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Restore British vehicles from the couch

7 November, 2014

 

There are not many instances where you can ‘settle down’ to an evening of car restoration. But on Saturday, November 8 at 7.30pm, all you need to do is tune in to TV3, put your feet up, and quintessentially British vehicles will be restored right before your eyes in the new documentary series For the Love of Cars.

A car, with a little love needed to get it back to its glory-days look, is hunted out by restoration expert Ant Anstead, who takes it to his car restoration company and sets to work with his team to get the car looking new again. While this is all taking place, actor and car enthusiast Philip Glenister, from British TV series Life on Mars, meets up with people from owners clubs and the like to check in with how the restoration should actually result. Empowered, and slightly persuaded, by this gathered knowledge, Glenister guides Anstead to ensure the restoration comes out how he envisions.

Check out episode one this Saturday evening — we hear there might be a Ford Escort Mark I Mexico undergoing a bit of a makeover.

Motorman: Blame it on Rio!

22 May, 2025

Following the third polite advisory, I figured there had to be a fair degree of substance to the warning. “If this is your first visit to Rio de Janeiro, please be careful,” came the personal hushed dialogue from the pleasant hostesses on a far from crowded Varig flight from Los Angeles to the famous Brazilian seaside city.
The previous evening I had flown into LA from Auckland en route to the 1985 international launch of the Fiat Uno Turbo. I was prepared for another long haul of just under 12 hours across Mexico, central America, Colombia, and central Brazil to that nation’s third largest city. Surprisingly the 10,500km run from Los Angeles to Rio is actually longer than the 8800km LA-London air route.
With the journey including a brief stopover in Honolulu I expected to travel just under 44,000km for the return journey to sample what was to be a low-volume version of a popular Italian car that would sell in even lower numbers in New Zealand. I like to think this shows nothing more than my deep commitment to my craft. In fact, even though I became lost on the homeward journey my total air miles would be little different.

Pinnacle Porsche

15 May, 2025

We were stopped at the side of the road, setting up the next photograph, when a faded Toyota slowed alongside and stopped. The window was already down to give the driver a good look.
“That’s my dream car,” he said, speaking for more than a few of us.
He drank in the gleaming red paint, shining in the sun, and the car’s purposeful swoops and curves. He exhaled half a lungful of cigarette smoke, gave a hang 10–style thumbs up and drove off.
On the side of the road, against a clear blue background, the Porsche stood out in all its stark red glory. It’s the classic 911 shape on steroids. It has the fat, even pouty, front lip of the G series 911s, added to comply with 5mph bumper restrictions in the US. It also has the oversized haunches to accommodate the wider rear wheels and tyres – a first for Porsche, which also confirmed its supercar credentials – and, most noticeably of all, that enormous whale-tail spoiler. They made it look as if Porsche had abandoned its restraint.