Indholdsfortegnelse for No 368 August 2021 i NZ Classic Car

It is with great sadness we record that Colin Waite passed away on Saturday, 26 June 2021, aged 92 years. Anyone who has been involved in the motor racing scene during the past six or so decades will be familiar with his name. Colin was dedicated to the sport of motor racing from the age of 16, when the then-apprentice panel beater got involved in midget speedway racing at Western Springs. Colin helped Laurie Evans build three speedway cars using Jeep and Ford Model A motors before going on to pit crew for Roly Crowther. When we caught up with Colin in 2019 gathering information on his ex-works Skoda 120 S Rallye car he was still a regular Western Springs attendee. After Colin’s pit-crewing days he decided to get more…

The de Tomaso Pantera story is almost as intriguing as a James Bond adventure. Alejandro de Tomaso was an Argentinian from a wealthy and politically well-connected cattle-ranching family. De Tomaso was involved in an attempted overthrow of the government of Argentina — more specifically its president, Juan Perón. Perón was not known for his humility or forgiving nature so in 1955 De Tomaso, who was in his late 20s, fled to Italy from where his paternal grandfather originated. De Tomaso was a handy driver and was soon racing cars in Europe, even competing in two Formula 1 races in 1957. Sports cars, parties, and socialising with the elite enjoying accelerating wealth in Europe’s post World War II recovery was the stuff of glamorous movies of the era. It was also…

Pinstriping as a favourite form of decoration apparently dates back before Roman times, probably springing from the intrinsically human urge to indicate that one’s own chariot is better than one’s neighbour’s. It has long been the finishing touch to deluxe models of certain upper class cars but it was taken to a new level in the US hot rod scene, popularised by the work of the legendary Von Dutch who inspired a small group of enthusiasts with the requisite skills to add literally another layer to the custom scene. Thanks to the burgeoning restoration scene in New Zealand and especially the growing popularity of American cars of the ’50s and ’60s pinstriping is back in demand. That in turn is apparently driving a renewed interest in pinstriping — or ‘coach…

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When we sifted through the photographs to be included in my biography of Kenny Smith we decided not to feature the image of the book’s hero receiving his MBE close to the front. It’s a lovely shot of Ken with his mum Dorothy at Government House taken in 1987. It was obviously a memorable day when the boy who grew up in a state house became a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Then came the idea — brilliant, as it turned out — to place it on the page adjacent to a copy of Ken’s school report from 1956. There’s a laminated copy of that report at the foot of the stairs in Ken’s workshop/museum at Hampton Downs. Kenny is clearly not ashamed of his…

It could be argued that the Mercedes-Benz SL has carved out its own niche in the sports car world, offering more sporting performance than most roadsters derived from saloons and certainly more refinement and luxury than most other sports cars. That’s why many of them remain among the most coveted of all classic European sports cars. However icons like the gorgeous near-hand-built W113 Pagoda SL and its successor, the long-lived R107 SL, are fast moving out of easy reach. This is where the successor to the R107, the R129, comes into play especially for those who like to drive their cars. The R129 SL was miles ahead of the R107 in terms of technology and design. Some see that as a double-edged sword but owner Roy Hobson applauds the advances.…

RECORD TIME Ahem. We said here last month that the magnificent Cord Beverly 812 sedan would feature in this month’s issue, but now we reckon it will be the cover car for next month. The Cord 810/812 may not seem like a car born of the Great Depression but, at that time, prestige car manufacturers were casting about for ways to adapt. Many resorted to developing lower-priced models to make up sales. Packard developed the Junior series, Lincoln added the Zephyr, and GM introduced LaSalle to fit between Buick and Cadillac. The mighty Duesenberg began work on a ‘baby’ Duesenberg to pick up the slack in sales, but the idea was dropped for fear it would cheapen the brand. However, EL Cord, the man in charge of Auburn Cord Duesenberg,…

