This is the first in a new series in which Patrick will be looking at cars that have been built by individuals as a tribute to a vehicle that either no longer exists or is beyond the budget of all but the super-rich.
Miranda goes all Swinging Sixties as she test drives a VW Beetle that has been tastefully updated with the addition of many period correct features and a healthy helping of horsepower.
Allan Dick tracks the making of a true Kiwi legend.
Toyota’s MR2 is one of those cars that captured imaginations the moment it debuted — a mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive car that felt sporty, affordable, and daring in just the right doses. Its name, MR2, is shorthand for “Midship Runabout 2-seater,” and it was Toyota’s statement that you didn’t need a V6 or a massive price tag to have fun.
If you’ve ever dreamed of stepping into the world of supercars, one glance at this Lamborghini is enough to make you feel like you’re living in a high-octane daydream. But what is it like to see, sit in, and ride in this iconic machine? Kiwi country and western singer, motoring enthusiast and DeLorean owner Miranda Easten takes us on a journey to Southern Specialist Cars in Christchurch, where a stunning red 1990 Lamborghini Countach is (at time of writing) up for sale.
Best known for building inexpensive cars for the masses, Fiat have also produced a whole flotilla of handsome and very competent sports cars, coupés and GTs – and of those, the Swinging Sixties-style 2300 Coupé is still a genuine head-turner.
How a wartime gentleman hero and successful racing driver created a legendary 4WD F1 car that Stirling Moss said was one of the best racing cars he ever drove. And it came to New Zealand.
Kiwi country singer-songwriter Miranda Easten reflects on her DeLorean journey.
In our last edition, we detailed the exploits of two Kiwi racing drivers – Ronnie Moore and Ray Thackwell – in South Africa. In a companion piece to that story, Robert Young writes about Denny Hulme’s African adventures.
Sixty years ago, searching for more power for their Alpine sports car, Sunbeam followed the Anglo/US hybrid route set by the AC Ace and with the help of Carroll Shelby conjured up their own version of the Cobra – the Ford V8-powered Tiger.
It was two young New Zealand motor sportsmen, Ronnie Moore and Ray Thackwell, both still in their early 20s, who were responsible for enhancing the status of motor racing in southern Africa when they completed a racing tour there in 1957. Words: ROBERT YOUNG Ronnie Moore, who had started out as a teenager in his […]
2024 marked the 60th anniversary of the Mustang, so it was highly appropriate that the winning Master’s Class car at this year’s prestigious Intermarque Concours d’Elegance was this gorgeous K-Code Fastback GT. We chat to the Mustang’s owner and look back at these rare and very desirable high performance pony cars.
Amongst the treasures in Wayne’s classic car collection – which includes the concours-winning Porsche 911E that graced the cover of NZ Classic Driver, September/October 2023 – sits this thoroughly modern classic, a Gulf Heritage Ford Mustang.
Another masterpiece from Oamaru’s Rod Tempero – the Tempero 335S.
Allan Dick goes to the end of SH1 near Bluff, to meet up with a bunch of Rolls-Royce and Bentley owners, then travels with them to Dunedin.
Allan looks back at the evolution of the Ellerslie Intermarque Concours d’Elegance and checks out the two fully restored, rotary-powered RX-7s that took out second place in the Team’s Event at the 2023 concours.
Allan tells the story of Graham Baker and PDL 1, the Mustang that became famous as Electric Blue and 185 mph! But it’s more than that. This is a story of a 66-year career you’re not going to believe.
The history of the universe is a pretty big job, so we set our sights a little lower, with the history of a Galaxie located in a place not so far away.
What is it about Minis that has captivated so many people around the world for over sixty years?
Bruce and his wife were chilling out for a spell in that wonderful hideaway haven of Hanmer Springs when they spotted a couple of yellow Porsches, a Boxster, a Carrera,
and a gun metal grey Cayenne in a nearby hotel car park.
The 50th anniversary of the Austin-Healey Club of New Zealand will be marked by a special Grand Tour that will stretch from Auckland to Invercargill, and will see as many as 50 Healeys taking part.
Jim checks out a superb example of the only motor vehicle designed and mass-produced in New Zealand.
Although his racing career was short, Fred Zambucka is still fondly remembered by older motor sport enthusiasts – his name being commemorated by the Zambucka Memorial Trophy races that were held at Levin from 1956 to 1968.
Keith ‘Buck’ Harrison is the current custodian of the Ford Consul 315 his father bought new from Macaulay Motors in Invercargill in 1963. One day, the car will be passed on to Buck’s sons, Lee and Dean. Not an unheard-of sort of story, as it’s not the only intergenerational family car in the world. What sets this one apart is the 12,200 miles recorded on its odometer.
