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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 – The saga of the Temple Buell Maseratis

30 January, 2026

Swiss-born Hans Tanner and American Temple Buell were apparently among the many overseas visitors who arrived in New Zealand for the Ardmore Grand Prix and Lady Wigram trophy in January 1959. Unlike Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Ron Flockhart, Harry Schell and Carroll Shelby who lined up for the sixth New Zealand Grand Prix that year, Tanner and Buell were not racing drivers but they were key players in international motor sport.
Neither the rotund and cheery Buell nor the multi-faceted Tanner were keen on being photographed and the word ‘apparently’ is used in the absence of hard evidence that Buell actually arrived in this country 64 years ago.

Luxury by design

15 January, 2026

How do you define luxury? To some it is being blinded with all manner of technological wizardry, from massaging heated seats to being able to activate everything with your voice, be it the driver’s side window or the next track on Spotify. To others, the most exorbitant price tag will dictate how luxurious a car is.
For me, true automotive luxury comes from being transported in unparalleled comfort, refinement, and smoothness of power under complete control. Forget millions of technological toys; if one can be transported here and there without the sensation of moving at all, that is luxury — something that is perfectly encapsulated by the original Lexus LS400. It was the first truly global luxury car from Toyota, and one that made the big luxury brands take notice.