By 1972 Mazda was gaining ground around the globe. While still offering conventional piston-engined cars it was seeking to establish rotary engines as the way of the future and these were powering a wide range of vehicles from cars through to buses. They were small, light, and powerful, if commensurately thirsty — getting something for nothing was beyond even the brilliant Mazda engineers — but they had one other advantage: their small engine capacities meant that they slotted into cheaper purchase tax categories in their large home market and some overseas markets. Mazda bought a licence to develop and manufacture the Wankel engine in 1961, the revolutionary way to ingest, squish, and expel the fuel–air mixture 1961 Mazda bought a licence to develop and manufacture the Wankel engine in 1961.…

The S-Class Mercedes, and the 12-cylinder version at that, makes a lot of sense in Germany. It’s the ideal car for the top echelon of German industrialists when they are bahnstorming between cities and needing a bit of hush at 200kph while on the phone, remaking the world for millions of customers or Euros. Not for them the brash Audis or exciting Porsches and BMWs are just not quite serious enough. While they were first into the luxo-barge market with a V12 BMW’s strengths lie further down the range. BMWs don’t have quite the tank-like quality, the sense of having been machined from the solid, that Mercedes of this car’s era had. Being in a luxuriously appointed tank appeals even more forcefully to heads of state who want to insulate…

In the 1981 New Zealand Motorsport Annual, the ‘Who’s who?’ section describes Ray Stone as being one of the few people to “… have a national reputation without having ever competed” and that that public recognition was “… built on many years as a racing mechanic and more recently as a rally preparation expert.” It was into the world of rallying that Ray was heading after acknowledging his ambition of a business doing just motor racing engineering was premature. He sold his share of the business to partner Dennis Marwood. Looking back half a century on he reflects: “It was a big ask and a bit early to build my dream.” Meanwhile Paul Fahey had been engaged by PDL to drive the Mach I Mustang but that wasn’t for Ray.…

Shaun Moses is one of those people who has got it right. He has managed the trick of ‘never working a day in your life’ by turning his passion into his business. What’s more he has done it twice. He was always a car guy. At age eight he was already one of those car nuts who could identify every car on the road from a glimpse of the corner of a window frame. It was inevitable that he would move into the car business and there he discovered his other passion which was using his deep knowledge and love of his favourite cars to help other people find the cars that were right for them. Matching the right cars with the right people offers him a double bang of…

A look through Barry Leitch’s workshop in Invercargill showed a variety of cars being worked on including an impressive Morgan in for a big re-build. This one has a Ford Sierra-Cosworth power unit and the set-up of the car looks like it will handle track work no problem. It’s almost finished and ready for painting. “It should be quite a cool wee car. It must be close to being top-coated now,” Barry said. Currently in for work on the drivetrain is Mark McGuiness’s Alfa Romeo from Wellington, side-lined after a rear suspension drama at Timaru. Mark took part in the South Island Classic series. Barry and the team are getting the attractive Italian thoroughbred back into shape. “It’s in for a tidy-up of the motor and gearbox and we are…

Small isn’t it? No, not the big silver one (for those who have one of those not-Dodge Rams) but the little green one. That’s the first reaction of everyone who sees it. The second thing they say is, “Is it one of those Suzuki Jimnys?” Then they pause, take a second look, realising that this is (a) a lot smaller, and (b) much older — 40 years old, in fact. It’s also, according to Autoweb, “extremely rare, as few were made and very few survived”. Seven LJ80s are known to be registered in New Zealand, and maybe three are currently on the road, including this one. In the UK there are just 20. The genesis of these brilliant little genuine 4WDs is written in the history of the Suzuki Motor…

A Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens (Fiva) survey of almost 55,000 historic vehicle enthusiasts worldwide has revealed their huge financial contribution to local and national economies. It also confirmed the typically low annual mileage of historic cars and motorcycles along with the very real value of clubs to the historic vehicle movement and society at large. The survey is Fiva’s largest and most detailed. It collected 128,000 detailed evaluations of historic vehicles to provide an unrivalled knowledge base for Fiva and member federations. It found the average enthusiast spends €3800 a year directly on their vehicle(s). That includes insurance, repairs and restoration, storage, servicing, and fuel. When non-direct spending is taken into account — for events, accommodation, tickets, food, and drink for example — this rises to €4858 a year.…

