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Annual Twin Rivers Car Parade

16 June, 2014

 


Last month the Twin Rivers Car Parade and display was held at the Canterbury A&P Showgrounds.

Even though the weather was very overcast and less than ideal, the crowds weren’t deterred with huge amounts of people turning up and a great array of vehicles were on display.

British, American, European, and Japanese vehicles were all represented, with some really beautiful cars showing up.

The display was set for a 10.30am start with vehicles leaving to take part in the parade at around 1.30pm and returning an hour later. Prize giving took place at 3pm.

The Twin Rivers Car Parade has been running for the past 10 years by the Rotary Club of Avonhead. Entry only cost $15, and spectators only $10, so it’s always great value for money for a very relaxing day out. Proceeds this year went to The Child Cancer Foundation.

Racing Mazdas

12 June, 2026

Both Rod Millen and Ron Kendall were rotary racing kings, emanating from the North Shore of Auckland, where I grew up. And the ultimate rotary techno guru was Bill Shiells, who developed the engine into a rocket ship while working out of Gulf Mazda in Takapuna from 1969, and later in his own business, Rotorsport. He began to extract some phenomenal horsepower from the enigmatic rotary engine. Bill was one of the first to race the Mazda RX-2 Coupe in 1971 and achieved immediate success, causing others to sit up and take notice, particularly the North Shore’s racing elite. They included Robbie Francevic, Rod Millen, Ron Kendall, John Woolf, John Le Feuvre, and Rex Findlay.

Range Rover CSK — the original SUV

5 June, 2026

The Range Rover, thanks to Charles Spencer King, went into production in 1970 boasting an iconic shape that would last until 1996. The vehicle that would create the SUV moniker came about because Rover decided it was time to add a bigger four-wheel-drive vehicle, one with a 100-inch wheelbase, to the model range. Land Rover made a 109-inch wheelbase model but the standard vehicle had a 88-inch wheelbase.
The new model would be more suitable for road use than the existing Land Rover, which was considered to be predominantly for rural use. To make sure it could cope on any road it came standard with the Rover 3.5-litre V8 engine. The body design was originally sketched by King and went into production with only a few minor touch-ups by the Rover styling team.
According to King, “The idea was to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover. Nobody was doing it.”