CC has recently seen some of the highlights of our recent trip to New Zealand, which I referred to as “it’s a Toyota but not as we know it”, but the country has many other examples to attract the Curbivore, often something that is unexpected. You expect to see small Fiats in Italy and Citroens in France, but in New Zealand the list is longer and less predictable, including this one. Here’s some highlights from our recent trip to view, whilst you identify the car under the tarpaulin.
First up, there’s this 1956 Buick Special 2 door, with 5.2 litre V8.
This car was recently imported from the US, with a mileage of just 24,000, and in a condition to match.
Back in 2007, someone, (maybe Gus?) brought this 1975 Ford F150 Ranger over to New Zealand.
6.5 litre of V8, and a wonderful noise at it drove round town later on.
This was a surprise, as otherwise pickups were almost exclusively Japanese, apart from a few Land Rovers.
This one was outside a small town garage, and the vehicle was set up for rescue services, and for the upcoming town fete parade.
This is a 1982 Land Rover Defender, imported when new to New Zealand, with the Rover (ex-Buick) 3.5 litre V8.
Alongside it, as the garage was closed for the Easter holiday, was this early 1950s Ford Thames E83W, which the garage has restored and use to support the town parade.
Surely typical of NZ’s roads 60 years ago?
Or how about a 1983 Subaru (Leone) 1800 estate, imported new. You can see the attraction of a compact 4WD estate in the Southern Alps, with gravel roads and ski resorts all around.
A Ford Ranchero. Like I said, unexpected.
This is a 1977-79 version, and without registration details we can only speculate on how it arrived there.
Just as unexpected was this 1970 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow LWB, which gained an extra four inches in the rear passenger compartment and often a fixed glass divider as well. This was the only Rolls-Royce we saw in nearly three weeks, perhaps not surprisingly.
Another British surprise was this 1972 Triumph 2000 saloon, in the same period redolent brown as my Mum’s 1972 Triumph Toledo.
This car was imported complete from the UK, rather than assembled locally, and after 47 years is still a daily driver.
Another car from the same period is this VW 1500 saloon, dating from 1971.
Both the Beetle and the Triumph were spotted in central Christchurch, which explains the car park on a cleared site after the recent earthquakes. The city still has many empty plots and much rebuilding to be done.
New Zealand has a predominantly Japanese and Korean selection of newer cars, as you’d expect, but there are still older Japanese cars around, like this 1986 Honda City.
This car, with 1.2 litre engine, was assembled in New Zealand, and is larger than the kei class cars.
This 1982 Toyota Corolla (E70) estate with its 1.3 litre engine is doing daily service, and looking pretty fit on it too.
It may not be glamorous or exciting but you cannot deny that it is giving Beetle like service to someone.
This car was assembled in New Zealand, in the town of Thames at a plant that Toyota now use to refurbish imported cars.
Another Corolla was this 1988 example, also of the E70 generation, in bare bones three door estate format. Officially, this is registered as a light van and was being used to support a market trader.
The pickup is a vital vehicle in New Zealand, and this Mitsubishi L200 from 1983 is typical, if older than most, of the breed.
This one was imported complete, and according to recorded data has covered some 250,000km (165000 miles), so may be considered run in.
This 1970 Datsun 1200 was seen on the Cook Strait ferry between the islands, and was presented in a very impressive condition with some gentle modding going.
This Morris 1100 is a 1971 car, also with some slight modifications. Cobra stripes are rare, to say the least, on an ADO16.
The faded red paint is more common, but to see an ADO16 in daily use is not a regular event in the UK by any means, even if it was the UK’s best seller for most of the 1960s. And despite the badge on the front wing, I’m pretty sure this would have locally assembled.
One manufacturer, in fact country, I didn’t expect to see much evidence of, was Peugeot-Citroen of France.
But we were surprised. First, a Peugeot 505SR, which strangely does not feature on the published registration data. Possibly, this vehicle was assembled in Australia by either Renault or (of all people) the remnants of British Leyland Australia.
