserved bus resplendent in its red and black Newmans livery and gold leaf signwriting.
e South Waikato area was in a real growth phase during the 1950s and 1960s as the Forest Products plant at Kinleith gave rise to nearby Tokoroa almost hitting city status. e ow-on e ect for
Putaruru meant that the Couper’s eet grew to 15 vehicles, many of which were purchased from Newmans. e mid-mounted man- sard-clad Leyland Royal Tigers became dominant in the eet, some of which were 1952/53 models re-bodied in the mid-60s as stylish tourist and route service coaches.
e workshop and yard next door to the family home in Barnett Street gave service for 12 years from 1961, before operations moved to Market Street in 1973. A er Tom died in October 1976, Graham took over at the helm with Tom’s wife, Alma, keeping a watchful eye on operations from her retirement in Hawke’s Bay.
Graham was well-known for several special elements in the busi- ness he ran. His mechanical skills were legendary; he was especially known for tting Holden engines to ageing school buses.
He was also known for putting the hours in, regularly rising at four in the morning and getting buses organised and started for when his sta arrived. He was also a trailblazer in the employment of women in the industry, and like his father, he was employing women to drive school services long before many rms were pre- pared to recognise women. His rst wife Val and daughter Bev multi-tasked, handling both children and vehicles. is was illus- trated by a local newspaper article in 1975 on Couper’s, which had the headline “Six Ladies with a Man-size Job to Do”.
Graham was totally self-taught in every aspect of the operation. All his mechanical work, bodywork and painting was undertaken with vigour as he moved the operation to an all-diesel eet.
Having been a boarder at Wesley College a er the death of his
24 CIRCULAR SEPTEMBER 2018
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