Gary Tenardi - Profile
V.M.C.C. # 76

Leno Tenardi, father of Gary, left his birthplace of Lucca, North Italy in 1950. The plan was simple – encouraged by Gary’s uncle Charlie, who had already made the move to Western Australia, Leno intended to work hard, make good money for a year or two and then return to Italy and marry his fiancee.

Bunnings Timber in Manjimup were experiencing boom times and to fill their manpower needs, were offering passage to Western Australia to those prepared to work in the timber mill. The money was good, far exceeding that which Leno could earn in Italy even after allowing for the fact his original passage cost had to be repaid.

The money was good, so was the climate and the lifestyle and when Leno met a charming Welsh lady, Elizabeth, Italy came a very distant second as a place in which to live. The couple married in 1955 and moved to Bunbury. Gary was born there, their second son, in 1957, to be followed later by the couple’s third and final child, a girl.

Gary’s grandparents had arrived in W.A. at the same time as Charlie and had a farm in Manjimup. In 1959 they decided to retire so Gary’s family became farmers.

Gary grew up on the farm and like all farm kids, was expected to help around the place. One of his tasks was to steer the tractor (at walking pace) whilst Leno, on the trailer, would dish out feed to the cattle. Unfortunately for Leno, his use of the throttle had been noticed and understood by his son who yanked it full open on one occasion, tipping a surprised and angry Leno off the trailer and causing him a frantic chase – the tractor was heading for a well! Fortunately, even on full noise, a tractor doesn’t go very fast in low gear and father and son were soon discussing the merits of leaving the throttle alone. Gary also managed to hit a tree with the same machine. His steering has improved since then.

School began at St Joseph’s School in Manjimup where the young Gary got an early taste of discipline – he broke cricket stumps fooling round whilst in Grade 1 and received a severe strapping from a nun for his efforts.

He and a mate obtained some gunpowder and, “for a laugh” set some off in the priest’s garage. Much noise, much smoke and much trouble! More trouble came when Gary and a mate climbed into the ceiling of the school for a quiet smoke and inevitably got caught.

Despite the mischief, Gary was an average student and liked school well enough. He enjoyed playing Aussie Rules football with the Manjimup Imperials, and during the school holidays had various paid jobs with stints digging potatoes and working in the local timber mill. It’s hard now to imagine a thirteen year old being allowed to do this but at the time – 1970 – it was accepted. During that time he had a very short spell as a had even indicated this in his job interview.
The brickie didn’t speak too clearly and told Gary to get more mortar, which Gary heard as “more water” and promptly filled a bucket and presented it to the boss. “I said more mortar, more mortar, are you deaf or something?!” and the bucket of water was emptied all over the somewhat nonplussed Gary!

Gary and good friend Terry Cutts volunteered to become altar boys at their church which must have pleased their parents and the church. However, our cunning young men had noticed that altar boys were annually taken on camp to Windy Harbour for a week, so there was a suspicion that their sudden piety had more to do with the latter than any sudden religious fervour. Drinking a bottle of pilfered altar wine between them further eroded any illusions anyone had about our religious duo, and resulted in them both being “grounded” for two weeks.

About this time, Leno, who had a few motor cycles – a C11, Matchless 500, Indian Chief, and his favourite, a Triumph Thunderbird – took Gary for his first pillion ride, with strict instructions “not to tell Mother”. The farm had farm bikes and Gary rode and enjoyed these on the property from age thirteen.

Farm life finished when the family were unable to meet the terms requested by Gary’s grandparents who still owned the farm, so the family bought a house in Manjimup with Leno finding work as a driver for Cutts Transport, often taking Gary along for the ride. Further upheavals waited though – Leno and Elizabeth parted company and father and children moved to Maida Vale, and in third year high school there Gary attained his Achievement Certificate.

Gary was very handy with things mechanical and would have liked work in this field, however, in 1973 jobs weren’t too plentiful so when a job offered at Whittaker’s timber mill, Gary took the offer. This paid the bills for a time, and then came a welcome change to more interesting work as a surveyor’s assistant with Kalamunda Shire. And then finally, four years later came the mechanic’s apprenticeship Gary really wanted, still with Kalamunda Shire. He served his time there, and very interesting it was with the many and varied machines that authority operated. He’s there still, now workshop supervisor with several staff.