Arguably, this was one of Europe’s better saloons of the 1980s, and perhaps unfairly overshadowed by its predecessor, the 504.
Also, we spotted this 1995 Citroen ZX 1.8 Aura hatchback – a common enough sight in France, but there are not many in New Zealand.
Also scarce, and surprisingly wearing European badging, this 1991 Opel Vectra.
Intriguingly, and confusingly, this car was not offered in Australia until the next generation, when the replacement was the Holden Vectra.
Another rare brand was Mercedes-Benz – this was 1989 300SE was only the classic Mercedes we saw, and by far the largest Mercedes as well.
Truly an important car, introducing many features we take for granted now, like ABS. My favourite Mercedes saloon? Very likely!
Now a very rare sight in the UK, this is a 1981 edition of 1969-87 Bedford CF van. This was GM’s challenger to the Ford Transit, and used the Vauxhall Victor’s slant 4 OHC engine, in this case the 2.3 litre version.
This is a CF2, second series model with the full width black grille and a series of mechanical changes. The CF was actually the last Vauxhall developed vehicle to be produced, with production running to 1987, 18 years after its introduction. It was also sold in Europe under the Opel brand, and with Holden engines for some Australasian versions.
One other van with UK connections was the LDV Maxus, now built in China by SAIC. It is seemingly successful in New Zealand, not just as a van but also as a basis for campers.
And Kiwis like campers!
One that was totally new to me was this Haval H6 Coupe Blue Label, a compact SUV pitched at the Hyundai Tucson/Kia Sportage/Ford Escape/Kuga area of the market.
This is a 2019 Blue Label (the lower level of the two models, the other being the Red Label) with a 2 litre petrol engine and some distinctly Range Rover Evoque and Audi Q3/5 aping styling touches.
And the car under the tarpaulin – my best estimate is a 1963-64 Singer Gazelle Series V, probably assembled in New Zealand by Todd Motors, Rootes’ long term partner.
No Hillman Hunters! question: Is it legal to drive LHD vehicles in New Zealand?
Yes it is, Hunters? hell they arent rare Todds assembled 50,000 of them if Roger had asked I could point him at 30 of them in one collection locally.
Love the Thames. It’s a dwarf ’35 Ford pickup, just as the Anglia was a dwarf ’35 Ford sedan.
A good, varied selection rhere, Roger. The E83W looks so old-fashioned (well, it didn’t look that modern in the 1950s!) but Ford did seem to hang on to their pre-war designs for a long time. I think the Bedford CF is probably not the CF2, but the short-lived facelift CF. The CF2 had Opel engines and extra black plastic rubbing strips low on the bodywork. I’m pretty sure the last CF/CF2 I saw was an ice-cream van when I was still living in London. The Gazelle could be a V or VI unless you had a sneaky peak under the tarp. The V still had the traditional oval grille, the VI went ‘modern’ and made it low and more rectangular, perhaps to presage the forthcoming ‘Arrow’ Singers, but the bits visible were exactly the same.
I assume rust is not as bigger killer of old cars in NZ as it is in the UK.
It depends on where the vehicles live, anywhere humid and with salt air kills cars rapidly the south island especially inland is kind to old cars. Theres a reason Toyota galvanised its cars here in the later years of assembly.
I remember when these Ford commercials were common, and I got a close look at one and realised that they achieved that short bonnet/hood by offsetting the motor to the left – so that it occupied the passenger foot-well. There are two holes in the grill for the starting handle, and neither is on the centre-line of the car.
Yes, the E83W was semi-forward control design, though there was a more conventional small commercial version of the contemporary 7Y/E494A Anglia too.
In 1983 a buddy and I rented a camper van from a guy who ran a gas station in Christchurch. It was a Bedford like the one here but with the earlier grill and front end. It had the 2.3L 4 cal with an auto trans…boy was that thing ever gutless on the mountain passes on South Island! Driving off the ferry in Wellington one of the spark plugs packed it in leaving only 3 cal power for the steep hills in town until we got it fixed.
