Welcome to a special feature that we have been working on. This past week, we have travelled to the Southward's Car Museum to check out their awesome stash of rare and legendary automobiles and to uncover the small cache of original, NZ home built cars that are part of the collection.
We start our tour with a very special rat rod that was actually built by the team at Southwards. It is based on a Lincoln Zephyr V12 and is built from spare parts.
The rat truck is powered by a flathead Lincoln Zephyr V12 that from memory produced around 130 BHP in this form. (Sorry for the editing, people kept getting in the damn shot! :) )
The interior is also delightfully ratish with the use of a chain steering wheel, aluminium dashboard and a rough leather seat.
The vehicle has quite an imposing stance when viewed from the front with its huge rusty grille and wide wheel track.
Next up is a really weird and strangely styled car called the "Turosar".
The strange styling theme carries on in the interior with the use of a Mazda RX4 steering wheel, odd gauges on the dashboard and a really funky colour scheme. Also there were some really odd hexagonal louvers across the rear window.
This is one of my personal favourites, the Purvis Eureka. It is based off the Nova kit car that was designed in England and is designed to be built with a Volkswagen chassis and Volkswagen or Mazda Rotary engines.
This particular model is called the PL30 and was produced from 1975 to 1976.
The cars angular styling totally fits in with its 70's origins, along with that awesome sliding roof.
The interior is quite basic but also functional and stylish with extra deep bucket seats, wood grain dashboard and deep dish steering wheel.
Even the badge is stylish!
This Can-am style car is called the Taipan. It is also based on a Volkswagen chassis and engine just like the Purvis Eureka next to it. Only 47 were produced overall which makes this quite a rare car.
Curiously, the RPM gauge is placed near the gear shifter and not on the dashboard.
Next to the Taipan was this beach buggy that looks ready to hit the sand with surf boards on the back.
The buggy is also rather minimalistic but doesn't have to be full of gadgets if you are having fun simply just driving it.
Yes, that is a Mcdonald's branded Volkswagen Beetle!
This interesting wee car was part car, part wicker basket.
The whole cockpit was surrounded by wicker weave which added a unique style and distinctively Kiwi touch to the car.
This car is called the T Car. It is a highly accurate replica of a MG TF sports car and is based on mainly Mazda MX5 or Toyota drivetrains. These cool little cars are the best selling kit car in NZ with many being produced since 1983.
Last but not least is this New Zealand version of the Land Rover which is called the Trekka. It is an original design that utilises a robust Skoda built engine. There aren't too many of these around but they are a neat Kiwi made vehicle.
That concludes Part One of our Southward's feature. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming next week!!!
While surfing the net, we stumbled upon this awesome, retro brochure for the Mazda RX4 and couldn't resist sharing it. Enjoy folks!!!
The Turner's Classic Car Auction starts today, with plenty of classic vehicles coming up for sale. By the looks of the diverse range of rare and desirable automobiles that are listed on Turner's website, prices will probably soar to unprecedented levels.
Here's a little taster as to what is being offered in this auction:
Firstly, here is an ultra rare and incredibly tidy Ford Falcon XW GTHO Phase 2 that was actually raced by Bob Holden in the 1970 Hardie Ferodo 500 at Bathurst. This gem was fully restored to original condition and specifications and is expected to reach an exorbitant amount of money.
There is no shortage of rare Falcon variants up for sale with this incredibly hard to find Ford Falcon XB 351 GT that features a Mick Webb built 351 CU IN V8 and is a "4 Manual" special edition car that was built to homologate for Bathurst. Bidding will probably turn into an all out war as prices for these have been skyrocketing recently.
There is also a host of cool JDM cars up for auction as well, such as this uncommon Toyota Crown Coupe and Toyota MR2 AW10 which is #63 of 64 produced and features the 1500cc 3A-LU instead of the 1600cc 4AGE.
Do these cars sound tempting? Check out the full selection at Turner's by clicking here. Enjoy Folks!!!
Welcome to Another great installment of Trade Me Finds. This time we have found an exquisite example of a car that is best known for going sideways, a 1999 Nissan Silvia Drift Car.
The car has a really clean and crafted look to it through the use of an Origin Racing Line Body Kit, Origin 55MM guards front and rear, Origin Carbon Fibre Bonnet and a Dmax roof wing. The factory rear wing has also been modified and looks as if it has been raised slightly. The S15 rolls on white Work XD9 rims that measure 17 X 9.5 Inch on the front and 18 X 10 Inch on the rear.