Stephen Beattie, the man who sought inspiration from the past to create cars like the Beattie Clubman,
now looks back towards the end of the front-engined single-seater era.
Ford’s new medium-sized car, the Consul Cortina, was introduced to the world on 21 September 1962 – 12 hours earlier in New Zealand than the rest of the world because of time zones – and went on general sale
in October, 60 years ago.
Rod Coppins returned for the 1971 season to defend his title with the Cambridge Camaro. Outwardly, the car had changed little other than some rather awkwardly redesigned front flares, now sporting a squared shape – Steve concludes his story on the famous tin-top racer.
43 years after the first one, the Ashley Forest Rallysprint survives, with the latest edition held in September around the iconic 1.7-kilometre course, the North Canterbury venue attracting a 56-car entry.
A genuine rival for Ford’s Mustang, New Zealand’s very first racing Camaro made its debut in late 1968 with Spencer ‘Spinner’ Black at the wheel. Steve looks back to the early days of the Trans-Am series and traces the history of Spinner’s ’67 Camaro.
A Morris Minor and a VW Beetle were among Jim’s first purchases a number of years ago when he came to New Zealand from the United States of America – so what’s it like
owning and driving two ‘people’s cars’?
In the last edition of NZ Classic Driver we marked the 60th
anniversary of the evergreen MGB and checked out a variety of
four-cylinder roadsters and GTs. In our second part, we take a brief
look at the six-cylinder MGC and a trio of V8-powered MGBs.
Allan Dick puts on his Sherlock Holmes’ deerstalker hat to engage in a spot of detective work on the history of the famous ‘Logan Fow Ferrari’.
Allan Horner reports back from the recent Targa VCC Time Trial, an event he took part in with his much-modified Austin-Healey Sprite.
In 1974 Don and Rob Halliday made the transition from competing for class honours in their Escort to outright wins in a Ford Capri RS3100.
This ’55 Chevrolet 210 has been in the same family for several generations and remains in surprisingly original condition, making it a rare example of a make and model that was once fairly common on our roads.
For many, the MGB represents the raw spirit of the true British sports car: handsome, affordable, classically simple and fun to drive. With the help of the MG Car Club, we celebrate the MGB’s 60th birthday.
“I didn’t have much of a formal education. I went to secondary
school in Pukekohe — good at rugby, like most New Zealanders,
and I was very good at metal work and technical drawing, the hands-on things. But I didn’t like school very much and left as soon as I could, with no qualifications.”
In order to mark the 60th anniversary of the Triumph Spitfire’s first appearance in 1962, we gathered together one of each version of this popular, entry level
sports car along with their enthusiastic owners .
Oamaru man Rusty Thorp was a character who lived life to the full. He loved trains, boats and cars in equal parts. Allan Dick looks at the man and the sensational car he built based on a rare French Avions Voison — a car Rusty called the ‘AV Special’.
Steve concludes his look at how the Boss 302 Mustang was developed for Trans-Am racing, and looks at the history of the ex-Hesler car that now resides in New Zealand.
After missing out due to Covid-19 last year, Christchurch racing driver Roger Townshend is finally off to Europe to take part in the Le Mans Classic at the wheel of his RS2600 Capri.
Purchased at an auction in Monaco, this Henri Chapron-designed and built beauty is now resident in New Zealand.
The late John Holloway, an ex-Army Major and well-known Tairua personality, owned and raced his 1951 Jupiter for many years – Jim Richardson remembers John and the time he took his Jowett for a drive.
Motorsport historian Gordon Campbell details the career of Joe Wright, one of our best race mechanics who is best known for his work alongside Graham McRae.
Allan Dick, our founding editor, recalls the cars that shaped his life and NZ Classic Driver
We conclude our special feature on the life and career of one of New Zealand’s most famous F1 and racing mechanics.
Founding editor and publisher, Allan Dick, looks back at some of the highlights from the past 100 issues of NZ Classic Driver.
Allan Dick tells the remarkable story of Ross Burns Cameron — a man who has raced virtually everything.
The upcoming March-April edition of NZ Classic Driver is a special one - it marks the 100th issue and we couldn't be prouder. On shelves from 28 February.
The design team at Nash Motor Company came up with a very different idea to the US norm at the time.
With Liam Lawson poised to become a Formula One driver, Allan looks back at Kiwis who have already made it – and one who may be forgotten.
Kevin Lancaster spent much of his motor racing career in the co-driver’s seat of rally cars and gave a great deal to the sport, a contribution recognised in May 2021 with a MotorSport New Zealand Historic Heritage Award.