We put almost 3000 km on it in 3 weeks…gas was very expensive compared to home in Canada but a very beautiful country and friendly people.
The car under the tarpaulin – 2-door so perhaps an early Sunbeam Rapier Series I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbeam_Rapier
The Rapier never had the revised roof line or rear window. It must be/have been a 4-door, but perhaps it’s being customised.
Rear door cut line is plainly visible.
NZ seems to get everything, too bad nobody had a Trekka.
One correction, the Landrover is not a Defender but is actually a Series III V8, commonly known as a Stage One V8 after the investment program that paid for it. These are a transitional step adding the V8 and full time 4WD from the Range Rover but keeping the Series III’s leaf spring suspension and bodywork, other than the flush fron front grille panel. It’s possible that truck is not a V8 since Jaguar Rover Australia offered the Stage One with an Isuzu 3.9 liter 4 cylinder diesel like the later Perentie military Landrovers.
The Defender model name didn’t appear until 1990 with the introduction of the 200 TDI diesel on the Ninety and One Ten models introduced in 1983.
Actually a Trekka would have been the ultimate Kiwi CC find, one of those would have had Roger really stumped as to its lineage, there are very few live ones left.
This is the only Trekka we saw – at MOTAT in Auckland
The Ranger and Ranmchero while reasonably rare arent really that uncommon, theres a 56 buick like that for sale at a local workshop that specialises in US cars its been there for years nobody wants to pay the asking price, The Subaru wagon was locally assembled in Waitara along with thousands of other Subarus, Triumph 2000s and 2500 were best sellers in their day and popular long after production ended in the UK, leftover CKD packs were reimported from Australia for NZ assembly. Rolls Royces rare not really while not common like old Corollas they arent actually scarce. OLd Benzs theres a paddock of them near Tirau and the guy sends parts all over the country so survivors are out there, ADO16s yes survivors arent uncommon theres a couple of Wolseley versions locally those are rare so I’m told.
Yes thats a series5 Audax from Rootes sold as a Hillman Minx Humber 80 and Singer Gazelle like the one pictured.
Citroen ZX Auras arent really common now though I wouldnt class them as rare, Those Opel Vectras were on sale in NZ long before they were in Aussie, The first shipments were actually Vauxhalls they were rebsdged on the wharf in Auckland, my brother was driving car transporters at the time and watched Schofields Holden mechanics doing just that before they were loaded it was easier than taking the whole shipment to their worskhop unloading rebadging reloading the distributing them. Aussie still sold the awful Camira at the time.
Thats a Datsun 1600, 5/10 on the ferry if you’d seen a Datsun 1200 SSS you’d really have found a rare car, it was a NZ only version of that car, with local modifications by ex Humber 80 tuner Dennis Marwood’s tuning company and done with Datsun NZ’s blessings and warranty.
Theres a few of those later CFs about mostly ambulance conversions now serving as campers or food vans usually Holden six powered it was a factory option here.
Mitsubishi L200s are still common even the early models, Peugeots were locally assembled and end of local life exported to Africa thats increased local rarity.
Roger, what do you mean by a Toyota plant that “refurbishes imported cars”? Does Toyota import used cars to NZ specifically to sell them in local dealerships?
Toyota does exactly that refurbishes its own brand of cars to as new condition and sells them with a new car warranty under the brand Signature class, more expensive than importing one yourself direct but they have a warranty against failures, This is done at the former assembly plant in Thames which when a mate of mine worked there years ago assembled Ramblers.
Very interesting, thanks! I wonder if they do that with other RHD countries, maybe as a way to get a better selling price for trade-ins at Japanese dealerships. (I think that used cars are especially hard to sell in Japan…?)