The super clean interior is lightly modified with extra Autometer gauges added into the centre air vents, racing steering wheel, custom gear shifter and Bride Racing Seats with Race Harnesses. The car also sports a full roll cage to protect the occupants if an accident was to occur.
Powering the car was the legendary SR20DET which came factory in the S15 Silvia's, although this one is much more modified than the stock engine but has been removed and does not come with the car. The motor was backed up to a Nissan 300ZX Z32 5 Speed Manual that has an adapter to link to the SR20, and a KAAZ 2 way Limited Slip Differential. This setup should have allowed for quite a good amount of sideways action and a reliable track weapon depending on the engine's state of tune. The motor can be sold with the car for extra.
Overall, this Silvia would make an awesome track day project for someone as pretty much everything minus the engine is there. The S Chassis is a well proven and capable platform for motorsports and the S15 Silvia is a perfect car for pretty much any form of motorsport. The asking price for the Silvia is $20,000 which is quite reasonable for what you get for your money. The car is located in Auckland.
Thanks for reading another excellent Home Built NZ article. Stay tuned for more automotive awesomeness!
Over the years there have been many excellent cars produced. Unfortunately, some of these cars have been forgotten and deserve a bit more recognition, so here's one awesome little Nissan that deserves to be showcased, the Nissan Pulsar EXA Turbo.
This dinky little bundle of JDM goodness was produced by Nissan from 1983 to 1986 and was a popular, cheap sports car. Styling is about as 80's as you can get with an angular boxy style, optional 80's "TURBO" stripes and flick up lights.
The styling continues in the interior, just look at those awesome seat stripes with "TURBO" proudly stitched into the seats.
Powering the pocket rocket is the E15ET Single Overhead Cam Turbo four cylinder that delivers a peppy 113 BHP.
The EXA wasn't just a road car, they were also raced all over the place including Bathurst where this shot was taken. There was also a support race series called the Nissan Turbo Super Challenge that featured stock EXA Turbo's driven by famous drivers such as Peter Brock and Jim Richards.
That concludes our write up of the Nissan Pulsar EXA Turbo. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more awesome articles.
As any car fan has probably realised now, prices for classic and retro Japanese cars have been skyrocketing for the past few years, putting many cars that were once cheap out of the price range for many of us. A great example of this is the Mazda RX3 that we featured that was for sale on Trade Me a short time ago that went for a whopping $50,600!!!
Luckily for us, some models have not appreciated as much or at all since this rapid valuation and a prime example of this is the Series 1 (Chassis code SA22C) Mazda RX7.
The funny thing is, the Series 1 RX7 has no reason to not appreciate. It was the first in a long line of successful road and racing cars that have become legendary in automotive circles. They have been campaigned successfully all over the world by works teams and privateers and are still raced competitively to this day. You would think that with all this popularity and exposure that the RX7 would appreciate like mad yet strangely it hasn't seemed to have happened.
The RX7 is also a highly entertaining car to drive and is known to be an easy car to drift. The 12A Rotary that powers the car is silky smooth and has a great power curve to it which makes for a lively performer on both the street and the track. All this combined makes for a great investment opportunity as it is bound to appreciate in coming years or just a usable and fun weekend classic to enjoy driving on your favourite stretch of tarmac.
You can pick a decent RX7 up for around $10,000 NZ but rougher ones can be even lower. Click here to begin your search for one if I have somehow managed to convince you :)
Do you know of any cars that have failed to appreciate much or at all? Leave a comment below.
While on my way to the shops yesterday, I stumbled across this beastly looking black Lamborghini Aventador which was quite a surprise as you don't normally see supercars parked on the side of the road.
The car was pretty much brand spanking new as it is a 2015 model and looked immaculate.
Powering the car is the awesome handbuilt 6.5 litre V12 that develops a whopping 700 BHP. This is sent through all four wheels via a Haldex Gen 4 electronically controlled four wheel drive system and a seven speed paddle shift gearbox.
Stopping the car are huge carbon ceramic disc brakes that are six pistons and 400 MM up front and four pistons and 380 MM in the rear.
Overall, this Lamborghini is a pretty wicked car and was a nice surprise to see parked up on the side of the road.