Gary went one evening to a dance at Pickering Brook and there met Jill Annetts, Carmel orchardist’s daughter and clerical worker at H.B.F. They got on famously and married in 1984. They have two children, Aaron aged 17 and Catherine 14. Jill obtained her 250cc licence early in their marriage but the arrival of children put motor cycles on the back burner, for Gary too, though he did use Jill’s Honda 250 as cheap work transport. Once bitten by the bike bug though, it’s likely to be long lasting and so it was with Gary, as an Ariel VB 600 became available – it wasn’t complete but Gary restored it, learning to panel beat and paint in the process, at night tech.

He’d already restored a 1938 Ford V8 utility which he bought fairly complete and running (just!) and it’s a good restoration, authentic and original looking. Then came a 1937 Ford V8 coupe which the Tenardis drove until the arrival of their first child – coupes are not too practical with kids so this nice old car was replaced by a scruffy Holden HQ with four doors. Ray Selley encouraged Gary to become involved with vintage bikes, the VB Ariel having been sold, (locally, and it’s still around) so a 1929 Ariel in pretty sad condition became Gary’s next project. It’s a credit to Gary, he even made the mufflers from scratch and did everything including panel and paint, himself. He joined our club in 1976 but wasn’t very active, still children’s activities took time but at one meeting he attended, John Rock suggested to members that if they had any old basket cases around they could assembled and used in the annual gymkhana. Gary had a 1930 Ariel ideal for the purpose, built it up and won several gymkhanas he entered. And then when Northam hill climb became a fixture the trusty Ariel was given a very successful series of performance modifications; it’s now a fast, reliable bike with a beautiful exhaust note, and features in many club events.

Gary enjoys a challenge and a 1935 Ariel Square Four 600cc o.h.c certainly provided one done. It’s fortunate this machine found a home with a mechanic of Gary’s ability and talent, it’s complex and provided plenty of problems but now it runs very nicely, a bit loud on straight pipes and quite quiet mechanically. A lesser restorer could well have given up and pushed it aside and a very interesting machine could have become just one more basket case. It will be nice when finished.

The Tenardi family live on a pleasant three quarter property; Gary enjoys gardening but Jill has cancelled his pruning licence permanently, apparently he’s too thorough! Coincidentally they are both librarians, Jill at Kalamunda Primary and Gary at the V.M.C.C.

There’s plenty of restoration work in the shed; there’s the Square Four to finish and also the Indian Gary purchased at the Club auction but he also has a yearning for a V8 Torana so hands up anyone who has one lying around! And if there’s no V8 Toranas left, a Ducati Desmo has heaps of appeal.

One very enjoyable facet of the annual Albany Hill Climb is the camp on Frenchman Bay Road where many enjoy quite basic facilities and great socialising. One Friday evening Colin Tie (who else?) and several of the usual suspects drove into Albany for a Chinese meal, a drink or three and a lofty intellectual discussion.

Returning to the camp in relaxed and even playful mood Mr Tie suggested that as the sleeping occupants of the large dormitory were probably dreaming about motor bikes anyhow, their dreams could be much enhanced by suitable sound effects. This was deemed by all to be a Very Good Idea, so the trusty Goldie was backed into the doorway and fired up. Always raucous, it sounded doubly so, shattering the peace of a still country night.

Fast forward, one year and one day. Same venue. The Saturday Rally is finished, the barbeque lit and Mr Tie has numerous cans of ale inside him, enough, apparently for him to be very tired and decide to go to bed early. Hours later, there’s a good party happening around the fire when someone, possibly a victim, remembers last year’s noisy awakening. A committee is formed and a Very Good Idea produced. Gary Tenardi’s Ariel has a beautiful (and loud) exhaust note rivalling Gold Stars and Velocettes for purity of sound. A quick survey determines behind which bit of wooden wall will be Mr Tie’s head and the Ariel is bump started and backed, idling, into place and then given great fistfuls of revs, beautiful sound! Letting the engine return to idle, Gary asks “Is that enough?” “No, give him some more” the predictable response, more noise!

Mr Tie exhibited considerable savoire faire in the morning, thanking all concerned for what he termed “ music to my ears”.

 

 

 

 



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