If you are an old car buff, love beautiful scenery and friendly people, and want to visit a place where they speak English and you can drink the water, then New Zealand is the place for you. These are classics from various events in the land down under, the land down under.
A friend and I stuffed ourselves into my Lilliputian 1966 Morris Minor convertible and headed south to take part in the annual Beach Hop cruise and show held in March. When we arrived, we slipped into the procession through town and were sandwiched between a 1964 Pontiac GTO and a 1968 Olds 442 with their headers uncorked. We were part of the parade in the resort town of Whangamata in New Zealand, and seeing two big guys (6’2” 210 lbs.) in such a tiny car between a couple of huge yank tanks got a lot of laughs.
There were only a handful of British cars at this particular event, but there are plenty of them here. Most of the participants drove American classics from the 1930s up into the 1960s. That’s because New Zealanders have been in love with American cars since the days of the Model T.
They also imported quite a few British cars as well, and there was a period after World War II in which they were part of the British Common Market and largely confined themselves to cars from the United Kingdom, but they never lost their enthusiasm for American iron.
There are those who call New Zealand Godzone. That is the name a 19th century poet gave this little island nation about the size of California, and for classic car buffs that moniker is apt. In my mind, the place is the nearest thing to heaven imaginable. I am merely guessing, but I believe New Zealand has to have the best collection of American classics anywhere in the world, other than United States itself.
Sure, there are a lot of old American cars in Cuba, but they are mostly tawdry dowagers and smoking derelicts. And as often as not, they have Soviet era truck engines shoehorned into them. The Cubans don’t have much choice but to keep their old American iron running because of trade embargos that go back decades.
But New Zealanders have all the choices in the world, and they still love classic American cars. They can afford them, and they cherish them. They are also masterful at restoring them, and even have good parts sources for the more popular makes. In fact, there are high rollers in the United States who ship their classics here to be restored because, even with the shipping fees, it costs less and the quality of the work is show winning.
American cars have been imported into New Zealand since the horseless carriage days, and our classics are still being brought in at a steady rate. Actually, they have restored cars in Godzone that few Americans would take on. Kiwis (that’s what they call themselves) are very big on Ferraris too. In fact, the only country that has more Ferraris per capita is Switzerland.
The Kiwis have particular affection for Mustangs also, which is surprising because Ford never exported them here. All of them have been brought in at considerable expense by Kiwi car buffs. I have shipped a couple of Mustangs here for friends myself. The big challenge to doing that is getting your old car to meet New Zealand’s strict Warrant Of Fitness criteria.
After World War II, New Zealand imported mostly British autos thanks to favorable trade arrangements with the U.K., but what they got were mostly frumpy, asthmatic little cars like my Morris. They were dependable, but they impressed nobody. Besides, the Kiwis were well aware that, except for the high-end European sports cars, there is nothing like the sound of a big American V8 to impress your mates.
New Zealanders are also into motor racing in a big way. They have several superb road-racing tracks, such as Hampton Downs, and Pukekohe near Auckland, and midget and dirt track ovals such as Western Springs Speedway in the same area. Also, there are street races around the country for cars and motorcycles.
In fact, one of the premier motorcycle events anywhere is held in the streets of a town called Paeroa on the North Island, each year. It is a championship-class venue, and riders as well as spectators come from all over the world to participate.
Consider this: little New Zealand— a country of about five million people— has produced no less than three Formula One greats, namely Chris Amon, Howden Ganley, Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren. And if that’s not enough, there is five-time Indy car world champion Scott Dixon. New Zealand also has great nostalgia drags that take us back to how it was in the 1950s and ’60s in the States as well.
Of course, British cars are loved here too, and there are shows for them around the country, such as the annual Auckland Brit and Euro Classic car show held in March, and the Brits At The Beach show in a little town called Whangamata on the Coromandel Peninsula, in mid-February every year. In fact, you see classic British cars here that you would seldom see in the States.
Also, during the American winter when the racing season is over in the U.S., Kiwi Scott Dixon sometimes shows up at a hill climb event in a town called Hahai a couple of hours out of Auckland and participates in a spectacle called the Leadfoot Festival, which consists of a twisting one-mile paved road over hills, and through the woods to none other than rally champion Rod Millen’s house. In fact, it is actually Millen’s driveway.
And as I mentioned previously, another big annual event is the Beach Hop, held every summer in Whangamata that attracts over a thousand American classics and hot rods, along with 10,000 people for the five-day event. American cars that are rarely seen at events at home show up in numbers here. How about a 1934 Nash, a 1955 Mercury Sun Valley or a 1931 Studebaker, restored to Pebble Beach standards?
The event culminates in the aforementioned street parade that goes on all weekend and is replete with ground-pounding gassers from the ’60s, period flathead Ford roadsters, and restored classics, mostly American. There is plenty of beer and fish and chips to keep you content on a nice summer day, while hanging out on some of the most scenic beaches on earth.
There are also several world-class car museums in Godzone, such as the Southward Car Museum at Paraparaumu near the capital, Wellington. It has several Brass era and classic American cars, as well as gangster Mickey Cohen’s armored Cadillac.
And down on the South Island there is a great car museum at Wanaka where drag racing legend Garth Hogan restores cars, and there is an air museum second to none, that, along with American and British World War ll fighter planes there is perhaps the best collection of Russian fighter planes of the era any where outside the old USSR.
There is also the McLaren Heritage Center in Te Kauwhata where you can see some of his race-winning cars, and revisit the Golden era of Formula 1 racing. And if you are in Auckland, don’t miss the MOTAT (Museum Of Transportation And Technology) museum, which is a veritable Disneyland of classic cars, historic aircraft, and old steam engines.
In the countryside the food is mostly traditional British meat pies, but in the cities every ethic taste can be indulged. Places to stay range from breathtaking penthouse accommodations in Auckland to hotels and motor lodges, and Airing anywhere in the country. Car rentals are cheap, and the roads are wonderfully maintained.
However, if you want to be understood by car buffs here you need to know a few terms. Fenders are called guards, as in mudguards, the hood is called the bonnet and a convertible top is a hood. The trunk is the boot, and wrist pins are called gudgeon pins and Cotter keys are split pins. Also, a flashlight is a torch, and if someone says I will knock you up in the morning, relax. They mean they will wake you when it is time to get up.
Just remember, America’s winter is their summer, so if you find yourself hip deep in snow in Nebraska, you can always head south. And I mean south. You’ll be amazed at the number of old cars, old car events, and old car enthusiasts there are in Godzone. We’ll see you next December.