It was coachbuilder Wilhelm Karmann who eventually persuaded the directors of Volkswagen (VW) to allow him to put a cabriolet on top of their VW Beetles. VW provided the bodies and Karmann added the soft tops. At VW’s request, Karmann was also asked to submit designs for a sporty coupé that were rejected. After Karmann’s death his son, also named Wilhelm, had a chance meeting at a motor show with Luigi Segre of coachbuilders Carrozzeria Ghia of Turin. It was a timely meeting as Ghia had also submitted several proposals to VW with some ideas for styling enhancements that had not gained traction. The Karmann–Ghia meeting resulted in a prototype body that was mounted directly to the Beetle’s basic platform chassis. Ghia sent the prototype to Karmann in late 1953…

History has a way of surrounding us, hidden in plain sight. I was one of a group of people who had been working for years in an editorial office in Augustus Terrace in the Auckland city-fringe suburb of Parnell who had no idea that motoring history had been made right around the corner. Our premises actually backed onto a century-old brick building in adjacent Fox Street that had seen the wonder of the age, brand-new Ford Model Ts, rolling out the front door seven decades earlier. Today the building is an award-winning two-level office building comprehensively refurbished in 2012. Happily 6 Fox Street honours its one-time claim to motoring fame. Next door are eight upmarket loft apartments also on the site where the Fords were completed. Elsewhere at 89 Courtenay…

In the mid ’90s we had unleaded petrol foisted on us and despite protestations from concerned groups and individuals we were stuck with it. The damage to older car engines was significant — not to mention the fires — as was the damage control by government and industry sources at the time. Settlements were made confidential, mainly to lessen the impact of what sizeable protests might otherwise have achieved. At the time, reportedly, the motivation for introducing unleaded petrol was that the oil industry wanted to supply just the one grade of petrol (91) which would have been very cost-effective (for it). Unfortunately car manufacturers had a different view. Many of the European makes required much higher octane fuels. The rule of thumb was that anything with a compression ratio…

The value of ordinary, everyday cars is rising faster than versions of the Jaguar E-Type. That’s the verdict from a recent review of the Hagerty price guide which showed everyday cars have enjoyed a bumper year of growth with values rising as much as 20 per cent year on year. The Hagerty price guide tracks market values for nearly 2200 cars for owners, buyers, and sellers. The latest update to the guide has seen 196 once-average models added to its UK version. The Hagerty analysts who compile the data — taking sales results from UK auctions, trade sales, and private sales — have compared average value in 2020 with their average in 2021 to date. Models including the Ford Cortina, Renault 4, Hillman Imp, Austin Princess, and even the oft-derided…

This little park-up caused a few raised eyebrows among the habitués of the Orakei marina for a couple of reasons. It meant they had to park their Aston Martins and Range Rovers a little further away from their preferred piers for the duration of the photo shoot. And they were all Ferraris — a select gathering of front-engined modern classic Ferraris. I wondered at the absence of earlier front engined cars like a Daytona or the later 599s or F12s but organiser Paul Halford says they weren’t invited. He thought it would be nice to bring together the owners of the last of the front-engined V12 Ferraris with manual transaxle gearboxes which meant Ferrari 456s (1992–2003) and 550s (1996–2001). He knew there were about 10 or so who could meet…

Max Teape knew one thing for sure: “I didn’t want my first car to be a nana’s car.” He takes after his dad, who is into classic cars, so the two of them set about finding something that would be both cool and affordable, and they discovered this Cortina online in Wellington. It had had one owner for a long time and had gone to a younger relative who had a baby and other priorities. It had a few problems, which made it relatively cheap. Max and his dad had it trailered to Auckland. “It needed a few things done to it but we thought it would be a fun thing to work on together and I’d learn a lot. “It was basically running like crap. It had only done…