No, that 505 isn’t a British Leyland Aus assembly job, despite the poor-fitting doors – all 505’s enjoyed that feature even when built lovingly by their own countrymen (instead of resentfully by colonial descendants of their longtime adversary as those bizarrely-birthed Sydney cars were). That one is a Series 2, with outside blackouts and grille and taillight “improvements”, as well as the much less elegant dash. Series 2’s were all full French imports here. Also, we didn’t get the SR. The Series 2 base was the rudely injected SLi pushrod unleaded US-spec, a car of no great mechanical power or refinement in my ownership of one.
A bit sadly Roger, my take is that the very elegant 505 deserved overshadowing by the 504 precedessor. It was a comfortable car, and pretty tough, but just a bit to squeaky and rattly in the body, too high in windrush and engine roar for a ’79 design, and generally less of a piece than the more homely-looking 504. And in my view, the 504 was itself a lesser car than the absolutely one-piece high quality machine that was the magnificent (if almost ugly-looking) 404 before it.
Put it this way. The 404 was simply one of the very best cars of the ’60’s: the 505 is merely one of the nicer fashion statements of the ’80’s.
Ofcourse, it’s good to see this nicely preserved one still looking quite classy, approximate panel fit and all.
Wow, I sit down with a coffee for my regular CC-me-time after a few days away and find, not one but three articles about NZ! Glad you enjoyed your return trip here Roger, not to mention our eclectic assortment of vehicles. You’ve photographed an interesting selection of vehicles, but I’m sure that’s just scraping the surface of what you saw! The CC-effect is alive and well too, as I was passed by a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow last Friday (and also Spirit, albeit going in the opposite direction).
Some observations:
* There’s been a small but steady demand here for the F150 for decades, many LHD used imports, but Ford NZ occasionally offered them new in RHD form. There’s a NZ-new RHD 1980 model just down the road from us, as well as a 2010ish RHD Chevrolet Silverado – GM hasn’t really sold the Chev pickups new here, but there are a few RHD conversion specialists who’ve been converting them to RHD for years.
* The Ford Thames E83W must surely be one of the ugliest pickups ever devised!
* Those Subaru Leone wagons used to be everywhere, but I haven’t seen one in a long time – they were as capable at rusting as they were off road. My form teacher had one in 1988.
* The Triumph 2000/2500 sedan sold extremely well here new, and there are plenty still around – not many as daily drivers though.
* Dad was working as a Honda mechanic when the City was released here; the TV ad was memorable as it used Nick Gilder’s song ‘Hot Child In The City’, changing the lyric to ‘Hot Child Honda City’. I think the City was an interesting and quirky design – quite ahead of its time.
* Plenty of Peugeots and Citroens in NZ – even in our small rural town. Of course our town’s tally includes the 307 SW and 508 RXH in our garage through the wall from where I type this! (My magnificent elderly Ford Sierra is currently sitting outside because I was driving it earlier). The Peugeot you’ve photographed is in the rego data – but you mightn’t have found as that personalised number plate has the letter ‘O’ between the 5s, not the number zero. It was sold new here on 16 January 1988, and the records indicate it’s been used regularly but sparingly, having done around 47,000km.
* When the Vectra launched here it was indeed sold with Opel badges, possibly to give an air of European ‘prestige’ – the Astra GSi ‘E’, Omega ‘A’ and Senator ‘B’ had previously been sold here marketed as premium Euros. It was also competing with the Ford Sierra which was selling well based on its advertised European origins – badge snobbery was alive and well!
* 1980s Mercedes seemed to disappear off our roads 5-10 years ago – all too often bought by people who popped huge wheels on them and then couldn’t afford to fix them when they went wrong.
* The CF Bedford cab-chassis was the basis for a huge number of ambulance conversions through the 1970s/80s, so although the factory-bodied van isn’t common any more, there are still plenty of ex-ambulances now being used as camper vans. Plenty of LDV campers too – the brand has always had a good name here and continues to sell well.
Anyway, thanks for sharing a great cross-section of our motoring world – and next time you’re over, pop in for coffee!