“Katikati will definitely miss him when he’s gone. They just don’t realise it yet,” said one customer. “He’s done so much for the town.”

“The thing with Allan [Crapp] is that’s he’s really good at solving mysteries with the older vehicles – all the classic cars – and it’s a skill not many of the young ones have,” said another. “He’s got a knack for it. He’ll take one look and know exactly what’s wrong.”

Another customer pined where he’d get a good deal. “Allan would never rip you off. If he thought your battery had life left, he’d tell you to take it home and put it on the charger.”

These are just some thoughts, thanks and observations swirling around Katikati as one of its longest retail operators closed his shop door for the last time on July 31.

If you’ve lived in Katikati for more than five minutes you’ve crossed paths with Allan Crapp, who ran Auto Electrical Services Katikati Ltd for 48 years.

Katikati Rotary wanted to thank Allan publicly. The 71-year-old had given all old batteries he’d collected at Auto Electrical Services Katikati to the club’s battery recycling project. The club recycles the batteries via Metalco and is paid for the lead inside.

Thousands

“It’s thousands and thousands of dollars that he’s put back into our community,” said Katikati Rotarian Rod Calver of the income stream that Allan had provided his club.

Calver said Katikati Rotary honoured Allan for his tremendous generosity by bestowing him with their club’s highest accolade – a Paul Harris fellowship in October 2022. In 50-plus years of operating, only five fellowships had been awarded to non-Rotarians in Katikati.

“He’s been an absolute legend. He could have sold these batteries for himself but he’s given them to the community instead,” said Calver.

He estimated the battery recycling project had been running in Katikati for about 20 years. The late Roy Diggelmann started the project and got Allan on-board, said Calver.

“In later years, people could drop their batteries at Allan’s business and I’d pick them up fortnightly.”

Allan Crapp loading batteries onto a ute for Katikati Rotary’s battery recycling project. Photo / Rod Calver

Calver said while lead prices do fluctuate, on average Calver would receive 500kg of batteries fortnightly from Allan, which would make the club roughly $200 per week.

Calver said the funds went into Rotary’s kitty, which supported local primary and secondary schools, student trips, plus Rotary projects around town. “Many of these causes would have received funding from Allan’s generosity.”

No grease monkey!

Allan told Katikati News that, as a young fella, he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as a mechanic. “But my father said: “No, don’t do that; you’ll just be a grease monkey all your life’ because in those days you didn’t have fancy things like today to clean your hands and clothes.”

Instead, he got an auto electrician apprenticeship in Gate Pa after an un-paid work experience organised by his school, Tauranga Boys’ College. “I went to about three of four places around town [for work experience] and ended up at Wally Mcilwraith’s business, WW Mcilwraith & Co Ltd, for a week. At the end I asked if there was any chance of an apprenticeship.” Wally obliged.

Once qualified, Allan opened Katikati’s first auto electrical store at the end of 1977 for Tauranga couple Chubb and Alison Howarth, who ran Chubbs Auto Electrics in the city.

At first, Allan was based in a building where Bridgestone Tyre Centre Katikati sits today.

“There were three of us in one big building. I was in a small garage to the left. Robin Bernie was on the right with his mechanic business, and Neville Johnson had the engineering business.”

Only there for six months, Allan moved the business to the Main Rd, where Katikati Mowers were. “The building had big front glass doors – at the same time Dave Murray ran a taxi service out of there.”

Allan worked for the Howarths for a few years before purchasing a 50% stake in Auto Electrical Services Katikati Ltd. The Howards moved to Kerikeri and sold their half to Allan roughly around 1981.

Allan bought the land at 3 Main Rd Katikati in 1986 and built a building for his business. “I shifted in when GST came into effect in October of 1987.”

Katikati-Ōmokoroa resident

Today, Allan considers himself part Katikati resident, knowing multiple generations of local families. “Absolutely, especially in the battery side of things because I’d get the grandparents, the parents then the grandkids coming. It’s been awesome because a lot of them have been like family, not customers.”

Allan said he began donating batteries to the rotary’s recycling project, via the late Roy Diggelmann, more out of convenience than love.

“Back in the day when it [the project] started, you’d only get about $1 per battery from the scrap dealer – and they’d only pick them up twice a year, so you’d have all these dirty batteries stacked up around the place for six-odd months. It wasn’t worth the effort,” said Allan. “It was just good to get rid of them. However, as time’s gone on, and lead got more and more expensive, people started to get a lot more money for recycling batteries. But I’d started something and I just didn’t have the heart to take it away because it was going back into our own community,” Allan said.

“If it [the proceeds] were going willy nilly into a big consortium then I’d have pulled the pin. But the fact that it stayed in Katikati was the important part.”

The work

In the early days, Allan was the town’s only auto electrician. “I did a lot of outside work being called on by contractors to repair their machinery. Starter-motors, alternators on graders, generators, lights on loaders – a lot of that sort of stuff.”

When another auto electrician came to town and went mobile, Allan pulled back and kept his shop open by staying on-site. “As far the shop work was concerned it was alternators, starter motors, trailer lights, campervans, caravans, and a reasonable amount of boat work.”

Allan was never interested in the modern electronics of vehicles “and I still aren’t – so I stayed old school and let the young ones do the modern cars”.

Instead, classic car owners came knocking for his old-school expertise. “A job on an old Chevrolet pick-up truck was one of the last I did.”

Asked what he’ll do with all his free time, Allan assured Katikati News: “Oh, I’ve got plenty to do!” “I’ve got three daughters, a son and seven grandkids so they’ll keep me busy.”

Back to boats

He was also looking forward to using his neglected boat. For years Allan operated the former family-owned slipway at Ōmokoroa on weekends before it was closed due to regulations making it unpractical. His love for boats has remained, so he was keen to get on the water more now he’s retired. And he’d be staying put in his Ōmokoroa, where his family have been for generations. “Absolutely, I won’t be going anywhere else.”