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Got room for a 1936 Ford Sedan in your garage?

8 December, 2014

If you’ve ever wanted to own a hot rod, but never had the cash, then this may be your chance. The New Zealand Hot Rod Association (NZHRA) in conjunction with The Mount Shop are running a raffle with the prize being a 1936 Ford Sedan.

After running previous lotteries, with the prizes being two-seater vehicles, NZHRA have listened to the overwhelming call for a family car this time around and have responded with the purchase of the Ford.

The car has a lot of history being previously owned by Nelson’s Wayne Gardiner for around 35 years. When Wayne was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2011, his fellow members at Golden Bay Rodders hot rod club pulled together to get it back on the road. Wayne had the pleasure of driving the car for about eight months before he passed away and the car was left to his daughters.

Since being purchased by NZHRA, the car has been bought back to top condition, as well as having new wheels fitted, which were provided by Auckland-based wheel wholesalers BG Marketing.

A few more custom touches are set to be added and NZHRA are aiming to showcase the completed vehicle at the Kumeu Classic Car and Hot Rod Festival on January 17, 2015. It’s at this event that tickets will go on sale for the first time.

The vehicle will also be on display at Hibiscus Rodders’ Beach Festival in Orewa on January 23–25, at Leadfoot Festival in Hahei on February 6–8, and Repco Beach Hop in Whangamata in the last week of March. Hot rod clubs nationwide will have tickets for sale during this time, as will the NZHRA office via their website, hotrod.org.nz.

 

ROTARY CHIC

Kerry Bowman readily describes himself as a dyed-in-the-wool Citroën fan and a keen Citroën Car Club member. His Auckland home holds some of the chic French cars and many parts. He has also owned a number of examples of the marque as daily drivers, but he now drives a Birotor GS. They are rare, even in France, and this is a car which was not supposed to see the light of day outside France’s borders, yet somehow this one escaped the buyback to be one of the few survivors out in the world.
It’s a special car Kerry first saw while overseas in the ’70s, indulging an interest sparked early on by his father’s keenness for Citroëns back home in Tauranga. He was keen to see one ‘in the flesh’.
“I got interested in this Birotor when I bought a GS in Paris in 1972. I got in contact with Citroën Cars in Slough, and they got me an invitation to the Earls Court Motor Show where they had the first Birotor prototype on display. I said to a guy on the stand, ‘I’d like one of these,’ and he said I wouldn’t be allowed to get one. Citroën were building them for their own market to test them, and they were only left-hand drive.”

Tradie’s Choice

Clint Wheeler purchased this 1962 Holden FJ Panelvan as an unfinished project, or as he says “a complete basket case”. Collected as nothing more than a bare shell, the rotisserie-mounted and primed shell travelled the length of the country from the Rangiora garage where it had sat dormant for six years to Clint’s Ruakaka workshop. “Mike, the previous owner, was awesome. He stacked the van and parts nicely. I was pretty excited to get the van up north. We cut the locks and got her out to enjoy the northland sun,” says Clint. “The panelvan also came with boxes of assorted parts, some good, some not so good, but they all helped.”