Hot rods rescue St Johns

17 November, 2014

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“Getting the hot rods out of the garage and out on the road for a Sunday cruise is great, but getting them out for a great cause is even better”

An impressive level of support was seen for the combined efforts of Auckland’s North Shore car club East Bay Rods and the Silverdale Business Association in hosting a charity display for St Johns at the Silverdale Shopping Centre on Sunday, November 16.

Much of the community came out to check out all the cars on display during the one-day deal, which cost just a gold coin donation to St Johns. Over fifty of East Bay Rods’ vehicles were on display with the addition of other cars, and also a preferred parking area for visiting hot rods, street machines and classics.

Local businesses also sponsored each car on display as a way of fundraising for East Bay Rods itself who are very active in hot rodding throughout New Zealand. The event was so successful it’s looking like it’s likely to become a regular thing, which sounds like great exposure for the hot rodding hobby.

Design accord

28 March, 2025

You can’t get much more of an art deco car than a Cord — so much so that new owners, Paul McCarthy and his wife, Sarah Selwood, went ahead and took their Beverly 812 to Napier’s Art Deco Festival this year, even though the festival itself had been cancelled.
“We took delivery of the vehicle 12 days before heading off to Napier. We still drove it all around at the festival,” says Paul.
The utterly distinctive chrome grille wrapping around the Cord’s famous coffin-shaped nose, and the pure, clean lines of the front wing wheel arches, thanks to its retractable headlamps, are the essence of deco. This model, the Beverly, has the finishing touch of the bustle boot that is missing from the Westchester saloon.

Motorman: When New Zealand built the Model T Ford

21 March, 2025

History has a way of surrounding us, hidden in plain sight. I was one of a group 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 Model T Fords, 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 Place, Wellington, and Sophia Street, Timaru, semi-knocked-down Model Ts were also being put together, completing a motor vehicle that would later become known as the Car of the Century.

Hot rods rescue St Johns

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