Allan McCall worked with Lotus and Jim Clark, Bruce McLaren’s Can-Am team, and was the man behind the Tui formula racing cars. We look back at Allan’s remarkable career.
Hundreds of thousands of people drive classic cars produced by America’s ‘Big Three’. Chrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company and General Motors sold their wares in millions each year back in the 1950s and 1960s, and fine examples are still present at most classic car events. They weren’t the only American cars, of course, and among the rarest are those from the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation.
day he would own this car. In 1968, he was able to purchase the Jaguar but after completing 15,000 miles in the car he was forced to sell it. However, the tale wasn’t over – almost three decades later, Jock was reunited with the XK140 he’d nicknamed ‘Casper’.
The new owner was so confident in the quality of his new, hand-built car that after a handful of laps at Levels motor racing circuit, he and a companion squeezed their luggage into the available spaces and drove to Hawke’s Bay – at the start of winter!
In this, the first part of a new series detailing cars that are unique to New Zealand – compiled and written by Patrick Harlow, author of several books on Kiwi-designed and built cars – we present a trio of locally designed and built supercars.
We are born. We live. We die. What we do with the years between is our choice. Some waste their years. Others achieve greatness. Graham McRae achieved greatness.
After World War 2, when the importation of vehicles into New Zealand for most was not possible, the aspirations of local racing car builders took hold. It was a time that gave rise to our country’s reputation for producing a unique breed of can-do people that has seen subsequent generations fit into key positions within the international motor racing scene.
Although this iconic Kiwi-built racing car came about due to a series of coincidences, it would become the catalyst that sparked Jim Richards’ subsequent, very successful motorsport career.
Allan Dick meets Cliff Knight who, as a young man, spent much of the summer of 1960 competing around New Zealand in a Standard Ten.
The questions Tim was most regularly asked as a journalist and development engineer included: “What’s the best car you’ve owned?”, “What’s the best car you’ve driven?” and “What’s your favourite car?” For more amusement, a better question would have been: “What was the worst car?”
Avon Hyde officially retired from competitive motor racing in 1993 after a career that contained several highlights in so many categories. But what did retirement really mean for Avon?
When Peter rang Dave McMillan to talk to him about Mark ‘Jandals’ Sheehan – the subject of the next in his series profiling some of New Zealand’s top race mechanics/engineers from the ’60s and ’70s – his first comment was: “I reckon he should be knighted, ‘Sir Jandals.’” Although, as his nickname suggests, if he was offered a knighthood then getting him to dress for the ceremony might prove to be a problem.
Allan Dick pays tribute to the tortured genius of Graham McRae.
It was a Sunday morning not long after lockdown at Cars & Coffee Taranaki where this blue mean machine caught Cameron’s eye. With its huge hood scoop, black bonnet and vinyl roof over its blue patinated paint, it had a look that really appealed to him. After further investigation, he started chatting to the car’s owner, Corey Munyard.
Spurred on by the blood-curdling scream of a BRM V16 in full song, Tim tries his hand at analysing why the sounds of certain racing engines send tingles down his spine.
Jim Richards is one of New Zealand’s most successful racing drivers and the list of significant cars he has driven is extensive, but the car that put him on the map was this glorious Ford Escort Twin Cam, originally built and campaigned in the British Saloon Car Championship by the John Willment Group.
Allan writes about his old mate Terry Marshall, whose name has been the credit under millions of photographs over millions of years (or so it seems), but he has been around since the mid-sixties and his enthusiasm has not dimmed.
When it comes to kit cars there is extraordinarily little that Peter Pellandine did not attempt – starting up his first kit car company while just in his mid-twenties. Kit car specialist, Patrick Harlow, takes a look at a rare Pellandine-designed sports car.
We all know the story of the wealthy Italian industrialist who was dissatisfied with the cars he bought from Ferrari and decided to build a better car. Yes, Ferruccio Lamborghini did just that, but he wasn’t the only one with that idea.
Allan Dick tells the story of a legendary New Zealand racing saloon – and the replica that was built many years after its heyday.
I read everywhere that motorsport is not like it used to be. You can’t see the cars struggling for grip, the roll angles, gentlemanly racing, being able to see drivers battling against their machines, performance differences, different sounds that make the hairs prickle on the back of your neck, meaningful colour schemes and recognisably different cars.
At the wheel of his 1967 Camaro, Rod Coppins shared the 1970 NZ Saloon Car Championship title with Red Dawson, but the following season saw him at the wheel of an ex-T/G Racing Pontiac Firebird.
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